ADT Handles ~15 Million Alarms Per Year - How Many Of Them Are False?

JH
John Honovich
May 14, 2018
IPVM

12-second new video from ADT:

While I am not sure of the point of making that into a video, it is an interesting data point. Online references put ADT's accounts at ~7 million, assuming so, that makes an average of 2 alarms per account per year.

But how many are false? How many are filtered out? How many false alarms reach police? Anyone see any data on that?

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Daniel S-T
May 14, 2018

I don't really understand the point here either, obviously a marketing thing. I never quite understood why people picked ADT for home alarm monitoring, when in my area, they were always at least $10/month more than any local company. Plus you filter in all the delays they put in their systems, and alleged fines for x/number of false alarms.

But some people seem to think bigger=better. So maybe for some customers hearing they get 15 millions signals a year, makes them feel safer with ADT? I'm not sure.

LJ
Lee Jones
May 21, 2018
Support Services Group

Some of us “mature adults” remember when “inner tubes” were an integral part of every vehicle tire, everywhere. Hundreds of millions, that need to be replaced regularly. The 140-year-old ADT is still in the “inter tube” business.   Source: Lee Jones; Support Services Group; LeeSSG@att.net

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John Bazyk
May 21, 2018
Command Corporation • IPVMU Certified

Most alarms are caused by user error, this is why we use DMP to help reduce unnecessary police dispatches by asking the user after they've entered their code if this is a real alarm. I don't have any hard data on this, my opinion is purely on what we see on a daily bases from our central station reports. We do not use the term false alarm anymore in our business. We have seen too many times where police or a homeowner claimed the system generated a false alarm, then it was discovered that there was an attempt to break-in after further investigation by ourselves or the homeowner. Unfortunately, most police do not do a thorough investigation when they're dispatched for a home burglary alarm. We've seen burglars open doors or windows just enough to see if an alarm goes off then go hide in the woods until the police come and go. We've also seen them come in the house and then leave when the siren goes into alarm. I've been trying to train the police and homeowners around here to not assume that because there isn't someone on-site when they arrive that it's a false alarm. This is where cameras are vital to the home security industry.

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LJ
Lee Jones
May 21, 2018
Support Services Group

Some of us “senior citizens” remember when “inner tubes” were an integral part of every vehicle tire, everywhere. Hundreds of millions, that need to be replaced regularly. The 140-year-old ADT is still in the “inter tube” business.   Source: Lee Jones; Support Services Group; LeeSSG@att.net

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