Some cool home alarm systems images:
AT&T Wireless Home
Image by Paul L McCord Jr
We are now customers of AT&T’s Wireless Home Phone service and are very happy with it. We had this installed yesterday, March 26, 2013 and I must say it works very well. It uses the AT&T Wireless network to call but it has a dial tone like a normal home phone. What we did was disconnect our internal home phone wiring from the wire line coming from the local company and attached the output of this box into one of the phone outlets in an obscure location where we had a good Wireless signal. This brought a phone signal to every outlet in the house just as if we were connected to a wire line service. I can pick up the phone in any room of the house and get a dial tone.
You would never know this was going through the Wireless network because the signal is so strong and the audio is so good. If you are already an AT&T Wireless customer, you can add this as an extra line and share your plan’s minutes for .99 per month. They also have a plan where you can get unlimited minutes nationwide for .99 per month. We signed up for the unlimited nationwide plan. One thing that makes this service better than services like MagicJack is that you can have phone service even without Internet. Also it has a backup battery that has a standby time of a day and a half and a talk time of three hours. I am just thrilled at the quality of audio and smoothness that we have in this service. Also, if we were to go on vacation, we can take this box with us and as long as there is an AT&T Wireless signal, your home phone is with you. My Dish Network uses the phone service to phone home and AT&T says that data services such as alarm systems and fax machines cannot be used with this system. I have not verified that but just to be safe, I hooked my Dish Network through my home Internet network so that I do not need to worry about that. Honestly, this is well worth the money and I cannot say enough good about it.
My parents had the same phone number that I have for 50 years. When I moved out of Del City, into Oklahoma City, I was not allowed to take the number with me. Secondly, AT&T did not have wired service at our new home because there was a small, company that had exclusive rights in this area with an inflated price. Once we left Del City, the only way we could keep this number was to move to Vonage. We kept them for nearly three years until I discovered AT&T Wireless Home Phone service. Now we transferred our phone number back to AT&T and able to keep our service going.
Also, I posted a question to @ATTCustomerCare on Twitter and they were able to help me get my phone directory listing updated to reflect our new home. I for one am very happy with the service and customer support that was given to me.
Warning Electronic Alarm System
Image by Adam Kuban
When I was a kid, my dad bought a whole mess of these stickers to put on our home and cars. The trick was that there was *no* electronic alarm system. It was only supposed to make burglars *think* there was one. Heh. I saw this one the other day in Brooklyn. I won't reveal where, so the owner can maintain the ruse.
Then again, maybe legitimate alarm installers used these stickers as well. So maybe it *is* an effective deterrent. [November 23]
