Protection 1 Security Solutions

I have been using them for about 13 years. There is a monthly fee and their quotes vary depending on what you do, including how many windows and all that. They are pretty good. Their reliability of the alarm system could be improved a bit. They are probably a bit expensive.

We had the Protection One alarm system (for a pre-wired home) installed last fall and have been reasonably happy with their service. The initial consultation and installation process was satisfactory, although they did mis-price the initial installation/equipment charges (and try to charge me an additional amount after the fact). I was able to get the situation resolved fairly easily. The main/national office has some of the best customer service reps I have found anywhere whereas the local office is staffed with a bunch of idiots. It's a pretty odd situation but I just deal with the local office through the national call center. We have had a couple of service calls due to our cellular receiver loosing the signal but it's clear that this has to do with the cell tower going down rather than our equipment (love that ATT!) The service reps were on time and professional. Once the cell tower signal is revived the problem resolves itself. You could do much worse than Protection One although I've gotta think you can do better as well. I have to say that some reps from local (Austin based) alarm companies that came out for an initial estimate were an absolute joke. At least Protection One has some actual professionals working for them. One last thing, the eSecure (remote access) feature is quite handy and we have put it to good use.

It is very rare for a system malfunction. If a repair or new installation is needed, they come out as well. If the alarm goes off, they call to determine if it is accidental. They have an excellent response time when the alarm goes off. They have poor responsiveness with new installation or when maintenance is needed, but when they say they will come, they come. It just might take them more than a week. I will continue to use the services in the future.

The first day, the alarm installer set off the alarm, and could not figure out how to turn it off. It went downhill from there. We were not provided with convenient appointments, the installer was late, they changed appointments at the last minute, and were not familiar with our equipment. They brought parts that did not work with our system, and could not tell us how to set it for different situations. Then we were triple-billed for something we didn't get. We had to contact national to get a refund, as the local people argued and then wanted to apply the money toward our bill! The amount would have paid at least a year's worth of monitoring.

We had some initial problems with the salesperson, he was new and couldn't answer some of the questions we had. However after the installation was done, everything worked out just fine. The approximate cost listed was for the installation. I think it's about $27 a month for on going service.

Protection 1 has always called on every false alarm. We had one false alarm when we were on vacation, and they had the police and fire department out to our home. The safety of the home and residents were always their first priority and we felt pretty safe knowing that Protection 1 monitored our home.