Home Security Blog

We are proud to say that our customers really enjoy our service. You don't need to look any further than the wonderful reviews that our many excited customers have left.

We are excited each time that we see a review crop up on our Merchant Circle or Yelp page, but we do get a lot of questions about whether our reviews are real or whether we pay one of those review companies to leave good reviews on these sites periodically.

I'm proud to say that we have never paid for a review, and that every single review we get (and any review we ever will get) are 100% authored by real customers. We're a pretty young company, so for the moment, that means we have no bad reviews. I'm certain that that will change one of these days. But for the time, we're pretty proud of being well liked and we strive to do all the things you can read about in those reviews. We are working hard to offer great customer support, great prices on products, and all the on-site help you can get regarding how to install or set up your security system.

That said, I fully understand why consumers are skeptical of reviews. A lot of companies do pay to have reviews put up, and Business Week recently ran an article that as many as 30% of reviewers for some products are fake I would suspect that there are some industries where the fake to real review ratio is even higher, maybe even as high as 50%.

In all, I'm amazed that when I look at other security companies, it's clear that consumers generally hate dealing with them. I think the perception, on the whole, is that home security companies are manned by unfriendly staff, we don't care about customer service, and we are just interested in making a buck. All we've had to do to get our customers to write the reviews we have gotten is to treat you well, and help you find exactly what you need. As we grow, our biggest struggle is maintaining a balance between getting bigger and not sacrificing the customer service you've come to know so well. So, keep letting us know how we're doing. We're going to rely on your feedback going forward, and we're happy to be able to work with such wonderful customers.

Here's to all of you. Salud!

We have made lots and lots of videos that we are going to be trickling out over the next few months. We hope you love these, and we invite you to subscribe to the Alarm Grid YouTube channel (which you should definitely subscribe to).

We will be blogging about these videos twice a week. One on Monday and one on Friday. They are mostly DIY install videos designed to teach you everything from how to program sensors into your system to little segments about what makes each product unique.

This first video is simple. If you have one of Honeywell's much loved LYNX Touch control panels, then these first few segments will be very helpful. Today, I'm introducing you to how to do some very simple programming. This short two minute video explains how to change the volume, contrast and brightness on one of our favorite panels.

If you don't like looking at me, most of these videos are just hands on demonstrations of FAQs we've already produced. Learn in your own way. If you want to read these instructions rather than watch them you can read each individual FAQ on changing your LYNX Touch's volume, contrast  and brightness .

Alarm Grid is proud to announce that our security yard signs  are currently rolling off the production line. We're proud to say that these are the first security signs we've ever seen that you don't have to be embarrassed about putting in your yard. They look amazing!

These aluminum signs feature Alarm Grid's lock logo on a wonderful Alarm Grid Blue (a color we invented, I swear) background. I'm pretty sure that these are going to fly out the door faster than we can produce them, so if you want to get one of these beautiful pieces of art for your front yard, you'd better get your sign and stakes right away.

In addition, if you want to sticker your home with all sorts of Alarm Grid decals, you can do that now too. We have security stickers  that look exactly like the yard signs, except that they are smaller and stickier. They stick to the inside glass of your home (or office), and are the same beautiful shade of blue.

Since announcing our new yard signs and stickers, I can confirm that we have received hundreds of letters from around the country from very excited garden gnomes who are begging us to send some to their home so that they can stand next our elegant blue sculptures.

You must be here because you are looking for some coupon codes to use at Alarm Grid. You've found our not-so-secret, secret page where we will be posting any codes we happen to put out. You can also find these same codes on a lot of the internets most popular coupon sites. But why go there when you can get them right here.

1MONTH$1 (EXPIRED DEC 31 2013)
Just like if you went to a car dealership and asked about a car, the dealer would let you take the car for a spin before you made your decisions. So we're going to give you the same courtesy. If you want to try out Alarm Grid's monitoring services, we're offering $9 off your first month if you use the coupon code 1MONTH$1 at checkout! That means you can get one month of monitoring for as little as $1.

FREESTICKERS (This coupon code no longer works. We now include one free sticker in every order)

Alarm Grid's signs and stickers are to burglars what scarecrows are to birds. When a potential robber sees them, they will be like, "nope, not robbing this place," and then they will move on to your neighbor's house. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're a good neighbor, and you're like, "why would I want my neighbor to be robbed." Well, you don't. So make sure that you get some stickers for your own place, and then, use this coupon code to get one for your neighbor. Help Alarm Grid (legally and permissibly) plaster our stickers on every window in America.

If you have been thinking about upgrading your existing Honeywell security system, now is the perfect time. In the past, Honeywell security systems did not see major new features added with newer versions of the alarm control panels. Aside from minor tweaks to the programming options, there was never really a compelling reason to spend the money and get a brand new control panel. However, there have been some recent technological changes from Honeywell and their AlarmNet division that finally give customers a real reason to look at making a change.

First, Total Connect 2.0 was released in 2011. Total Connect is an interactive monitoring service that allows you to remotely arm and disarm your security system from any computer or smartphone. It also allows you to receive instant emails and/or text messages whenever new security system events occur. The original Total Connect service was Honeywell's first offering that allowed customers to get more out of their alarm monitoring service but like most new technologies, it needed to be polished. Total Connect 2.0 is bright and shiny and gives customer what they want. Unfortunately, when AlarmNet released the new Total Connect 2.0 service, it was only compatible with newer Honeywell security systems.

The other major technological change that requires a Honeywell security system owner to consider upgrading is the development of 4G cellular alarm communicators. We have talked in the past about how AT&T is discontinuing their 2G cellular network at the end of 2016. The 2G cellular network was very popular in the past before cell phones turned into mobile computers. All cellular alarm manufacturers, including Honeywell, built their communicators to work on the 2G network. Now that AT&T has but announced an end to the network that these communicators work on, everyone that has an existing cellular communicator needs to start thinking about upgrading to a communicator that will work past 2016.

Instead of dealing with the large expense of buying a new security system and a new cellular alarm communicator to take advantage of both these advancements, the GSMV4G-TC2  and GSMX4G-TC2 provide an easy and inexpensive way to upgrade to Total Connect 2.0 and 4G cellular communications. Both AlarmNet Total Connect 2.0 upgrade kits include a 4G cellular alarm communicator and PROM chips for both a VISTA-20P and a VISTA-15P. The PROM chip upgrades an older model VISTA panel so that it will be revision 9.12 and compatible with the newer Total Connect 2.0 service. No wiring changes need to be made and the existing system programming even stays the same. Upgrading couldn't be easier. If you have a VISTA-20P that can't do Total Connect 2.0 or a cellular alarm communicator that will need to be replaced, stop thinking about upgrading and get a new GSMV4G-TC2 or GSMX4G-TC2 today!

While Honeywell won't officially endorse this, we have found that the PROM upgrade chips that come with the GSMV4G-TC2 and GSMX4G-TC2 will even work with an older model ADT Safewatch panel. Therefore, any VISTA-15P or VISTA-20P, even branded versions, can take advantage of the amazing cost savings that these upgrade kits provide.

Honeywell's Total Connect 2.0 service is the best upgrade to your Resideo or Honeywell security system that you can make. With Total Connect 2.0 you can arm and disarm your system with the touch of a button from any internet-connected computer or smartphone using an app. You can also have the system send you instant emails and text messages whenever a new security system event occurs. You can get a text message with the actual zone description of the device that went into alarm, the actual name of the user that armed or disarmed, even a message when your teenagers open the liquor cabinet in the middle of the night. Once you try Total Connect 2.0 you will never look at your security system the same way again.

Of course, don't just take our word for it, try it out yourself. You can now take Total Connect 2.0 for a Test Drive. Follow this link and then click the Test Drive button located beneath the login screen.

Don't forget that none of our alarm monitoring plans require a contract, so if you are still on the fence about whether or not Total Connect 2.0 would work for you, try it risk-free today! We even have a standalone Total Connect plan for people that don't want central station monitoring but would like the interactive features that Total Connect provides. If you decide it's not worth the cost, simply let us know and we would be happy to cancel your plan.

Call us today to find out how easy it is to get fully connected to your security system with Total Connect 2.0!

UPDATE: The information from this post is now outdated. For information on how you can test drive Total Connect 2.0 now, please check this more recent post.

We have already talked about the phase out of AT&T's 2G cellular network, but if you haven't read our previous article about the new GSMX4G and GSMV4G cellular alarm communicators, then you may not know that all existing AlarmNet cellular alarm communicators will become obsolete by the end of 2016.

Here at Alarm Grid, we urge everyone looking for a new cellular alarm communicator to only invest in 4G capable communicators. AT&T has formally announced that they will have completely dropped support of the 2G cellular network by the end of 2016. As cellular data use increases, AT&T has to find ways to add new throughput to their most advanced networks. One easy way to expand that throughput is to cannibalize their older and slower 2G network. As it is extremely rare to find a cellular phone in use today that still uses the 2G network, AT&T has no problems sacrificing the older 2G network to make the newer 4G network bigger and faster. Unfortunately, the alarm industry will be affected by the discontinuation of the 2G network as nearly all cellular alarm communicators in existence today use the 2G network. Since the difference in speed between the 2G and the 3G or 4G network wasn't needed when transmitting alarm signals, cellular alarm manufacturers never bothered to upgrade their communicators to support the faster networks. Now however, all alarm companies must act and act quickly. While the end of 2016 is the formal end of the 2G cellular network, certain areas of the country will lost 2G support well before 2016.

For most people, upgrading to the newer cellular network will be as simple as swapping their existing communicator to a newer communicator that has 3G and 4G support. Unfortunately, for everyone that invested in Honeywell's VISTA-21iP alarm control panel, the change to 4G cellular alarm communications won't be so easy. The VISTA-21iP is a great security system because it has a built-in internet alarm communicator.

While internet alarm monitoring is fast and inexpensive, it is not as reliable or secure as cellular alarm communications. Therefore, the VISTA-GSM was available as a snap-on module to the VISTA-21iP to provide an integrated back up cellular communication path. For some reason, Honeywell's engineers did not design the new VISTA-GSM4G to be backwards compatible with existing VISTA-21iP security systems. Therefore, all people that have dual path alarm monitoring using a VISTA-21iP and the VISTA-GSM cellular communicator will have to replace both their VISTA-GSM communicator AND their VISTA-21iP alarm control panel if they want a system that is supported by the 3G/4G cellular network.

We are fully aware of the burden this will place on people looking to upgrade to the future of cellular communications and we will do everything we can to help those people that are left having to replace their system and their communicator. If you have a VISTA-21iP and you are wondering if it is compatible with the VISTA-GSM4G cellular add on, you will have to look at your VISTA-21iP circuit board. If there is a sticker that says "SUPPORTS VISTA-GSM/4G" then it is compatible. Without that sticker, your system will not accept a new VISTA-GSM4G. We are not sure of the exact date that Honeywell began manufacturing the new VISTA-21iP panels, and the model and revision number are the same, but we do know that it was sometime in November. Chances are, unless you got your VISTA-21iP from a reputable source in the past month or so, your system will not support the 4G cellular communicator.

Of course, here at Alarm Grid, we only ship brand new VISTA-21iP panels that have the sticker and do support the VISTA-GSM4G. If you have questions about upgrading your VISTA-21iP, please call us today.

Here we thought the LYNX Touch was just the star of the security world. Now, it looks like the L5100 LYNX Touch is branching out to show biz too!

After dominating the security industry with it's ease of use and simple installation, the LYNX Touch is looking for new ways to impress. Starting this weekend, the LYNX Touch will be the star of the show on PBS' Hometime. Hometime is hosted by Dean Johnson and with almost 700 episodes and 25 years on the air, it is one of the longest running home improvement shows on television. The show helps do-it-yourselfers improve their homes and this weekend a LYNX Touch installation in a log cabin will be featured.

The installation will include various wireless sensors that are compatible with the LYNX Touch, such as the popular 5816 wireless door and window sensor as well as the wireless security cameras that are powered by Honeywell's AlarmNet division.

They will also go over how no LYNX Touch installation is complete until you add the amazing Total Connect service that provides access to your LYNX Touch from any computer or smartphone app.

We invite you to check out the Hometime episode and see how the LYNX Touch does in front of the bright lights of the TV cameras. Local showtimes may vary based on where you live so check Hometime's website for schedules.

We originally published this last year in December. Since we published it, the article has taken on a life of its own. We never intended for this to be a place where customers would leave reviews. But if you look at the comments, you will see that while many of our passionate customers have left reviews on the many popular review sites we list below, many others have left them right on this page, which is what happens sometimes on the internet: things that were never intended take on a life of their own. I also thought it was worth modifying this post a little bit since things have changed so much in the last year. Sure, we're a bit full of ourselves; we love it when our customers talk about us. And to that end, we've created a lot of ways for you to do just that. So, without further ado, I will list them below, and you can go ahead and take advantage of one or all of the opportunities you have to tell the world about your Alarm Grid experience!

Online Reviews

At Alarm Grid, we do our best to offer an incomparable product: great service, fast shipping, top-of-the-line monitoring. If you have ad an outstanding experience with us, we'd love for you to tell the world about it on one (or more) of the following sites. In exchange, you will get a handwritten thank you note (if we can find you), thanking you for your incredible, kind words.

If you don't like the idea of leaving Alarm Grid's site, you can go ahead and make a comment below, right here in this post. We appreciate the kind words, wherever they are posted.

• Review Us on Yelp
• Review Us on Google+
• Review Us on Merchant Circle
• Review Us on HotFrog
• Review Us on MapQuest
• Review Us on TrustPilot
• Review Us on FourSquare
• Review Us on SuperPages
• Review Us on ShowMeLocal
• Review Us on Chamber of Commerce
• Review us on USCity
• Review us on BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com
• Review Us on Local Database
• Review Us on CitySquares
• 
• Review Us on Yahoo
• Review Us on Angie's List
• Review Us on Kudzu
• Review Us on Judy's Book
• Review Us on CitySearch
• Review Us on HomeStar

Just as a side note. While we do our best to live up to a high standard of quality that we have set for ourselves, sometimes we fail. After all, we're only human. If you have had an experience with Alarm Grid that is less than wonderful, before you publish a tirade about it on the internet, we would love for you to send us an email to support@alarmgrid.com and let us know what we can do to make things better. We promise to be reasonable.

Testimonials

So you've had Alarm Grid's monitoring service for some time now, and you want to let the world know that you loved both the product and the service... right? Well, we don't want to get in your way. In fact, we will actually publish your experience right here on our site, and we'll pull out the most flattering quote too. So make sure to say things like, "Alarm Grid is first rate and cares about their customers!" or "The experience that I have had working with Alarm Grid has been absolutely fantastic…" or you might consider saying simply, "I don’t know how much better than this it can get".

All of these were comments and testimonials written by real Alarm Grid customers. We are proud of them, and would love to see many more of these get posted to the site. We really want to let others know that we aren't your average home security company... that said, we'll admit that we do bribe our customers for these testimonials. We give one free month of monitoring away to anyone who writes them and provides us with a picture.

If you want to participate, it's easy, though we do ask that you meet some minimum requirements: 1) you need to have been an Alarm Grid customer for at least 6 months, 2) you need to send us a photo of your home with an Alarm Grid sign in the yard (see current pictures for examples of what we're looking for), and 3) you need to answer at least 5 of the following questions with 3-5 sentence answers (you can make up your own questions too, we really just want to make sure that the testimonial tells a story, and isn't simply yes and no answers). When you're ready, go ahead and email support@alarmgrid.com with your answers to the questions and we will give you your coming month free.

QUESTIONS

1. If you installed your system on your own, how easy was it?
2. Why did you pick Alarm Grid over other monitoring companies?
3. Do you feel safer as a result of Alarm Grid monitoring your house?
4. How much money did you save by installing this system on your own?
5. Did you use Alarm Grid's YouTube channel or extensive collection of Q&As to install your system?
6. If you have home automation, let us know how you use it, and how your security system has improved your life by saving you money or just by doing something awesome that you figured out?
7. What is your favorite part of your new Alarm Grid system? Do you love its sleek design? Its home automation capabilities? Does the fact that it says "Front door" when you walk into the house make you feel like you have a friend? Whatever it is, let us know!
8. Did you have an Alarm System before? How does your new Alarm Grid security system compare to your old system?
9. Why should other people consider Alarm Grid? What made your experience different with us than with any other company you've dealt with?
10. If you have interactive services such as Total Connect, please talk about how that application has improved your alarm monitoring experience.
11. Have you taken advantage of the homeowners insurance discount available to central station monitored customers? Talk about how that's been a great cost savings for you!
12. Many of you have had the opportunity to experience Alarm Grid's incredible customer service. If you have had a great experience with Alarm Grid, tell us a little bit about it. How did we help you?

We're always striving to give you the best, most pleasant shopping experience we can possibly give you. And it's no small feat. We're a really small team, and a pretty new company, and so any time we can beat the big guys, and present you with something that we think is bigger and better, we are proud of it. We believe our alarm monitoring  plans are the best in the industry. We believe that our site is the most pleasant to shop on in the industry, and we deeply appreciate the many customers that have given us the privilege of serving them over the last 6 months. And now, I think we can say that our site is one of the fastest loading sites in the industry. Give it a try, click around, see if you agree.

I'm proud to announce that Alarm Grid was invited into the beta version of  Google Page Speed service for SSL sites. We're not sure how many other sites are in the program, but we know that it has significantly improved our site's speed, and we're honored that Google thought we would be a good candidate to beta test the page speed service. We're loving it so far, and we hope that you find it to be a significant improvement to your shopping experience (let us know what you think in the comments). If you're curious about what Google Page Speed is exactly... watch the video below.

For the less geeky among us, what this partnership means is that Alarm Grid will always be incredibly fast - faster than almost any site you've ever been on, and certainly faster than most (if not all) sites in the home security industry. We know that your time is valuable. We also know that people love doing research on home security systems on Alarm Grid. Doing research is time consuming, and a slow site can only make that process disgustingly difficult. We've all been there, annoyed by the 5 to 15 second load times of even the internet's most popular sites.

We have a lot of goals at Alarm Grid that we are working on making realities. As we move closer to meeting each goal, your experience with us will improve. One of our site goals it to make sure that EVERY page loads in less than 1 second, even on your mobile devices. We're not quite there yet, but we're so close. According to Pingdom's page speed test tool our homepage load time is between one and two seconds and our taxon pages are between two and three. So we're not there yet, but we will be soon. For the time being, I guess you'll just have to deal with load times between one and three seconds. We're sorry for wasting even that small amount of time. We hope you'll forgive us ;).

Just for fun, if you want to see how much faster the new site loads than the old site...