The first burglary was in late December, in my youngest daughters new apartment in Philadelphia. She wasnt even fully moved in yet, but had started to transfer things from the old apartment to the new, so she could be out by the end of the month. She and her boyfriend came to Pittsburgh for Christmas, arriving Tuesday and returning home Thursday. While they were here, some sleazebags broke in and stole everything that was worth anything from her and her roommates, including a brand-new large screen TV, cash, jewelry, and electronics. Merry Christmas from the thieving pond scum!

The second incident was in a duplex we recently bought in Pittsburgh. The second floor is rented, but were updating the downstairs unit, and had bought materials to re-do the bathroom, including a new vanity and sink, tub and sink faucet sets, tile and thinset for the floor, lighting for the bathroom and bedrooms, new lock sets for the other unit, and some other odds and ends. My son had also left a jigsaw there, but luckily we hadnt left any other power tools in the place. Anyway, someone broke in through a rear window and stole it all; they even took a new fire extinguisher. We called the police and filed a report, but nobody in the neighborhood heard nothin, and theres pretty much zero chance of getting any of it back. Bottom line: with about $700 worth of losses, and a $750 insurance deductible, well end up paying for everything twice. Anyhow, in the time-honored tradition of locking the barn door after the horse is gone, we decided to install a wireless alarm system there, in hopes of scaring off the NEXT lowlife loser.

An Alarming Number Of Choices

When it comes to alarm systems, there are a lot of options available. Depending on where you live, there are likely to be several companies who would be happy to provide you with a system ADT, Brinks, Guardian, Honeywell, and Vector are just a few of the many outfits operating in the Pittsburgh area. The commercial systems generally offer a wide variety of protection options, including sensors to detect glass breakage, smoke and fire, carbon monoxide, motion, and water or gas leaks.

Theres one feature they all have in common, though the monthly monitoring fee. Most of the major players make their money by first selling you the system, then charging you a monthly fee to monitor the system for you. Many of the commercial providers offer a system at a very attractive price; some even offer a free system. However, these are usually very basic setups, covering only one or two doors, and maybe a couple of windows. Theyll also require you to sign a contract for their monitoring service, often for multiple years. To get adequate protection, the full initial cost of the system can be substantial, especially if you have a lot of openings (doors and windows) to protect, and the monitoring fee is usually hundreds of dollars a year.
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