By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:38:26 +0000

I left ADT after three years of employment at the National Marketing Center (NMC) in Jacksonville, Florida. The pay was good, the benefits were good, but job satisfaction evaded me for the entire three years. My job was to assist customers in reactivating and reprograming existing ADT alarm systems in their homes remotely over the phone. I was also an ADT customer for three years; ADT employees get a 50% discount on installation and monitoring. During the three years I was a customer, I found that my alarm system was typically effective and that the monitoring center did a pretty good job of responding to the few false alarms I experienced. There was one incident that prompted me to leave ADT (as an employee and as a customer) that occurred several months ago. A fellow employee in my department, for reasons unknown to me, decided to tamper with my personal home alarm system programming using the remote downloader hardware/software ADT utilizes for reactivating existing alarm systems.
This person changed my master arming code and disarmed my alarm system while my wife and I were both away from our home. When we returned home we were obviously concerned that not only had our alarm been disarmed, but we could not re-arm the system either. I discovered the program tampering to my alarm monitoring account when I returned to work and made copies of all program documentation and reported the incident to upper management. No action was ever taken, that particular employee is still at ADT, and I’m no longer an employee or customer there. I have filed a complaint against ADT with the Florida Department of Consumer Affairs because of this incident.
I’d like to let everyone who stumbles across this post know that paying for alarm monitoring should be a thing of the past. Most everyone has a cell phone these days, so why not monitor your own alarm system. With simple programming on the alarm keypad, you can change the phone number that the alarm system dials from the alarm company’s monitoring center to you personal cell phone number. You can call the police, friends, and neighbors and have them check on your home just as easily as some $8.00/hour monitoring center employee can. Most alarm company monitoring centers are required to contact the homeowner or a key holder to the home before they can notify the police anyway.
To monitor your home alarm system via cell phone, you’ll need a few things. First, you’ll need the manufacturer’s installation and programming guide for the make/model of your alarm system. This will walk you through the programming steps for changing codes, phone numbers and so forth on your alarm kepad. Second, you’ll need the phone number and monitoring account number that your alarm is currently programed to dial. You can get this information from your alarm company’s monitoring center operators; if not, ask around in your local area and find a alarm technician (or ex-alarm technician) who can find this information for you (usually for a small fee or favor). Third, you’ll need the installer code for your particular alarm system. This code will allow you to access the advanced programming for your alarm at your keypad. Once you have the programming guide, all phone numbers and codes, it’s just a simple matter of following instructions and typing in numbers on your keypad.
It’s really quite simple; if you can set up address book phone numbers in your cell phone, you can reprogram your alarm system. When the alarm goes off in your home you’ll be notified directly on your cell phone, and you can in turn call the police yourself.
Now, if all that’s too complicated for you, or if you can’t obtain all the codes and information you need for your alarm, there is another option that will still allow you to monitor your own alarm system. You’ll have to purchase a digital alarm phone dialer. You can usually find one of these at your local Radio Shack or electronics store or by searching on-line. These automatic phone dialers can usually be had for around $80.00. A digital dialer can easlily be wired (just two wires usually) to the siren output connection in the main control panel of your alarm system (that’s the metal box that houses the main circuitry and system back-up battery for the alarm system). When the digital phone dialer is installed you’ll unplug the alarm system from your home phone wiring and plug the digital alarm dialer phone cord into any phone jack in your home. The digital phone dialer will come with wiring and programming instructions and are much easier to program than the alarm system itself. A big plus with most digital phone dialers is that you can program two, four, or even six phone numbers for the system to dial in the event of an alarm. This allows you to program your cell phone, neighbors phone, friends, other family members, etc…please note; however, you should not program the dialer to call police or other emergency services; that’s unlawful in most areas.
So, stop paying $30, $40, $50 per month or more for alarm monitoring and take control of your own home security. You can do this with a lot of the alarm systems that are out there; it’s just a matter of doing some research and/or spending a little cash, and doing a little wiring.
For those of you that do not have a home alarm system and are thinking about getting one for your home a company called X-10 has a pretty good do-it-yourself system that comes with keypad, remote keyfob, six number digital voice phone dialer, five window/door contacts, two motion sensors, and an additional wireless keypad, all for under $200.00. Just google X-10 and you’ll find their website. I bought one of these systems for my 75 year old mother-in-law and it works great. I installed the entire system and programmed it in under two hours.
I’m not a what you would call and expert alarm technician, but then electronic alarm systems and alarm system monitoring is not rocket science either. Even the latest and most advanced electronic home alarm systems still use the same basic circuitry and components that have been used in home alarm systems for the past 30 years or more. I have to laugh whenever I see ADT’s new commercial where they talk about their “new” keychain remote control…they’ve been selling that same remote for at least 20 years now.
You’ll pay $400/year and up for monitoring with most alarm companies, and yes, they do sometimes provide technical service if the alarm breaks, but most problems you would ever have with a home alarm system you can fix yourself (if you have basic mechanical skills), like replacing the system backup battery, reattaching a lose door or window contact or replacing batteries in wireless door/window sensors and motion sensors, etc…
If the alarm system is just totally screwed up, you can easily replace the entire system yourself for less than one service call from an alarm company technician.
I hope the information I’ve provided on this post is usefull to some of you out there. At least you know that there are alternatives to paying extortion fees to an alarm company and being locked into a 3 year contract. I’m sure that there are many other alternative home security solutions out there that cost way less than ADT that I have not mentioned here; so get off this blog and start doing your research.

By: The Post I Never Thought I’d Write | Playgroups are No Place For Children

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:15:14 +0000

[...] rat bastards ADT refusing to help me? I got my revenge via blog. (Update: I get lots of creepy google hits from people researching how to hack into home [...]

By: joe

joe — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:27:58 +0000

yes they suck

By: Erica (Mom's Journal)

Erica (Mom's Journal) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:20:58 +0000

For the last few years my security system has been a very large dog (malamute - probably not the right breed for Alabama). He works great. He's not mean - doesn't chase people or even care that they exist. Just his size is a great deterrent. Unfortunately my "security system" is getting old - oh and if any thieves come prepared my "security system" can be "hacked" by any means of Scooby snack. Erica (Mom's Journal)'s last blog post..Daycare dilemmas

By: RWA

RWA — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:14:12 +0000

Come on...ADT didn't really say it wasn't worth their time, did they? RWA's last blog post..An explanation...of sorts

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:06:42 +0000

You have moved me to make my first comment! I've worked in the alarm monitoring industry for 12+ years and your story doesnt surprise me in the slightest. I don't work for either of the companies you've mentioned. But, it's not hard to hack a system (or re-program as we call it). Yes, any good technician could do it. Yes, a professional criminal could do it. I've got a lot more to say about the alarm industry but I don't want to hijack your comments. Email me if you like. Melissa's last blog post..Goodbye Summer!

By: Alison

Alison — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:46:05 +0000

You should make your new password anal wart heads. Alison's last blog post..I'm Not a Bad Mom, I just need a bathroom break once in awhile

By: Annie

Annie — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:25:11 +0000

Having had the runaround from Sears Service, and our new medical insurance company - I totally hear you on that - I hate it - but at least you got to talk to humans at some point right? Love what the Queen of Shake Shake said lol! Annie's last blog post..Crawling into a bubble.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 05:21:04 +0000

This is post # 2 about moving. #1 was to tell us that you’re moving.

Heather’s last blog post..Twelve

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:07:53 +0000

There is no possible way I can beat the Queen's comment so I'll just give her some mad props and be on my way... Alex's last blog post..Random thing we think is funny

Comments on: Gee, That’s Reassuring…Oh Yeah, ADT Can Kiss My Ass