Adt Domestic. Should I Insist On Grade 3 ?

[homeowner1234]

Hi

We've just had a quote from ADT for our new home which is sitauted about 50M from the nears other property and whose gardens can not be seen from the road or most anywhere else.

The installer came at night so imo perhaps wasn't able to see its relative isolation nor was there any discussion about what valuables there might be left in the house. He was essentially proposing a system based on using the only phone line, plus other pirs and dual sensor in the garage.

I asked him about using a dualcom gsm based system and he gave me a reasonable quote for that but having read around including stuff on this great forum I'm wondering if I should make sure the system is to grade 3? Perhaps adt would fit it as grade 3 anyway? I guess what I don't want is to fork out per month for something which could be broken into simply by cutting the line or someone spraying somthing or otherwise covering the pirs and/or some other easy tricks to bypass other parts of the system. In particular paying for a dualcom every month seems false economy if its still only grade 2?

Any views or opinions gratefully received.

[Guest Oxo]

Dualcom is that, two paths.

A digi is just the phone line. I would go for Dualcom here whatever the grade, due as you mention to the certain isolation.

Will work just as well at G2 or G3.

Put the proposal to your insurers and see what they say, thats the bottom line.

If you have large amounts or a big work of art then they may well insist on G3.

As for masking and other issues, you have a lot of visitors you cannot trust?

So what ever grade use Dualcom, get your insurers to earn their money for a change.

Mine just hiked the premium again, although I think its just the VAT change this time.

[james.wilson]

I'd agree that g2 Dualcom should only be used with caution but to be fair as a rule most domestics are grade 2.

If you want an easy starter for risk assessment and help deciding a grade have a look at our sia techmaster tool listed in downloads, answer the questions and see roughly what grade you are.

[Guest Oxo]

Click the link for the download.

LINK

[homeowner1234]

Thanks for the informative replies. I did find the tool but wasn't sure which version to install.

Also, unlike a business, my main motivation is not stop the theft of goods (that is secondary). I mainly want to reduce the risk of the home being burgled as much as possible so its difficult to put a price on protection of privacy. This made me think I should try to get the best system we can afford.

On the other hand, I didn't realise that (for example) the difference bvetween grade2 and grade3 pirs would only (by the sounds of it) be relevant in a business where someone might try to deactivate them when the system wasn't set in order to subsequently do the dastardly deed (you are right that there wouldn't be people in our home we couldn't trust). If the other grade 3 requirements are similarly not relevant to us then perhaps I'm too fixated on grades and should be happy with a grade2 plus dualcom?

I don't know what adt would normally fit - I guess I should ask the salesmen in the New Year. Interestingly, he said that in his entire career he'd only come across one incident of thieves cutting the line ("..and that was at a very large and isolated country house...") so maybe the extra £15 per month for dualcom isn't worth it (Although it doesn't sound like that much more).

[james.wilson]

Line cuts are common, else there wouldn't be a need for dual path.

Personally id recommend a redcare over a Dualcom product.

Both similar cost.

[MrHappy]

To simplify the higher the grade the more secure

I suspect your grade 2 alarm comprises of g2 dual com, g2 galaxy, g2 pirs'

now if you want more secure there no reason why you can't pay more money to have a g3 or g4 dualcom,(polls more oftend)

or, g3 sensors, (led control, back tamper & mask)

or g3 controls (bigger batteries ect...)

if you have say g2 sensors then the grade will be of the lowest item not the g3 of dualcom or controls

[PeterJames]

Thanks for the informative replies. I did find the tool but wasn't sure which version to install.

Also, unlike a business, my main motivation is not stop the theft of goods (that is secondary). I mainly want to reduce the risk of the home being burgled as much as possible so its difficult to put a price on protection of privacy. This made me think I should try to get the best system we can afford.

On the other hand, I didn't realise that (for example) the difference bvetween grade2 and grade3 pirs would only (by the sounds of it) be relevant in a business where someone might try to deactivate them when the system wasn't set in order to subsequently do the dastardly deed (you are right that there wouldn't be people in our home we couldn't trust). If the other grade 3 requirements are similarly not relevant to us then perhaps I'm too fixated on grades and should be happy with a grade2 plus dualcom?

I don't know what adt would normally fit - I guess I should ask the salesmen in the New Year. Interestingly, he said that in his entire career he'd only come across one incident of thieves cutting the line ("..and that was at a very large and isolated country house...") so maybe the extra £15 per month for dualcom isn't worth it (Although it doesn't sound like that much more).

The grade of the system is not as important as the grade of the monitoring and the amount of detection.

Its all about the risk, and Area Building and Contents all come into play with regards the risk, for example if you are a antique collector with a house in the middle of nowhere with single pain leaded windows, you could be considered as high risk, but that doesnt necessarily mean you need a grade 3 or 4 system but it does mean you need to have grade 3/4 monitoring be it DualCom, Red Care Secure, or the other one that uses BroadBand.

Police will only attend a confirmed/ verified activation the most popular way of doing this is two detectors activating confirming that there is someone in the building rather than a false alarm. Therefore you also need to consider how much detection is needed, if a burglar could get into one room steal a high value of contents you need two detectors of different technology in that room

In your position I would get three quotations, and go with the company that provides you with the most confidence not the cheapest quotation (Security is something that matters and should not be a bargain)

[reidy]

The grade of the system is not as important as the grade of the monitoring and the amount of detection.

Its all about the risk, and Area Building and Contents all come into play with regards the risk, for example if you are a antique collector with a house in the middle of nowhere with single pain leaded windows, you could be considered as high risk, but that doesnt necessarily mean you need a grade 3 or 4 system but it does mean you need to have grade 3/4 monitoring be it DualCom, Red Care Secure, or the other one that uses BroadBand.

Police will only attend a confirmed/ verified activation the most popular way of doing this is two detectors activating confirming that there is someone in the building rather than a false alarm. Therefore you also need to consider how much detection is needed, if a burglar could get into one room steal a high value of contents you need two detectors of different technology in that room

In your position I would get three quotations, and go with the company that provides you with the most confidence not the cheapest quotation (Security is something that matters and should not be a bargain)

QFA

[Cubit]

Mine just hiked the premium again, although I think its just the VAT change this time.

Insurance companies can't/don't charge VAT.