We just moved into a house that has an ADT alarm system. It’s probably at least 5 years old, and may be original to the house, 15 years old. I’ve just called ADT, and they’d want almost $40 a month (and at least a one-year commitment) to provide monitoring service, assuming that it’s still in good condition and wouldn’t need work or additional equipment.
I’m not particularly paranoid, and am inclined to think that it’s not worth almost $500 a year to have to deal with keying in a code every time we go in and out of the house, potential false alarms, etc.
I’ve found support for this impression online here, here, here, and here.
We’re in a nice neighborhood, and a lot of the houses here have alarm system signs on their lawn. We have the stickers in our windows. I’m thinking that may be enough.
What’s your opinion, especially if you have had experience – good or bad – with alarm systems.
A related question: can I use the existing hardware without ADT? That is, connecting it to some other (potentially less expensive) service, or, with some additional equipment, setting it up to notify me directly via my cell phone?
Thanks.