Home Security | Comparisun

Question 1

What does home security monitoring actually cost per month?

Accepted Answer

Monitoring is billed separately from equipment. DIY plans like Cove start at the low end, while professionally installed systems such as Vivint and Brinks sit higher because the price covers installation, service visits and a monitoring centre. Compare the monthly figure over the full contract term, not the headline rate — a low first-year price often steps up at renewal.

Question 2

Which fees are easy to miss when signing up?

Accepted Answer

The recurring monitoring fee is only part of it. Look for equipment financing spread across the contract, activation and installation charges, early termination fees, and price increases at renewal. Each provider review on this page lists the fees we could verify, including the ones that only appear in the contract.

Question 3

Do I have to sign a long-term contract?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the provider. Cove sells equipment outright and does not require a term commitment. Vivint and Brinks commonly tie the equipment financing to a multi-year monitoring agreement, which is what makes cancelling expensive. Ask for the term length and the early termination amount in writing before you order.

Question 4

Is professional installation worth paying for?

Accepted Answer

Professional installation earns its cost when the property is large, the layout is awkward, or the system integrates with door locks, cameras and thermostats. For an apartment or a small house with a handful of sensors, DIY kits are designed to be installed in under an hour and remove that cost entirely.

Question 5

How much do customer complaints matter when choosing?

Accepted Answer

They matter most where they cluster. Isolated grumbles about a delayed delivery say little; repeated complaints about billing, contract cancellation or unresponsive support point at how the company behaves once you are already a customer. Each review below sets out what the complaint record shows and where it came from.

Question 6

What should I check before I commit?

Accepted Answer

Four things: the total cost over the whole contract rather than the monthly rate, who owns the equipment when you leave, what cancelling costs and how it has to be done, and whether monitoring is handled in-house or by a third party. Every provider on this page is measured against the same four points.

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