Home Security And Alarm Systems

We’re all so connected these days. With iPhones and an almost countless number of other smart phones and mobile devices showing up everywhere, I suppose it was a natural progression for the home security industry to get involved and modernize their services to take advantage of our connected world.

One of the best-known security companies in the U.S. is ADT and the company is offering some pretty unique services that go well beyond home security. Dubbed “Pulse,” ADT’s high-tech service allows customers to stay in touch with whatever happens to be going on at their home using their mobile device or smart phone. ADT, of course, is known primarily for their alarm system business, but have expanded beyond that into other types of home monitoring and automation.

ADT’s Pulse service will alert customers in the event of a break-in at their home. This is a great safety feature if you consider an individual or a family that has been away from their home and are now about to return. An alert sent to their mobile device that their burglar alarm has been triggered could keep them from unknowingly entering their home and coming face-to-face with an intruder.

Pulse customers don’t have to be watching their devices at all time in order to know what’s going on at home while they’re away. Customizable e-mail and text message alerts can be set up that can alert them about an event that has occurred at their home, such as intrusion alarm intrusion, fire or smoke alarm activation, temperature alert, flood alert and more.

In addition to intrusion alarm notifications, ADT’s Pulse also allows customers to either arm or disarm their security system using their mobile device or smart phone – a great feature if you leave your home and realize that you forgot to arm the system or need to disarm your system in order to allow a family member or other trusted individual to enter the home while you are away.

But the capabilities of Pulse do not end there. There are also options which can monitor for flooding and temperatures inside your home. Although it’s not all that common, sometimes a dish washer or washing machine water hose can burst or become disconnected, which can result in a serious and damaging flood inside a home. It’s also possible for a heating system to fail when nobody is at home and that can also lead to flooding if the outdoor temperatures are low enough to freeze and potentially burst water pipes. These are the kinds of home emergencies you’ll need to know about as soon as possible so that the damage can be minimized.

Fire, smoke and carbon monoxide detection is also available and I suppose I don’t need to say too much more about the life-saving benefits of those features.

Remote video monitoring is another great option for ADT Pulse customers. You can see the goings-on inside or outside your home with video cameras that are integrated into the Pulse system, and you can do it from any location that allows you to access the internet with your smart phone or mobile device. This may give homeowners the ability to stop a crime before it even happens if suspicious persons or other activity is seen outside your home. It’s also great for parents who work outside the home and have children that may be coming home from school in the afternoon. Being able to actually look inside your home and see that your child is home safely provides great peace-of-mind.

Another unique feature of ADT’s Pulse is something I dreamed about before I bought the house I live in today. I had been reading a lot about home automation – mainly the X10 technology – before we moved in but for one reason or another I never got around to implementing it here. Pulse provides a robust home automation system which allows customers to control thermostats and lighting, which increase a home’s energy efficiency and helps lower utility bills and just makes life more convenient.

ADT Pulse sounds to me like the do-it-all home security and monitoring system, and in these days of economic uncertainty where crime is on the increase in many areas and it’s increasingly costly to replace lost belongings or make home repairs, an investment in a system such as ADT’s Pulse may actually end up being a money-saver.