This is now the most hot new thing nowadays. It is one great use case for this Internet of Things (IoT) craze they were talking about. Even Apple is trying to get into this via that new "Home" app they bundled on iOS 10. Basically, the concept is connect everything to the internet. Either direct or through a "hub". The latter is best practice because obviously, you need some kind of centralized command and control.
I recently installed Samsung's SmartThings product at my home and loved it. Pairing of the devices is very easy, even with the third party Z-Wave Smoke/CO alarm from First Alert. Creating routine is the best. Routines like if your phone (and your partner's phone) leaves the house, it will set to "armed (away)" mode. Disarm if at least one of the phones enters the house. Don't know yet if there's a huge battery drain on my phone but its something I need to watch out for. Similarly, there are routines for going to sleep and waking up and the "armed (stay)" is the option for it. You can create custom routines so the possibility of home automation is endless.
I still have ADT at my place and considering if I still need this. I'm paying like $$ monthly subscription which looks like the SmartThings does the same thing. For example, the ADT systems simply sends alerts which the SmartThings is intended to do so. How about police and/or fire dept you ask? ADT never calls the police or even the fire department. It's still the homeowner's responsibility to contact them. Yes there is this button on their terminal to reach out to police/fire dept but I wonder if this is even working or not. This is a condition if you're at home though. Don't want to test it of course. Nevertheless, its no different from dialing 911.
ADT offer a service that when the alarm is triggered, some security guards will come by the place. This is for another extra $$ on my monthly bill. I wonder what is even the turnaround on this. But once they confirmed its not false positive, they are the ones to call 911. This is a condition if you're not really at home though.
One advantage of my ADT right now is I have them install a garage door gadget. This has always been my problem where most often we forget to close the garage door ;) . Until I figure out how to add this to the SmartThings, I keeping the ADT for now.
But then again, leaving both alarms is not bad and they actually complement at each other. I place the SmartThings sensors on doors/windows that don't have ADT sensors. At the end of the day, what matter's most is protecting the family (wife and kids) specially when you're at home. Plus the SmartThings is more than just alarm function anyway. Its making the home smarter and/or automated for things that we forget (e.g. forget to turn off the lights or some appliances). It supports z-wave third party devices such as locks, smoke/co alarms, lighting, cameras, etc.
To learn more about this Samsung SmartThings, hit their website. They also list in there multiple third party z-wave sensors compatible with their product.
https://www.smartthings.com
This SmartThings product also connects and can be controlled by Amazon's Alexa.
https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/205275404-How-to-connect-Amazon-Alexa-with-SmartThings
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