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Ask HN: My house was robbed.

8 points by skilesare ↗ HN
Nothing of consequence was taken. A couple iPads. MacBook Pro but all my client files are in Dropbox. We may have lost a few family pictures. My MacBook called home but myself and five officers couldn't narrow down the apartment that it was in(or they didn't think we could get a search warrant for all 10 possible units).

The most valuable thing that was taken was my wife's feeling of security.(and mine too if I'm trying not to be too macho)

So here's my question: what do you all use for home security? I've been screwed by ADT's long term contracts before and while I have att uverse as my ISP, I don't have a landline and that used to complicate monitoring. I'm hoping the world has progressed.

Ideally it would be something with cameras that upload to the cloud so that if a burgled takes the hosting unit it will be to late and I'll have them on tape. If I could get alerts of movement on my mobile when I'm not home, that would be awesome too. Monitoring is not a must because I think it is pretty much worthless but LOUD NOISES would be nice.

10 comments

[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 35.1 ms ] thread
aosmith
I've been broken into before too, it sucks. What was the method of entry? Can you prevent the same thing from happening again by improving something? That's better than the alarm IMHO.
skilesare
They came in my daughters window. It may have been unlocked or they popped off the latch.
amerkhalid
There are security companies (like Smith Thompson in Dallas) that uses cell phone towers. You don't need landline for them.

I also have Foscam that emails me whenever movement is detected.

Also you can install monitor/security systems that are not monitored. You can still setup codes and arm system when away. It is just that if no one is monitoring the alarms, then no one will call police. But it should still scare away intruders.

bcl
Linux box + motion + IP cameras.
coryghs
GHS Interactive Security (California) is a fan of hacker news. I don't want to post my contact info directly out of respect but I've saved lives so it's important to people. If you call us and ask for the SBC Manager Cory you can get a fairly decent guy to answer some fairly tough questions you may have.

Edit to add info requested in op. Alarm.com cloud services No upfront option Vpn tunneled cameras Cellular and IP routing Rapid Responce monitoring center monitors gov. clients.

Disclosure, I work there and can provide some promo price cloud stuff on a friend type deal.

honksillet
Dang. Narrowed it down to 10 possible suspects. It seems like there should be some way to nail which one it is.
koberstein
On a sidenote: don't forget to write the stolen stuff of on next years' taxes.
javaun
First, I'm so sorry. We were broken into in October 2012. The big fear as we waited outside for the police to say we could enter (they dusted for prints) was that we'd lose photos of our kids. They took laptops, but not the backups. I now have offsite backups.

Security is an antiquated industry. I went with Simplisafe.com. It's a self-installed system, it uses wireless over t-mobile to call home. It has a 24/7 call center monitoring the alarm and they do call 911 quickly. I know this bc we had a few false alarms after installing.

Simplisafe has great service and there is no contract, but as a practical reality you don't have many choices in the space anyway. So yeah, you can cancel, but there's not too many places to go. You can also buy a brinks/ADT yard sign on eBay, since to my mind that's scarier than a startup most thieves haven't heard of.

The only part of home security Simplisafe reinvents is the installation. I thought they were coming out with a networked fire alarm, but they're not moving to be a total home automation or internet of things play. You can't add third party hardware, like the Foscam or GE home automation stuff I have. I see why Simplisafe doesn't want to just support any HW, since the result of a false positive is their call center calling the police .

I am not a fan of their motion sensors. That was the cause of both false alarms. It wasn't the cat, they later told us that the air mass coming out of forced air heating looks like a person. This is a big deal and I screamed at them for not disclosing this. The police where I live are very helpful, and we cried wolf twice. The first time, the neighbor unlocked the door and an officer entered our home gun drawn. That must've been incredibly tramautic for that officer. And of course we were fined twice.

Hang in there. That first night, my family slept w/ the neighbors. I was at Home Depot and a man starting his late night shift cut a perfect piece of plywood for me. I used it to board up our broken door like you might before a hurricane. I was so grateful to have that help, to have the help of police, and neighbors. It was a temporary euphoria because, as you mention, you're going to be on guard for quit a while.