@ Melissa_7166866 I have been a customer with SS since April 2012, and had SS2 and now SS3. Even SS's worst day was better than ADT's best day. We were a Brinks customer, then ADT bought them. They were over priced, dishonest and were a PIA even after we were with Simplisafe with their contract nonsense. Be careful to read your contract carefully and fully be aware of how to cancel/end your agreement.
In my opinion SS on the Total Command 24.99 plan is worth every penny and the company, when it trips up (which it does and will) will try and make it right.
Historically, one major negative is extremely long wait times for support during the winter holidays, mid November through end of January. Other times of the year okay. One ray of hope is that SS is finally establishing a second call center in the southeast to expand its support bandwidth. Monitoring is done by a third party COPS (you can Google them and find info on their site) and over the years has been nothing short of excellent.
Finally, I have recommended and placed over 30 systems, including daughter, 2 brother-in-laws, 5 nieces/nephews, in-laws, neighbors, co workers, friends etc and they all still talk to me. :-) Issues do come up but SS has always come through.
Good luck with your decision, but as you already know, if not SS, go with anyone beside ADT!
We haven't had a contract in MANY years, which is why they seem to have spitefully kept raising monitoring. It was up to about $54 a month recently, and I threatened to quit, so they dropped it to $42. But I just KNOW it will creep up again.
That's the reason I dropped ADT. I have been on month-to-month since 2017 and I was up to $59 per month. Now I'm at 25. My system was never great. I had entry sensors only on doors and everything else was covered by three motion detectors. I was never very comfortable that I was covered. I sunk a bunch of money into sensors but now I have every window and door covered, motion sensors in every room with any entry, and freeze and water sensors. And I have four sirens and two keypads. Since I am now paying less than half of what I paid for ADT, my system will pay itself off more quickly. It's more of a hobby for me than anything else, now.
THEY don't raise their fees for taxes. Your STATE made them collect the taxes. They are not part of the monitoring fee; they are set by, collected for and used by YOUR state government. If you don't like it, talk to them.
@Melissa_7166866 The cell connection (SIM card, no phone) is located in the base unit. The key panel, or keypad, does not have the SIM. An intruder can use a baseball bat on the keypad after a sensor is set up and the siren is blaring and the monitoring company will still be contacted.
As far as you question on primary and secondary, I am going on the basis that you are asking about who is contacted by the monitoring company prior to an alarm (/) you can add a primary contact and a secondary contact. If I got that wrong, my apologies up front.
If you more questions, you can also SS direct to answer them.
If you are speaking about communications modes, primary is wi-fi and secondary (backup) is cellular. (for SS3). For SS2, primary is cellular, and backup is optional land line.
Well, if you want cameras, don't bother. We just signed up for a new system. Install was easy, except their cameras don't work. They have a "known firmware' issue, but apparently don't know how to fix it. Eight cameras later, we are returning our complete system for a refund. SimpliSafe does not have a functioning product, so, no thanks.
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sevensiamesecats
Advocate
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2.2K Messages
3 years ago
AS far as I know, SS has never raised their monitoring fees (except if a state forces them to collect tax).
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captain11
Captain
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5.1K Messages
3 years ago
In my opinion SS on the Total Command 24.99 plan is worth every penny and the company, when it trips up (which it does and will) will try and make it right.
Historically, one major negative is extremely long wait times for support during the winter holidays, mid November through end of January. Other times of the year okay. One ray of hope is that SS is finally establishing a second call center in the southeast to expand its support bandwidth. Monitoring is done by a third party COPS (you can Google them and find info on their site) and over the years has been nothing short of excellent.
Finally, I have recommended and placed over 30 systems, including daughter, 2 brother-in-laws, 5 nieces/nephews, in-laws, neighbors, co workers, friends etc and they all still talk to me. :-) Issues do come up but SS has always come through.
Good luck with your decision, but as you already know, if not SS, go with anyone beside ADT!
Have a great weekend.
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greytdiver
3 Messages
3 years ago
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melissa_716686646111191
4 Messages
3 years ago
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sevensiamesecats
Advocate
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2.2K Messages
3 years ago
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captain11
Captain
•
5.1K Messages
3 years ago
As far as you question on primary and secondary, I am going on the basis that you are asking about who is contacted by the monitoring company prior to an alarm (/) you can add a primary contact and a secondary contact. If I got that wrong, my apologies up front.
If you more questions, you can also SS direct to answer them.
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sevensiamesecats
Advocate
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2.2K Messages
3 years ago
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mellens_1
2 Messages
3 years ago
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