In many states(in fact all that I know of), security liscensing is done by the state electrical commission. Here in FL, for instance, an EC designation means you can do all electrical wiring, both high and low voltage. An EF designation is for low voltage only. It is an odd thing, as a company itself is not liscensed, but a person, who then holds it for a company. A person can hold it for more than one company( I believe there is now a limit of 2). Here in FL, all advertisements and company issued paperwork must contain the liscense number in plain view. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be careful also of the quality of the monitoring center…there are some small, local companies here that do their own monitoring, and their center is a small (15x15) prefabbed building with two computer stations in it. Make sure your monitoring center is UL listed.
Most of the national companies do much of their new account acquisitions through a dealer network(much like the auto industry). For instance, you may call ADT out of your phone book, and you may be calling an authorized ADT dealer, or ADT corporate. If you call corporate, they may 1)sell you a system over the phone, and send one of their own techs out, 2)set up an appt. with a company sales rep, or 3)set up an appt and send it to a local dealer.
Local dealers sign you up for 36-60mos. of monitoring. ADT dealers have very strict guidelines as to what they can charge monthly. In a prewired home, your typical offer from an ADT dealer would be:
1 keypad
1 motion det.
all door and window contacts
1 siren
1 computer panel, phone jack, battery, etc.
For this, I believe the current activation fee is $99, and your monitoring is 32.99 for 36 months. The dealer then sells the contract to ADT, who funds the dealer a multiple based on your credit score(and some other options, like how often the dealer has accounts charge back) x the monthly rate,- a processing fee.
The dealer gets 800-900 bucks from ADT, which they then pay for the equipment, sales commissions, and installation costs with.
Other companies have different structures…for instance, Monitronics has a $69 activation fee, and the dealers can write agreements for $22-$40 a month. Typically this varies according to the equipment you want put in.
Your other route would be to purchase equipment up front, then pay a reduced monitoring rate, and sign a 12 month agreement(or sometimes you can get by with a month to month). One of our builders has this set up, where every condo they build is completely trimmed out with equipment, so we activate for their clients with no agreement required, they just pay for the monthly service.
You could probably buy a decent security panel, two basic keypads, 20 contacts(if you need them), a motion detector, siren, and a smoke/heat detector for 600-700 retail, and then get it monitored for 15-20 a month(from an ADT or Monitronics dealer, who would keep the account in house, and not submit it as a purchased contract). You could probably find that same equipment in the 300-400 range on the internet, but then you have the issue of finding someone to come install it.
By doing the full 36 month contract, as others stated, the national companies will do free(or very low cost) relocations, much like Direct TV…you leave your equipment when you sell the house, and they transfer service to your new one.