Friday, August 5, 2011

A call

I was out when I received a phone call from my "empty" house. Something or someone has triggered the alarm system so I rushed home only to find that everything looks to be in order so did the system malfunction?

Before I installed the system, many people told me that there would be many false alarms and that it is not really useful but just because I do not want to wake up in the middle of the night to find an intruder standing over me, I decided to go ahead with the installation. I prefer to be awakened by a false alarm in the wee hours than to wake up groggily staring into a stranger's face but I can't say the same for my neighbours.

While there are many types of home security system out there, it is not easy to design a configuration and settings that will inform the owner of exactly what triggered the system if different types of sensors (contact sensors, shock sensors, motion sensors) are grouped together in one zone. Even a 10-zone system does not provide me with the granularity that I desired but due to a budget constraint, I settled for it. So now there is no way for me to tell what triggered the system.

So is a home alarm/security system a necessity nowadays? Or is it just there to provide home owners with a false sense of security? What do you all think?

7 comments:

  1. Don't the alarm system come with video camera? I heard my friend's home security system has video camera and they can watch the 'empty' home on the web through the camera that hooked on to the internet, if there's any trigger. I live in apartment so I have no experience in home security system. The hubby wanted to build one himself for our 'small' apartment and he has all kind of ideas to make it 'lethal'. Hehe!

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  2. Hi Jennifer, we did not have internet access when we were out but we did check the cameras when we were back but there is nothing unusual to be seen from the cameras that could have triggered the alarms. I'm interested to hear your husband's lethal security system! :)

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  3. It depends on where you live. I think that they can give a false sense of security, but they've also been shown to be a deterant. And wouldn't you like to know someone's in the house before they get to your room? I would. That being said, security alarms are not very common in rural areas and we've always relied upon dogs or nothing. When I lived in Houston, I slept with a two-pronged skewer nearby, just in case. :)

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  4. something better than nothing at all. nowadays, it is a necessity.

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  5. Hi Jamie, a two-pronged skewer? oh, I wouldn't know how to use that. :)

    Hi Redbabe, guess it is better than nothing.

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  6. supernatural intruders?

    anyways ... my home has no alarm. the only alarm we set is to pray to god everyday for protection.

    sigh... the world now goes like this - no money = no security. the world now evolves around MONEY.

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