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I'm checking out ADT now, I wish they were more transparent!
Their sales model is based on selling fear.
The house we bought had an ADT alarm but the internal battery was knackered and so every time there was a power cut (including for DIY/building work) we'd be treated to 120dB indoors.
I called ADT to ask them how much it would be to have it serviced and effectively silenced. They refused to do anything on the phone and sent a salesweasel round. He then spent 30 minutes spinning lines like "Rather than disabling your alarm, wouldn't you like to have a panic button if you woke up to a noise and found a burglar in your house? We have great service plans". They simply wouldn't answer my questions.
We didn't really want the alarm (first floor flat and quality windows and no flat roofs) and the home insurance companies simply said it's more hassle than it's worth; it'll save you £10 or so on your home insurance and if you ever go out and forget to set the alarm you're not covered.
10 minutes on the Internet and I found the engineering code (to silence the smaller piezo siren on the board), disconnected the main siren, changed the battery and closed it up again. It's been sitting in engineering mode for the last 2 years now.
tl;dr ADT are wankers
Greenbank-
The other worry with all this stuff is it's basically useless without the subscription and isn't user serviceable as it's all wireless and encrypted. I've now read more of the same regarding ADT (and Verisure but less, probably because they're newer).
We have a house that backs onto open scrubland, nicely shielded by an overpass and trees etc and a very easily accessible window from a side return (although sloped roof). I'm going to call Verisure back and see what they can do about the price as it's the end of their month :)
Dramatic_Hammer
The keyholder thing doesn't look like it would work for us if we're away (or even at work, tbh) and I'm not convinced by bells only - it would annoy the neighbours but I don't think they'd investigate or do anything about it.
I'm checking out ADT now, I wish they were more transparent!