Home Alarm company call response time???

[Firestopper]

I accidentally set off our home alarm this morning and it took 1 min 30 secs for them to call . I asked the alarm operator lady why it takes so long- The lady said - "Well you're in Texas and its a 30 second delay in us being notified here." What the F? Is there an "industry standard" they need to abide by?

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys and have a great day

[hntndawg]

Yup, there is a 30 dial delay on any alarms put in in the last few years. It was put in place to cust down on the "traffic" from the people that set it off and cust it off 5 seconds later, which is a lot more than you would think on a daily basis.

*now that I think of it, it might be a 20 second minimum. Been out of the field for a while. Each company will have its own "standard" they use above the minimum.

[Daniel75]

IMHO home alarms are worthless if you're looking for a fast response time. We had 1-2 minute response time in the city I worked at as a LEO, and people were always shocked at how long it took us to get there after their alarm went off. The delay was always with the alarm company.

[RogueSamurai]

That is interesting. "Well, you're in Texas..." is a poor excuse in a real emergency. I guess they assume we would just take care of it ourselves. Might be worth a phone call to corporate on that one.

[NannySlayer]

IMHO home alarms are worthless if you're looking for a fast response time. We had 1-2 minute response time in the city I worked at as a LEO, and people were always shocked at how long it took us to get there after their alarm went off. The delay was always with the alarm company.

Yeaaaa right!!! I know how long it takes LEOs to get onscene!!!!

The alarm company does have delays though but... C'mon.

[Rudyl]

Unless you have a radio sending the signal, the phone line is sending the signal to the monitoring station and has to get back on line. You can get a report from your monitoring company and they'll send one out to let you know date and time of alarm history, not only to you but to the authorities and you'll have a better idea on LEO response time also.

[Bleu]

Home alarms are great for saving on insurance. Otherwise, they're kind of a pain.

[PSD Ryan]

Home alarms are worthless. I was dropping something off at my father in laws house while he was away. Went inside and couldn't remember the alarm code. They called, I explained I was dropping something off and tried to key in the code and it didn't work. They asked if I wanted them to shut it off remotely. They did, and never called the police. All they did was give my FIL a courtesy call. By the time they reached him, I could have made off with a bunch of stuff if I were a criminal.

[T-Bone]

Home burglar alarms are useless the only alarm I would consider is a fire alarm you may still have a little delay but at least your house would not burn down.

[rossivey]

I've got an alarm and it's the same with us. Ours has a 30sec delay once the alarm is breached & then if it's not disarmed the alarm co. is notified then they call us. If we don't answer then they notify the police. The response time between the alarm being activated and the alarm co calling us is about 15secs. If you add all the time up once the alarm is breached until LE arrives, you've got about 2mins. That's plenty of time for a criminal to steal anything in my living room and get away before LE gets there. The biggest advantage of our alarm is that it's deterred people jacking with our vehicles and stealing things from in the carport. We had a bunch of crap done to our house and stuff stolen before we installed the alarm.

[2B4Him]

We live in the boonies and our alarm system provides a lot of peace of mind. We're having a problem right now and its going off for no reason. Night before last, it went off at 3:45 a.m. - the alarm company called within 15 seconds.
Our sensors on the front and garage doors are delayed in sending a signal - giving us time to input the code and avoid sirens, etc. However, all the windows and other doors send the alarm immediately. Sometimes it takes a minute or two for the alarm company to call, sometimes quicker.

[Daniel75]

Yeaaaa right!!! I know how long it takes LEOs to get onscene!!!!

The alarm company does have delays though but... C'mon.

Hey woman, I got onscene QUICKLY, even if we were sipping coffee at QT

[kenforu]

I have been in the alarm industry for 30 years and if you are relying on it to protect you you are wrong it is their to notify of an activity happening in your home. The alarm industry set standards for the alarm manufacturers to try and reduce the amount of false alarms. One of the standards were to build in an automatic 30 second dealer delay. This reduced the amount of false alarms but still didn't cure it. If you want a system that will help prevent and help law enforcement than add cameras that are monitored with live recorded video. You can add two way voice also so that the dispatcher can come over a speaker and engage the person who is at the residence or business. Good luck just my 2 cents.

[Buck-N-Rut]

I personally like ours. Not necessarily for when no body is home, but when I am not at home at night and my wife and kids are there alone. If no one is home then they can steal everything. That stuff can be replaced.

[stinkbelly]

My company calls the home phone within 15 seconds. If there is no answer, I have them call my cell. They tell me what type of alarm it is (motion, door, etc.). I then decide if it is an intruder and tell them if I want them to call the police. It makes us feel safer. We have door and window sensors, motion detectors, glass break. I positioned them myself so that I know no one can get through my house without setting it off. It also gives us an unusual sound when we arrive home if it has been activated when we were gone. I tell my wife and kids that if they hear that sound and I am not there, they are to leave immediately.