Home Security

The main purpose of a home security system is to keep your property and the people inside it safer. Harm may come in the form of a burglary, home invasion, fire, flood, or other environmental disaster. Most home security systems can monitor for all of these. These systems use a combination of sensors that communicate over radio frequencies or wires to a central hub, which then communicates with the outside world using a cellular connection or occasionally a landline. The hub is generally a touch screen mounted to your wall or a small box placed on a counter or in a cupboard.

The sensors are installed strategically around your home at entry points such as doors and first-floor windows, as well as in hallways and high-traffic areas. They detect when a door or window is opened or closed, when someone is moving around in your home, or both. When the system is armed, it sends an alert to the hub after a sensor is triggered. The hub then sounds an audible alarm, sends you a notification (a phone call, text, or a notification on a mobile app), and can alert a monitoring center if you have professional monitoring.

With professional monitoring, trained security company employees track the signals from your system and attempt to contact you and the relevant authorities if a potential threat is detected. All professionally installed security systems require professional monitoring contracts for up to three years. Most DIY systems give you the choice of using professional monitoring with no long-term commitment.