Guide to Wireless Home Security Systems

Wireless home security systems typically embody advanced wireless and sensing technologies that secure customers' home or sensitive places. They can monitor and detect irregular activities in certain areas and take actions defined by customers. There are various wireless home security products available on market. Some products require subscription fee and the customers pay the corresponding companies a monthly fee for augmented security, and others are simply off-the-shelf products that are installed and maintained by the customers. Needless to say, expensive products that require subscriptions are better supported, and the security measures embedded are more abundant.

The functions wireless home security products have the following categories of functions: sensing, monitoring and acting. Sensing functions help sense and detect irregular activities such as motion, light and sound, and these functions are enabled by various sensors. Monitoring allows the customer to monitor and check the irregularities, and this typically includes live video and audio. The actions they can take vary significantly. Some products can raise alarms, turn on light, and even call user-defined numbers.

The prices of wireless home security systems depend on the functions and services provided by the systems. Low-end systems cost only dozens or a few hundred dollars, but high-end systems can cost up to thousands of dollars. The services provide surely vary a lot. For instance, though low-end products can detect motions up to one hundred feet, some high-end ones can detect movement thousands of feet away.

Based on my experience, for common customers, non-subscription systems are sufficient for most customers. Customers should balance between the cost and functions. If the house being secured is only two thousand square feet, it makes little sense spending thousands of money on a product that can detect motions three thousand feet away. However, I think one feature is really useful and should definitely be included in the product you want to buy. The feature is automatic dialing. With this function, the system will dial pre-defined numbers when irregular activities are detected. Also, to ensure the receiving the alarm, the numbers defined ought to be more than one. These numbers can be the customers' cell numbers, office numbers, or 911. Another feature that is also very useful is the live video. Live video allows you to check the detected alarm and take further actions. However, no products can be intelligent enough to prevent all false alerts, thereby human interventions are still necessary. The feature of live video allows you to intervene to eliminate these false alerts.