Looking into a security system for a house my wife and I just bought. I was thinking about going with ADT and called and got a quote of 49.99 a month (39.99 for monitoring and $10 for equipment) plus 5 a month for warranty. This included 3 door sensors a camera doorbell and a motion detector. The equipment was $599 itself, which I thought was pretty high for 3 door sensors and a motion detector, the camera was “free”. I am planning on getting a large dog and the person I talked to said the motion detector wouldn’t be a good fit for me but they should be able to install window sensors in place of the motion detector. I was like ok not terrible 39.99 a month for monitoring plus $10 a month for equipment payments, this was also a 5year contract. I had to schedule an appointment to lock in this price so I did, and he said nothing was finalized till the tech came out and I could always still decide I didn’t want it then.

Well the tech just came out and told me it was gonna be $59 a month plus the $5 a month if I wanted the warranty. Then he told me that the motion detector would cover the cost of only one window sensor not all of them. By the time I had all the window sensors I wanted in I was at $70. I told him no thanks that is too much.

I have been thinking about this and came to the realization that I would be paying them $70 a month to do what exactly? When one of my door or window sensors goes off to call me and then if they can’t get a hold of me to call 911? Then in the contract I read that they aren’t responsible for anything if someone does break in. Which I guess makes sense but then just reiterated the point why am I paying you $50 a month to “monitor”. I am pretty sure I can install all of that for way cheaper and then just call 911 myself if I have to. It seems like I would be paying up to $50 a month just so they could call me if one of my sensors went off, and then another $20 a month for 5 years to pay off very few security devices that I could most likely get way cheaper and install and monitor myself.

To wrap this up I am in the market for some good brand monitors for doors and windows and I would also like a couple camera and a doorbell camera if possible. What would everyone recommend I look into? Thanks for the help!