Seriously, a national company gives you all of the headaches of a normal national company, regardless of the industry. Cell phones, computers, security systems, blah blah they’re all the same.

Here’s the crime of ADT, they charge you $30 a month for standard service. It costs them no more than $3 to monitor your system….nice mark up there.

There are now adaptors that can be used for your security system, http://www.essource.com makes a nice relatively cheap product. It can be a little wonky at times but it does the trick.

Alarm signals do not work over VoIP because of byte packeting and delivery issues and the lack of regulation from a VoIP provider as opposed to a POTS providor who uses Fiber Optics and an internal network. Nine times out of ten you may not have a problem…but what if that 10th time is a CO detector, a fire, or a burglar? Don’t listen to flunkies who want to provide you with a “free” way out, and don’t trust anyone on a silly message board over the internet. Call a decent sized security contractor in your area and ask them to provide you with information…then contact another. Always talk to the manager or owner, as sales people are there to sell you something, managers are there to avoid problems in the future. Lather, rinse, repeat.

When you are finished, ask them for a list of references. Decent security companies have customers who they ask to represent them, and who are willing to take calls on their service.

When all is said and done, be sure you read the contracts, but remember, a contract lawyer can break ANY contract if given enough time!

As for this: “a “real” security system isn’t free or costs $99.00″ this is not really accurate. The is little difference between the systems sold for $99.00, $49.00 or free. They are usually either DSC or Ademmco products, usually include 2 doors and a motion detector, and are usually installed by piece-work contractors. All of these installs cost the company money up front. Money they know they will make up over the years of monitoring. So, if someone is selling a 99.00 alarm without a contract, the only way they could be doing this (in my opinion) is by using the absolute cheapest equipment (junk) and cheapest labor (untrained / uncaring) they can find.

If you want a quality alarm, you need to either pay 100.00s of dollars for the equipment up-front or sign a multi-year contact. Either option can work with a reputable company. But Free, or might as well be free (ie $99.00) and no contract is more likely a scam than a security system in my opinion.

One great way to get a quality, professionally installed product is to contact your local IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) to make sure the alarm company you choose uses union labor.

One problem is that not all services make it possible for the system to be installed with “line seizure”. Alarm companies (good ones anyway) generally require this. If an alarm is installed without out it then all someone has to do it take a phone off the hook when they break in and the alarm cannot dial out.

Another problem is that most VOIP services have no battery backup for their modem (though you can solve this by purchasing a UPS yourself). So if the power is out, you have no phone service and thus no way for the alarm to call out in an emergency.

Yet another problem is service down time. Generally speaking, in my area anyway, though neither is down often, internet service goes down more frequently than POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) phone service.

One solution available to you is a cellular communicator. They are not cheap, and they generally add to your monthly fee, but they would allow communication regardless of the phone service you have.

Another solution is to contact your VOIP provider to see if there is an adapter of something similar to allow for a connection.

Yet another solution would be to have an analog phone number with no extra features (Long Distance not needed as your alarm calls toll free numbers) that you alarm (not to mention a fax machine if you have a need for one) could use.

Finally, you could call your local ADT office and ask then which VOIP services in your area they can work with and then look into them to see if any have comparable services and pricing. You might find a service that you can painlessly switch to that solves the problem.

As for your contract let me ask you this. If you purchased cellular phone service from company with a multi-year contract but later decided you wanted a completely different (super cool) phone that you saw at the mall, bought it, and tossed your old phone in the trash, who would you consider to be at fault when you discovered there was no way to make the new phone work with your existing cellular service?

When you purchased the alarm you had POTS telephone service and the alarm worked fine. When you changed your phone service, it created a problem for your alarm. While I understand how people might not think of their alarm when changing telephone services it’s still a problem THEY create for their alarm service, not something caused by their alarm company.

Congrats on everything!

Marines were horrified at the actions of these three, just like the rest of the world. The rape occured when I was in MOS school, and a short time later, I recieved orders for Okinawa (which I’d requested). My grandmother, who was Japanese, had told me rather horrible stories about the conduct of some American servicemembers stationed in Japan after WWII. Unfortunately, there are bad apples everywhere, including in the armed forces. I, and most of my other fellow Marines, thought turning these three over to Okinawan authorities for punishment was warranted.

And Richard ,check around the smoke sensors for COBWEBBS!

I returned last summer after 30 years to rediscover that amazingly beautiful island, and fell in love all over again.

So many changes in 30 years, and I can clearly see the decline in the number of gaijiins.

Eventually Washington may realize that Okinawa doesn’t belong to America anymore. (!!!) [It never did, of course.] It was refreshing to find that Okinawan culture is once again being taught in schools. Okinawa’s youth are discovering (and appreciating) the unique qualities of their islands and its people.