An Alexa was one of the most popular gifts this Christmas and it seems like everyone has got one in their house. They are great for playing music and asking random questions, they even entertain the kids for hours. Most recently Amazon announced Alexa Guard, she can listen to your house and keep an ear out for anything untoward. Sounds great right?
All you have to say is ‘Alexa I’m leaving’ and at that point she will start her watch and report anything unusual, such as the sound of glass breaking or other suspicious noises. She can even check for people whispering and start to listen in. These features rely on artificial intelligence that has been trained in detailed ways to recognise those sounds and react to them.
- But what happens if your internet goes down? This normally kills all the features of Alexa
- Or what if Alexa doesn’t hear a suspicious noise? It can take her a while to accurately detect specific sounds, as she learns the more she is used.
- You need an echo speaker in each room and it needs to be near glass if you want it to listen for a breaking glass sound
- On its website Amazon says it does not offer professional guarding services as it’s up to the user to decide what to do with an alert. What if you are busy when an alert comes through to your phone and you miss it? Or you are on holiday abroad and you get an alert, you could ask a neighbour to check it out, but that could be a dangerous situation.
If you are serious about your home security a monitored house alarm is the way to go. With a monitored alarm you get all of the equipment and monitoring service from your alarm company. You pay a monthly monitoring fee which means if a sensor activates in your home somebody at the monitoring centre will respond by either sending a guard around to your home or alerting the emergency services if necessary.
A monitored alarm covers all of your bases. As well as a burglar alarm, a smoke alarm can be included in your security package and the fire dept alerted automatically should your smoke alarm activate.
Our systems – key features
- Phone app – This allows you to set and unset the alarm remotely using your phone and can be used to check the alarm is set from anywhere in the world
- Frequency hopping – Our sensors work on multiple frequencies and can swap from one to another as needed. This eliminates interference from other electrical devices in the area such as microwaves or phones, meaning you get a consistent, reliable service.
- Two-way communication – All devices talk to each other upon activation – the PIR sensors alert the alarm panel and the panel alerts the monitoring station – ensuring a speedy response. Our key fobs light up when activated/pressed so that the user knows the system has done what is asked of it.
- Transmission range – the distance that the equipment will transmit to before repeaters/signal boosters are needed. Bulldog’s equipment usually works well up to about 100m, which means a minimal amount of signal boosters would be used in an average property. Less equipment means quicker installation and less disruption.
- Three ways to connect – Our main alarm panel has the ability to connect to the monitoring station in three different ways:
- 1. Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) also known as a standard landline
- 2. Broadband – used primarily for camera units and the phone app
- 3. GSM (sim card) – this can be used as a back-up or as a stand-alone, eliminating the need for a phone line or broadband. Having three different methods means better reliability for the customer, as there’s a back- up for the back-up if needed.
- Partitions – You can set the alarm to operate in the main section of a property/business while another section is disarmed. This can be particularly useful at night, for example you can leave the alarm off upstairs if you have children that sleepwalk or just like to sneak into your bed at night.
- SirenNet – An alarm will sound upon activation of any device containing this e.g the bell box on the outside of your house/property or smoke alarms. This will carry on until the alarm is disabled in the correct way.
- Encryption – Our sensors use a 128-digit encryption key to stop burglars trying to intercept signals to disable your house alarm without using the key fob or code.
- Power G Peripherals – The manufacturer of the equipment we supply. Among the highest quality, most reliable kit available. Back-up battery – All of our systems have up to 48 hours back-up battery should the mains electricity go down, helping to keep you protected even in the event of a power cut.
- Remote software updates – Our equipment can all be updated remotely, ensuring you have the very latest systems running, with no waiting around for an engineer.
- Pet-friendly – All sensors are designed not to activate if an animal – up to 35kg in weight – is in the house. If a human was crawling around they would probably weigh more than this and the alarm would activate.
If you would like to know more about our professionally monitored home alarms then call us on 0844 288 2905. We will come to your home at a time convenient to you and give you a free home security survey to ensure you get the right package for your home and talk you through the system in more detail.