When it comes to securing your home, installing a monitored home security system provides some of the most valuable security available. These alarms provide a couple layers of security against burglary. For starters, they create a blaring siren response upon detecting a breach. Additionally, they also create a central station response that can lead to a police dispatch if nesessary! Furthermore, we can also install equipment to secure your home against other security-related threats. For example, we can add fire detection and environmental sensors to your alarm as well. Unfortunately, some customers fail to take important precautions with their alarm. This can greatly decrease the effectiveness of their investment and leave their home and family in danger. In this post, we address perhaps the most common of these issues. Today, we will share some tips for keeping your alarm codes secure.
First, we’ll explain the importance of providing different codes for anyone who may disarm your security system. This represents the foundation for all of the other tips we will share in this post. From there, we’ll show you how our unique interactive alarm monitoring services can help you with this important endeavor. Finally, we’ll explain how our preferred alarm panel provides unique safeguards against anyone who may have an alarm code and comes into your home uninvited. Now, let’s dive in and see why we recommend providing different alarm codes for anyone who may need to use your alarm!
Providing Different Codes for Different Users
When we design an alarm system, we set up a couple different types of alarm codes. For starters, we program numerical codes for your to disarm your security system upon entering the home. Let’s tackle this important topic starting with these codes that you use for daily alarm operation. When many customers set these codes up, they often create one or maybe two codes. Then, they give these out to whoever may need to get in their home. Unfortunately, this can lead to acquiantences or contractors coming back uninvited years down the line and using the codes you gave them to disarm your security. For this reason, we recommend keeping a couple permanent codes as well as some rotating guest codes. These additional codes should get deleted and changed frequently to keep your alarm’s security intact.
Adding interactive cellular monitoring allows you to use an app like this one by Alarm.com to control your security system.
Finally, keeping your verbal passcodes updated can also keep your security more effective. Upon an alarm activation, our central station calls the premise to determine whether to dispatch the authorities. If you wanted to cancel an alarm at that point, you would then recite a verbal passcode to verify your identity. This keeps thieves from cancelling a police appearance at your home — unless they know the passcode. For this reason, we also recommend creating multiple verbal passcodes that also get changed as needed. Keeping alarm codes secure involves paying attention to both numerical disarming codes and verbal passcodes alike. Now, let’s see how our unique interactive alarm monitoring can help you in this area as well.
Taking Advantage of Interactive Security Services
As we pointed out earlier, a monitored alarm can call out for help and set in motion a visit from the police upon detecting a burglary. In order to create this response, we must connect your alarm to our central monitoring station. Traditionally, this process involves tying your property’s existing phone lines to your security panel. In turn, this allows your alarm to dial out to the central station upon detecting trouble. Unfortunately, phone-line based monitoring comes with some serious shortcomings. Since this service relies on a working phone line for its monitoring path, any phone outage effectively negates your alarm monitoring. Of course, events such as severe weather and traffic accidents involving telephone poles can affect phone service. Furthermore, burglars often cut phone lines before attempting a break-in.
For these reasons, we recommend a more updated and secure monitoring service. Cellular monitoring, our most popular type of monitoring, adds additional security. This service involves the installation of a cellular dialer next to your alarm panel. In turn, this dialer uses a cellular network to monitor your alarm. Therefore, cellular monitoring allows your alarm to dial out for help even during phone outages! Furthermore, our cellular dialer, powered by Alarm.com, adds added security and convenience. For example, it offers “interactive” security monitoring that puts you in unique control of your security system. The benefits to this type of monitoring include both security and convenience-related features.
For starters, this service lets you arm and disarm your security system remotely with the Alarm.com app. This creates a huge boost in your efforts for keeping your alarm codes secure. After all, now you can let vistors or contractors into your property in your absense without providing them any alarm code at all. Moreover, you can also add and delete user codes remotely as well. This lets you manage codes quickly and securely. We highly recommend our interactive monitoring service for all of our new alarm customers! Now, let’s look at one more way in which new alarm technology can help you secure your codes.
Use the Latest and Greatest Security Panels
When we search for new security equipment to introduce to our customers, we strive to find new products that add security in every manner possible. For example, our current preferred alarm panel, the QOLSYS IQ Panel 4, includes a slew of great security features. For starters, it comes with the long-range “Power G” wireless receiver. This receiver works in tandem with Power G alarm contacts to allow you to install wireless security sensors far outside of the range offered by standard wireless security technology. This allows you us to install security in any application wirelessly, even in large homes and businesses. In fact, we can even place contacts on outside shed doors or gates using this technology!
The QOLSYS IQ Panel 4 has a range of impressive security features that make it a leading product in the industry.
Additionally, the QOLSYS IQ Panel 4 comes with the Alarm.com dialer installed right out of the box. This means that you will experience all of the security features described in the previous section when installing this alarm, including the ability to manage codes with the Alarm.com app. Finally, this panel even takes a picture of anyone using an alarm codes to disarm the security system! Therefore, even if someone does use a code assigned to someone else in order to enter your home, you now have photographic evidence that allows you to see just who did so. Since you’ll also have a record of the code they used, you can also change the code they used at this point and deactivate it. The extra security these features provide should help you see why we recommend this alarm system to all of our new security customers!
Putting it All Together and Keeping Your Alarm Codes Secure
We hope that this post helps you in your efforts in keeping your alarm codes secure. As always, we also encourage you to contact us with any questions that reading this post raises for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquiries. Additionally, we also invite you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We’ve always offered complimentary security surveys and equipment quotes to both new and existing customers alike. We also extened this offer to customers in both residential and commercial applications. While on site, we can address any and all of your security concerns. Furthermore, we can also make suggestions of our own based on observations we make during our visit.
Perhaps you have some security measures in place, but wish to take advantage of some of the tips and best practices described here. Or, maybe you have very little in the way of security now, and want to get a plan in place from the ground up. Either way, we are here to help! Over our 35 years in business, we’ve helped over a thousand customers create complete security plans for that fit their application’s unique security needs while also delivering the user experience that they desire. Together, we can create a security plan to keep your property — as well as everyone on it — as safe and secure as possible!