Home Security Blog

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...

While we are a security and alarm monitoring company, we also tend to get some requests for products from people that aren't looking for security. Recently we were contacted by Philip J. Beards who designs beautiful custom pool tables and other cabinetry and furniture in London. He had a project he was working on that required some contact switches that would operate lighting within a wine cabinet he was designing. The idea behind the design was that when the cabinet is opened, the lights would turn on to illuminate the inside of the cabinet. He was planning to install the contact switch in the frame of the cabinetry and the magnet in the sliding door.

Philip's problem was that he could not find the contact switches from local London alarm companies or from anyone in mainland Europe. He had ordered some contacts from American companies, but with all of the switches he had tried, the circuit was only completing when the door was closed. Therefore, his lights were turning on when the sliding door was shut and no one could see his awesome work. He contacted us because he saw that we carried many types of contact switches.

After discussing how the alarm industry views normally open and normally closed switches, we decided the Honeywell 944-2GY switches would be the best option since they allow for normally open and normally closed configuration. In the alarm industry, we consider normally closed to be a switch that completes the circuit when the magnet is close to the contact because the door closed is the "normal" position. However, an electrician would consider that same contract to be normally open. The beauty of the 944-2GY contact is that it has three wire leads, a common, a normally closed and a normally open, so that Philip was confident he could configure the switch to do exactly what he needed.

These pictures don't do the final product justice, but you can see that the interior lights are on when the sliding door is open. You can also see one of Philip's gorgeous custom pool tables he built for the same customer.

  

If you would like to contact Philip for your next custom furniture project or for a beautiful custom pool table, please visit his website at www.philipbeards.co.uk. Also, if you have a unique project that may require some of our security products, call us today at 888-818-7728.

Well that was quick! Just days after posting about the iPhone Total Connect 2.0 app crashing problems, Honeywell released an update that has fixed the issue that was causing the app to crash upon log in. Now, the Total Connect 2.0 app is back to working great for remote security system control.

From experience we know Honeywell is the premier security system brand and that AlarmNet is an industry leader in alarm communications and interactive services. The problem with the Total Connect 2.0 app was very unusual as the service is normally bulletproof. However, software updates can cause unexpected issues with the programs that use the software. As this particular issue only occurred when an infrequently used setting was changed, it took longer than usual for AlarmNet to become aware of the problem and then subsequently fix the problem.

Hopefully the negative reviews that were starting to pile up in the iTunes store will now be drowned out by good reviews from all of the people that use this app daily. We hear all the time how Total Connect 2.0 makes people's lives easier and we urge anyone that may have been turned off by the negative reviews to reconsider. 

For everyone else that already has the Total Connect 2.0 app, go get the new update from the App Store today!

Honeywell has an excellent interactive service called Total Connect. With a compatible AlarmNet alarm communicator and the Total Connect service, you are able to remotely control your Honeywell security system from a computer or from a free app on an iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ or Blackberry® device. It's great when you leave and can't remember if you armed the system or if you have to let someone in and don't want to give them your alarm code. 

Of course, the value of the service lies in the ability to control the system from anywhere at anytime. Unfortunately, ever since Apple released their new iOS 6.0, some Total Connect users have experienced problems using the Total Connect 2.0 app from their iPhone. With the release of iOS 6.0, Total Connect 2.0 wasn't the only app that has had problems. Apple has publicly acknowledged that the new software has caused some issues and they rolled out a very quick update with iOS 6.0.1 to try and fix most of the problems. Even with that fix, some Total Connect 2.0 users are still experiencing problems.

It's unfortunate because an otherwise great application with overwhelmingly positive reviews, is now down to only 2.5 stars on the iTunes store. If you look at the reviews, you can see all of the negative reviews are in the past couple of months since iOS 6.0 was released. Everyone seems to be experiencing the same issue. The app will work once properly, but then if you log out, the app crashes and closes upon any subsequent log-ins. While Honeywell recommends upgrading to the newest version of the Apple iPhone software (iOS 6.0.1) and if that doesn't work, doing a backup and restore of the phone, there are people that are still experience the same issues after doing those fixes. AlarmNet's app developers are working on a fix and hopefully will have an app update out soon. 

However, in the meantime, we seem to have figured out a way to stop the app from crashing. When you first log into the app, the security screen is displayed that allows you to arm or disarm your system. Along the bottom of the app, there is a button that says 'Security' with an open lock icon, an 'Events' button with an icon of a triangle with an exclamation point in it and a 'More' button with three dots. When you press the 'More' button, there are some options for changing settings. The 'Message Center' allows your AlarmNet dealer to send you new updates. The 'View Preferences' option allows you to change the default Total Connect 2.0 screen when you first log-in. The 'Navigation Order' option allows you to change the available buttons along the bottom of the app. It seems that by changing the navigation order is what is causing the issue. Our Total Connect 2.0 app works perfectly every time we do a fresh download of the app. As soon as we edit the navigation order and then log out, the app crashes every time we try to log back in.

Therefore, for anyone having issues with a crashing Total Connect 2.0 app, please don't edit the navigation order if you want to avoid problems. We are sure Honeywell and AlarmNet will have an update soon that will restore the app to full working condition, but hopefully this fix can alleviate some headaches in the meantime.

 

A lot of our users are return users. So, if that's you, I'm sure you've noticed that Alarm Grid looks a lot different today!

If you're new around here, I suppose you're wondering what it looked like in the "olden" days. Well, just to the left here, you can see a picture. The old site was sterile, white, and, if you believe the picture, extremely pixelated. We didn't think that the old site provided a very pleasant shopping experience to our customers. So we've done everything we can to change our look and feel. Navigation should be a bit more intuitive, and the site should make shopping a little bit easier. We would love your feedback. If you find anything confusing, aggravating, or you want to give your compliments to the webmaster, send us a quick email at suggestions@alarmgrid.com.

So let me introduce you to all the new members of the Alarm Grid family.

First, there is our new set of logos, straight in from the factory.

We've also spiffied up the Alarm monitoring page, if you haven't seen that yet. It's got some nice new checkmarks, and some simple explanations next to each of the service descriptions so that users aren't left confused by what they're looking at, and we added a happy family to our homepage standing in front of their very, very secure home. 

On the inner pages, we made the pictures bigger (soon we'll have nice original photos of all our products), and we arranged them a bit more intuitively. You still have all the great information on every single, but it's a bit less cluttered, and we hope that navigating the products is a bit easier.

We are excited to roll out more and more features on Alarm Grid's site, and we hope that you like what you see. Let us know what we can do to improve your shopping experience. We want to make sure you're helped quickly, and that we give you good, accurate information.

Welcome to the new and improved Alarm Grid!