Recently moved into our new house with an operating Bosch alarm system, run off power with no GSM / back to base functionality. This meant if someone was to break in, the alarm would go off but I would have no way of being notified, if not present.

My former house had a Paradox GSM system which ran off a SIM card, meaning that you get a text message if the alarm goes off. In the event the power goes down, it has a backup battery for 12 hours, and a text message is sent to advise backup is in use.

I have always previously used a different company for our security systems, but decided to engage Signal as I was interested in the “App” ability of the internet based alarm monitoring (vs GSM/ SIM cards). Being able to arm/ disarm and receive notifications via the App was a big draw card.

Of course, a limitation of the internet option is if the cable is cut / internet down, the App notifications will not work. When I inquired with the sales consultant from Signal as to what happens in the event this is so, they advised that the app will 1) automatically send you a notification when the internet is not working and 2) store notifications in the background (eg. Alarm triggered etc.) and push those to you via the app when the internet is reconnected.

On the basis of the above being factually correct, I decided to go with Signal and this more expensive internet based solution (vs what I had at my former house with sim / text notifications), at a cost of $2.4k.

However, on install I was told by the technician that point 1 above is not correct, there is no notice provided if the internet is cut/ not functioning, meaning that the end result is the same as the pre-existing Bosch solution that the house had - specifically, if you are not home, you don’t know the alarm has gone off.

Frustrated having just wasted $2.4k on a solution I would not have opted for if correctly advised, I called their customer service and was told the same advice that the technician explained, which was well and good but not the same as the sales pitch. The customer service officer was empathetic and advised he would speak to the specialists and call me back the following day to see what could be done. I never received a call back.

Approximate cost: $2400