Is there a clear Winner? It depends whom you talk to.

You see... if you talk to one of the major national companies like Monitronics, ADT or Brinks... they will sing the praises of NATIONAL monitoring. On the other hand if you talk to one of the local Security companies they will tell you the exact opposite. They will share with you the benefits of local monitoring. In fact, one recent radio commercial from a local security company stated that before you decide to monitor your system make sure they own their own local monitoring station... instead of farming it out to someone in another state.

Well then ... who is correct?

The answer is...it depends. For you see, there are advantages and disadvantages to both. As an educated consumer you really need to understand both sides before making a decision that is right for you.

In this article we will examine the pros and cons of local security system monitoring. In a future article will w do the same for national security system monitoring.

Advantages Of Local Monitoring

* No long term contract to sign

* You can do month by month monitoring

* Monitoring rates are usually under $20.00 a month

* You are supporting a local business

* The facility is nearby for you to visit

* It is often easier to find someone to talk to if you have a question or problem

Disadvantages Of Local Monitoring

* The facility may or may not be a mom and pop shop running off of one of their computers

* The facility may or may not be UL listed, there by meeting the highest governmental standards for compliance.

* What happens if there is a local ice storm? Local weather conditions may knock out electricity and phone lines to local monitoring companies.

* Local companies may not have the latest monitoring technology available to only national monitoring facilities. This is an investment of millions of dollars of highly sensitive equipment

* Local companies may have only a few telephone roll over lines. Since your security system sends out only a pulse signal and does not redial if it doesnt connect...what happens if there is a sudden influx of calls? Will they have enough roll over lines...so that your pulse signal is not dropped?

As you can see there are definite advantages and disadvantages. In a future article we will look at National monitoring.