ADT - Protect Your Home Review

The two most important factors to consider when choosing a home security system are reliability of equipment and quality of service. Our top choice, ADT Authorized Dealer - Protect Your Home, earns our highest marks for both. Protect Your Home is the number one ADT dealer in the country, using experienced installation techniques to install your system and delivering exemplary levels of service after installation. Read More...

LifeShield Security Review

Rated #1 by many new homeowners across the U.S. and with an A rating from BBB, LifeShield Security™ goes well beyond the typical home alarm system in helping you protect what matters most. Every LifeShield security system comes with FREE interactive mobile access through the secure LifeView website and FREE iPhone, Android and BlackBerry apps for smartphones and tablets...Read More...

Protect America Review

Protect America also offers a full range of sensors and detectors. You can add door sensors, window sensors, glass break detectors, smoke detectors, and more to your system, as well. The monitoring service provided by Protect America covers you all day, every day. If a sensor goes off, you have enough time to get to your control panel and enter your code in order to deactivate it. Read More...

Does Your Community Require a Permit for Your Home Security System?

For whatever reason – an increase of crime in your neighborhood or for insurance purposes, for instance – you decided it was time to install a home security system. You did your homework to determine exactly what you wanted and needed in a system; you found the right system in your price range. You think you are ready to call the security company to schedule your installation, but there is one more step you may not have known to take. Did you check to see if your community requires you to have a permit to install and activate your home security system?

Not every city or town requires a user permit or registration of your security system, so it is imperative that you check with your local zoning board. What happens if you ignore filing a permit? In many communities, it would result in a fine and quite possibly non-response from emergency services. (more…)

Skype Your Home Security

Meghla Bhardwaj has a job outside of the house, but she also has a small child. When she wanted a way to monitor her toddler and her in-home babysitter, Bhardwaj turned to Skype. “I’ve told my babysitter I can watch her from office, but I’ve configured my computer in such a way that she can’t tell when exactly I’m watching her,” she explained.

Bhardwaj is not alone. As more people want to have some sort of home security setup, but either can’t afford to or don’t want to spend a lot of money on a security system, they are turning to Skype, which is most popularly used for video chats with distant friends and relatives at little to no cost. According to Wink News, Cape Coral resident Jim Niehaus hooked up a webcam to his computer and uses his smartphone to call in and check on his home. (more…)

Home Security Goes Green by Reducing Paper Waste and Electricity

Home owners are always looking for ways to make their living space more energy efficient or environmentally friendly. We install better windows and doors to save on heating and cooling bills. We separate and recycle our trash. Heck, lots of folks even have compost piles to provide fertilizer for lawn and garden. So, it only makes sense that home security systems have also gone green.

Making home security more environmentally friendly can come about in different ways. It could be as simple as the company providing your security changing the way it does business. For example, Protect America Inc. has decided to lower its environmental impact by going to paperless billing and reconsidering its product packaging. According to (more…)

Protect Your Web Enabled Security Camera from Hackers

A lot of people who want to provide extra security for their homes but don’t have a lot of extra money to spend for a professionally installed system will turn to do-it-yourself models. One of the most often suggested way to add security on the cheap is to hook a Web cam up to an old computer and attach it to your home Internet network system. That way you can record comings and goings at the location where you situated the camera and can keep an eye on things from work or on the road.

Sounds ideal, right?  But like anything that is connected to the Internet, you are at a risk of getting hacked. And according to the FBI, hackers have been targeting security cameras. A quick Google search of “security camera hack” brings up YouTube videos and other sites providing instructions on how to do it. (more…)

Protecting Your Home Protects Your Neighborhood. Even from Mail Thieves!

When we add a home security system, our first priority is our own property. But as more homeowners are installing security systems, it seems like they are doing a common good for the entire neighborhood, as well.

For example, in Tulsa, Okla., this fall, a woman was caught stealing mail from neighborhood mailboxes. Her actions were caught by not just one security camera, but two. According to Fox23.com, “Video from a neighbor’s camera caught a woman casually pulling mail out of mailboxes. Across the street the neighbor also caught her on camera on his home surveillance system. The home recording caught [Jennifer] Steffen hiding behind the bushes sifting through mail she didn’t want.”

The story is becoming more common. In fact, consider it the 21^st century version of the neighborhood watch. That’s how it is approached in (more…)

Home Security Technology and Tips for 2013 Home Buyers

When looking to purchase a new home, prospective buyers are usually concerned issues like the number of bedrooms and baths and the functionality of the kitchen. If home security ever comes up, it tends to come in the form of a simple question: “How safe is this neighborhood?”

Ironic, isn’t it? For the vast majority of us, our home is the most expensive single item we purchase and it holds not only all of our belongings but everything we hold most dear. And yet, we tend to overlook ways to keep it best secured.

If building a new home, Canadian security consultant Frank Fourchalk pointed out that home security measures should be included with the plans of granite countertops and walk-in showers.

In a Vancouver Sun article, Fourchalk recommended that every new home should include a built-in video intercom system. “With the decreasing costs of this type of technology, there is no excuse not to have one of these units installed as standard equipment. This allows you to view and speak to visitors at your front door without having to open it,” he wrote.

Because burglars enter your house through windows and doors, these items (more…)

Keeping Home and Family Safe for the Holidays

With the December holiday season comes plenty of shopping, parties, exchanging gifts, and spending time with friends and family – or, if thinking like a burglar, homes are dark and empty more than usual, and full of brand-new expensive gadgets and perhaps extra cash for gift purchases and travel expenses. While it is important to practice good home security all through the year, the holidays require an extra level of vigilance. Here are some tips for keeping your home and family safe through the holiday season.

If you have a security system, use it!

According to the New York Police Department, plenty of people have a security system installed in their home, but they don’t turn it on. The holidays are a good time to evaluate your home security system, as well. Are you protecting the areas of the home that are most vulnerable? If you use security cameras, plan to aim one at your Christmas tree or wherever you are storing (or hiding) presents as well as on doors or windows. Well-placed cameras may not stop a burglary, but news stories show that more criminals are being identified and caught with home camera systems. (more…)

Interview with LaserShield CEO, Anthony Dohrmann

In the world of home security it is often times a hassle to figure out which home security service fits your personal needs, which has much to do with why so many home security companies have been able to succeed in the home security space over the years.

HSS had the wonderful opportunity of getting to ask the CEO of LaserShield, Anthony Dohrmann, several questions about his company, the different offerings of LaserShield, and what we can look forward to going into the future from LaserShield.

HomeSecuritySystems: How and when was LaserShield created?

Anthony Dohrmann: LaserShield was founded in 1999. The goal of the company was to create instant burglar protection for renters of homes and apartments, who are burglarized over 80% more than those with owned homes. Especially in multi-family apartment environments, the noise level of service providers along with (more…)

ADS Merges Home Security and Automation

ADS Security, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, has bundled together their original product of home security with product offerings from the up-and-coming industry of home automation. The move echoes the initiatives of competitors who are also attempting to gain a foothold in the movement to consolidate home electronics under one master system.

“ADS is proud to offer a home automation service from a company that has always had safety and security as its primary focus,” ADS President and COO, John Cerasuolo, said. “ADS Home Control merges seamlessly with our core business, home security, to offer an ideal home management experience.”

Capabilities include remote access to your alarm system allowing you to arm and disarm from a smartphone, as well as the ability to lock and unlock doors, turn lights on and off, adjust your thermostat settings, and even turn on and off your home’s appliances. These different components can all be (more…)

Burglary Videos | Apple Store, Planet Cellular, Caddo Louisiana

Apple Store Burglary

Suspect crashes through the front of an Apple store with what looks like a BMW. Second suspect rushes in and tries to take as many valuables as he can while the driver tries to back out of the store. After several attempts the driver is able to back out of the store, soon after his accomplice has already left. (more…)