That question, along with the following, are some of the most asked questions we hear:

Do the big national companies actually "give" their systems away?  ...And if so, how do they do it?  Are these "free" systems any good?  Is Eagle Security competitive with the big national companies?   What makes Eagle Security better?  We will address each of these questions.

In all cases, the "free" equipment constitutes the bare minimum of equipment required to fit the description:.  Usually included in this package are a keypad, control, battery, two door contacts, and sometimes a motion sensor.  That package actually does fit the needs of about 30% of the homes. 

It is with the "add ons" that the picture changes.  They usually charge from $150 to $250 for motion sensors, $125 to $150 for additional keypads, $75 for additional doors, $200 for smoke detectors.  In many cases they have the phone company do the telephone work.  That can cost the homeowner another $60 or more.   With those additional charges, a so-called "free" system will often cost $500 to $700.

But even in the case of the "basic" package, the free system is still not truly free.  Along with the alarm system the homeowner also gets a very complicated contract.  ...And, without signing that contract, he does not get the free system.  

What does that contract do?  Well, for one thing, it doesn't do much to protect the interests of the homeowner, while at the same time it does a great deal for the alarm company.  Typically, this is what is in that contract:

1--It limits liability.  That means if your free system doesn't work, you are legally very limited in what you can do about it.  That is, it makes it next to impossible to sue for monetary relief.
2--It requires you to pay the company a monthly fee for several years--sometimes up to five years.  If you do not pay the monthly, they can not only take back that "free" system, but they can take your house too.
3--The amount of that fee is most often substantially above (sometimes as much as double) the prevailing rate offered by the local alarm companies. 
4--These contracts make it virtually impossible to legally contract with another monitoring company, should you become displeased with the service.

Consider along with these facts that in order to have your "free" system maintained, you have to come up with at least another $5 per month (service contract).

It would not be unusual for a homeowner of a pretty average 1200 square foot home to pay $500 for "additional equipment" at the time of installation, another $60 to have the phone company hook up the telephone line for monitoring, and $30 per month for monitoring and service contract for a period of five years.  That comes to a grand total of $2360. 

If it wasn't before, it should now be obvious that these "free" systems are anything but free.  Perhaps Grandpa was right all along:  "There's no such thing as a 'free lunch.'"

Are these "free" systems any good?  It is not surprising that some of the national companies have built their systems around the cheapest components available.  However, the trend now seems to be toward a more reliable control panel.  In fact, many of the nationals have contracted with Ademco for their CPUs.  That is a good sign, because Ademco makes a very good product.

The product Ademco has come up with for these companies looks to me to be a revised version of Vista 10.  These units are, however, proprietary in nature.  That means that they have been designed with a unique software package specifically for the particular national, and they cannot be monitored by any other alarm company.

So, while the trend is toward better equipment, in most cases end users are even more tied to the installing company.  This proprietization of equipment means that the installing company can raise your monitoring rates, increase the cost of service, and you can do nothing about it, because no one else in the world can ever monitor your system.   Even at the end of the initial contract period, if you still want to use your system, you must pay your monthly fee to the installing company. 

To find out if the national company is trying to sell you a locked-up proprietary system, ask your salesman this:  "Will you sell me the equipment without the monitoring?"  If he says "No," then ask him for a one year contract.   If he says "No" again, you are probably talking to a proprietary company, and you need to shop around. 

Is Eagle competitive with the big national companies?  Yes!   Absolutely!  Not only are we competitive, but most people will actually save a substantial amount of money with Eagle, over the national companies.  Here's how that is true.  Since none of the nationals we know about typically do contracts for less than a period of three years (most often they go for five), we will use that shorter contract period as a starting point.

Let's start with the minimum "free" system offered by some of the nationals:   one keypad, one control, one battery, one siren, two doors and a motion detector.    Eagle Security would typically charge $385 for that system, and $18 per month monitoring, with a one-year warranty.  Eagle performs the telephone line hookup at no extra charge.

The nationals usually charge about from $25 to $30 per month for monitoring, 60-day warranty, and $5 to $6 per month for a service contract.  Often they have right in their contracts that phone line connection charges will be billed directly to the customer by the phone company.  The minimum telephone company installation charges we know of is $60.  More in some cases.

Using those numbers, this is what the total cost over the three year period would be to the customer: 

It is a simple fact, even in the most basic case, you actually save money with Eagle.  It is financially wiser to "buy" a system from Eagle, than it is to let the nationals "give" you one.  Furthermore, these savings (with Eagle) just keep growing at the end of the initial contract period.  There is no reason to think the monthlies you will pay the nationals will ever go down.  If we look at these three programs over a five-year period (which some nationals have as their minimum), this is what the picture looks like then:

What makes Eagle Security better? We believe Eagle Security provides a better price.  We also believe that we proved a better product.  Here are some Eagle advantages:

1--Local Monitoring.  Some of the nationals boast of having 5000 accounts for each dispatcher.  I guess that is one way to hold costs down, but it is not Eagle's way.
2--Top of the line equipment.  Our product is not a stripped-down proprietized version of the real thing.  We use top-quality Ademco equipment.
3--Better Design.  Our philosophy is not "One size fits all." 

So, the bottom line is this:  you get a better product, for a better price, with Eagle Security. 

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