No monitoring means...

@kenspangler SS marketing can be a bit more forthcoming in this area, however, they do breakout what each plan covers on the website and if talk to a sales rep, at least for the customers I recommended, report they were advised of the plan   I suggest you call SS support, explain your logic (which is reasonable on the 2 months free aspect, and ask if you can still return the system for a refund.  Please post your outcome here if you get a chance.

It's my understanding the cameras can be used without monitoring or a camera subscription, but you do not get all the features like cloud storage and activation of the cam during arm/disarm/alarm events.

Hey kenspangler,

I feel your pain. After 2 hours on the phone with my insurance company (Hippo) and SimpliSafe confirming everything you have . Without monitoring, the system is basically WORTHLESS and does not protect me or  my home AT ALL.

Unfortunately, no one reads these and SimpliSafe does not care that they are deceptive and misleading.

At this time, I am committed to monitoring for at least a year to sustain the home owners insurance discounts.

Nothing makes a woman who lives alone feel safer than knowing the money and time she is NOT well spent. *sigh*

@schulajess, first suggest you change your forum name from your email address, for privacy and safety reasons. Second, I stand by my post earlier in this thread, SS has the info there on monitoring. Can it be better? Absolutely yes, but its there. Research all products before you buy, including security systems. Example: YouTubeTV. Great service but nowhere (and I mean no where) does Google tell you they don't support .5.1 surround sound.  I knew that and still signed up two years ago....and give them grief monthly.

@schulajess, the system is not "worthless" without monitoring.  It still lets YOU know that someone breached your perimeter (or did while you were away).  And the siren may encourage the invaders to run off or minimize their intrusion, since they don't know that you don't have monitoring and hate attention being drawn to them or the possibility that the authorities are on the way.  

Note that if you are at home and have monitoring, you are not much safer than without monitoring.  While it is good that authorities come, it will not be high priority and may be actually be longer than if you phone 911.    An invasion that authorities know is into an occupied home will be dispatched at higher priority than an alarm going off without indication the house is occupied.

Alarms don't really provide "safety".  They let you (and with monitoring, authorities) know that your actual security has failed.  Your REAL safety comes from your fences/walls, spiny plants, outside lights, locks, door reinforcements, window grills/screens/films, "safe room" and invasion plans.

So you can have the system set up and running without the monitoring service and all works just fine? with exception of cloud video storage?

SS could add a 3rd option and still have a profit generator.  I have no need to central monitoring, as we work from home and rarely travel. SS could charge a minimal fee for full smartphone app functionality without the added cost of central monitoring, which I feel it at home, would take longer than calling 911 on my own.  I would be willing to pay 5 to 10/mo for full smartphone functions.  It is a bit of "gotcha" the was the plan is set up.    Perhaps if enough users complain, SS will rethink their pricing strategy.

Keep in mind that ANY remote access plan includes a cellular connection to the base, and that is not free to SS.  Furthermore, they would  have to design and implement a new or modified interface to handle the non-monitored functions only, and that would cost a bundle.  So they are not likely to do it, and if they do it, it won't likely be soon or cheap.

So if I live in are area with poor cellular coverage, (which is the case....we use wifi calling on our smartphones) Simpisafe cant send push notifications.  Can it not use wifi calling as our smartphones do ?  I see nowhere in the marketing verbiage that a strong, reliable cell signal is required for full functionality.  Please link me to this disclaimer.  At minimum, I should be able to use my smartphone to arm, disarm, and control the system while on the wifi LAN....and should be able to use Alexa to do the same....none of these functions require a cellular connection.   I also have Canary cameras and can check 3 different cameras from remote locations and there is no cellular connection.....please explain how this video is sent to my phone lacking a SMS card in the cameras.

Hi all,

You can easily see the differences between the Interactive and Standard Monitoring plans by clicking here. While those two plans both include a cellular connection, the SimpliSafe cameras as well as the All-New SimpliSafe system have WiFi chips so a plan that doesn't include cellular or professional monitoring is possible. I've forwarded your requests to our Services Team to look into the possibility of releasing such a plan.

SimpliSafe Social Team
SimpliSafe Home Security

The old system (SS2) used cellular as the primary means of communication.  The new system (SS3) uses Wi-Fi as the primary means of communication and cellular as the backup.  But every account has an activated cellular access whether or not it is ever used, and so SS has to pay a fee for each account opened.

Yes, SS COULD change their entire system design.  There is "technically" doable and then there is "economically" doable.  SS is designed to provide them a profit using the current methodology, which does exactly what they designed it to do.  Yes, they COULD revamp the system to do what you want, but then they would have to raise the prices of their components, which would screw over those of us who WANT to use it the way it is designed.

Here is a hint.  If you don't like the way a product is designed, go buy one which is designed the way you want.  Don't just sit here and whine about it.