It's not unusual for a residential home to be equipped with an alarm system today, but if your system is years old then your home may not be as secure as you assume. Many burglars know how to easily disable an outdated keypad, or might be in and out of your home before police can respond to an alarm.
To keep your home secure, you might want to consider some upgrades to your alarm system. There are many features available in home alarms today that were not available even a few years ago, and which can keep your home and your family safe. Consider a few of those upgrades and features here.
1. Website monitoring
One upgrade you might consider for your home's alarm system is website monitoring. You can add cameras to your home's entrances and vulnerable areas and these can switch on with your alarm system. They then broadcast to a secure website which you can monitor at any time of the day. If you want to keep an eye on your home while you're at work or on the road or check on the children when they're home alone, you can just tune into that website and check out the videos. This is an advantage over closed-circuit televisions, where you need to be watching a particular monitor in order to see the image.
2. Remote controls
Since so many people have smart phones, it's good to think about remote controls for your alarm systems. These work with apps or programs you download to your phone or tablet or other device. They allow you to lock or unlock your doors, turn on your alarm system, and even check things like your home's thermostat and if the faucets are turned off. Using these remote controls can help anyone who is often on the road to control their home's security, and will give you peace of mind if you tend to forget to set the alarm when leaving the house.
3. Programmable alarms
As convenient as remote controls can be for alarms, they still require that you manually turn on the alarms and check them when on the road. One good choice for those who travel often is a programmable alarm, which allows you to program certain facets of the alarm while you're away. For example, you can have the alarm shut off during the day if you know a friend will be bringing in your mail, and you can program certain appliances and lights to turn on and off throughout the day or night. With all of these features controlled by one alarm keypad it makes it easy to program your alarm system for days or weeks and then not worry about having to check it while you're away.
Share22 January 2015
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