What is your concern about ADT? I've had them for almost 20 years and have had no problems. My major priorities for security systems are: Is the equipment reliable? Does the system have a battery back in case of loss of power? How easy is it to get service if you need it? Does the company monitor the equipment regularly to confirm it's communicating properly? Will police and fire response services get triggered promptly? Maybe the other systems you are considering do that well, but I just bring up these points as things to in your evaluation.

About 30 years ago in my neighborhood of single family homes on 5K Sf lots on one side of the street and a cemetery on the other side, a burglar came in the afternoon and broke into every house except the ones that had a dog or were next to a home with a dog.

Dogs are generally great for burglary deterrence, except when you want to go for a several week trip somewhere and have to figure out what to do with your canine alarm system. They also aren't good at calling the fire department when you're not home and your house catches fire.

Consumer Reports Security Systems Ratings ($10/month digital)

Very happy with ADT we have a wired and wireless system. We also have 2 large dogs, one of which is an extremely protective German Shepherd.

Getting a dog isn’t practical for us right now, but I appreciate your suggestions.

I’m also glad to hear positive things here about ADT. The reason I posted this question is because I have been reading reviews on ADT, and there are an alarming number of people who have bad experiences with ADT.

Just being thorough with research. Thank you. Happy New Year.

I don't doubt that there are bad reviews about ADT but, like many things online, it's mostly the unhappy people who post...not those who are happy and don't feel the need to take time to post a positive review. I'm not saying you should ignore negative reviews. Three bad reviews for a local company might be too many for me, but, if I read 100 negative reviews for a company that has 6 million U.S. customers (as ADT does), what does that mean?

i have ADT and my experience is great. I also have it connected to my mobile phone and can turn the system on or off remotely. I LOVE this Feature. This has saved me on many a trip when someone needed to get into the house; I could turn off the alarm and not have to give out the code.... and then could turn it back on when they leave.

I've had ADT for more than thirty years and in two different houses. The basic product is OK, but watch out for all their extras. And every time you add or change something, they restart the three-year contract period. In addition, I've had repeated problems with my external cameras and DVR. The cameras are working fine and the DVR is recording OK, but the apps on my phone and laptop never seem to work. I've had ADT over to my house to try and get live and replay working on my phone and laptop. Even the tech gave up and told me to call the software company myself!

Thank you Louise. This is exactly the kind of experience-based advice I was looking for. Someone who’s an actual customer. Thank you.

I've tried a variety of self-installed camera systems. They all seem to work and do pretty much what they say they will, and I've not found any of them to be hard for me to install myself (and I'm not particuarly tech-savvy either).

I'm currently using Blink on one home and Wyze on another. Both are fine. I looked into ADT but the company near that home got bad reviews in terms of high pressure sales tactics and upcharges (like Louise was sharing above).

There are a lot of choices out there and it's a lot of work sifting through all the options to get whatever will work best for you. ADT was by far the most expensive and in the end I couldn't justify their costs. YMMV though.

Thanks Ally. Yeah I’m leaning towards one of those self initiated systems. I’m not a fan of super aggressive sales tactics. I applied to a grad school, and decided on another one.

But I literally had to block the first one’s number because they were so aggressive. Months after I’d sent them an email and called telling them I was going somewhere else, they still called me almost 10 times a week.

For a while I politely asked them to take me off their list. Then, I just had to block them because nothing I was telling them worked! It was crazy. So yeah, those sorts of tactics are definitely a turn off. We just don’t have time in our lives to tell someone “no, thank you” more than once.

Thanks for your advice. Happy 2023 to you.

We've had ADT for about 30 years and haven't had any issues. And I like that they will provide the replacement backup batteries at no charge.

ADT for 18 years, no real issues with them. The system works as intended and provides a peace of mind at night when armed, knowing I’d be alerted to anything. But I don’t think it’s that much of a deterrent for people trying to break in. Neither are cameras. The best deterrent I’ve found are neighbors that notice suspicious activity and act upon it, by either calling police, calling you or drawing attention to the fact that people are outside and watching

I had a neighbor recommend Kasa Smart Security Cameras to me. He’d said he’d had two previous systems and this was by far the best. I was impressed with the quality of the video so I ordered a camera from Amazon. Very affordable.