[Goldwingnut]

I'll put my 2 cents with in here. First let me explain my background. I retired last year from Johnson Controls after nearly 20 years of working for them. During this time I was a technician and engineer for large scale security security systems (data centers, sports arenas, hospitals, high rise building, courthouses, etc. were projects I engineered and installed), followed by several years a security consultant and sales, then Security Operations Manager for West Tenn, Mississippi, and Arkansas, then the last 12 years as a construction Project Manager in Florida for Security Major Projects. I've delt with security aspects and projects from schools to airports to courthouses from the back woods to inner city Memphis and Fort Lauderdale. I've trained myself to think to the level of those I was protecting my customers from.

All this being said, here's my take:
Ring, SimpliSafe, and any of the internet based system are defeated in 10 seconds with a pair of wire cutters by cutting the internet connection - cable, fiber, whatever, they all are exposed outside the home. This is normally next to the electric meter with the disconnect to turn power off to the house.

Home alarm systems are and have been basically worthless. Unless you have every door monitored and every window with both a concealed position switch and a glass break sensor, and cellular communication your system is easy to get around, motion detectors are worthless. Oh yes, don't forget the alarm horn has to be outside so it alerts and wakes all your neighbors, inside it's barely audible outside and easy to turn off with a baseball bat and wire cutters.

The alarm industry knows that after 3 to 4 months most customers stop setting the alarm system every time they go out and over 90% stop being used completely after 6 months. The contract for service are written so that cancellation is difficult and has penalties for termination, you're locked in for 2-3 years at first when you get your "free" system. Contract renewals are automatic and normally for 1 year or more, hardly ever month-to-month. Once renewed if you decide to cancel the early termination penalty is normally the total amount of the remaining contract, so most just keep it active once they learn they'll have to pay it one way or another and forget about it until it renews again. The automatic billing to a credit card sent profits through the roof for the industry. Most people never even notice the billed amount.

There are no Danny Ocean's and Al Monday's out there looking to break into your house, most robberies are smash and grab. The "protected by ADT" sigh is an invitation to be robbed as most career burglars are aware of the compliancy that I described above.

The single best home protection system has 4 legs and a loud bark, to the average burglar it's just not worth the risk or effort to deal with an unknown dog. Even then, for the average house, if you have something they want, your still not going to stop them.

The best window sign I say in my 20 years was "Protected by NRA Life Member, Don't Think About It".

Bottom line, don't waste your time, a locked door will keep an honest man honest, the determined can't be stopped.