Activate Existing System

Alarm systems are inactive for a variety of reasons which include the following:

• The alarm subscriber can no longer afford the monthly monitoring fee.
• The alarm system has technical problems the alarm company cannot fix, so it is turned off.
• The alarm system no longer works and the subscriber doesn’t want to pay for repairs.
• The alarm system subscriber has moved and the system has been inactivated.
• The alarm system is false alarm prone and has been turned off.
• The alarm subscriber is retired and feels they no longer need the alarm system (until they or a neighbor are burglarized).

Activating existing alarm systems, or performing a “takeover”, involves a critically important process requiring technical expertise, knowledge and time to do the job properly.  Many alarm company installers often take shortcuts to save time, or make mistakes, resulting in false alarms, non-working sensors, sensor reporting failures to the central monitoring station, and in the worst case scenario, the inability of the alarm system to communicate with the central monitoring station.  Any communication problem with the central monitoring station is also the responsibility of the alarm subscriber, since they should be testing their alarm system’s ability to communicate their alarm signals to the monitoring station, at least once a month.

Depending on the age and condition of alarm system components (all alarm components have a limited working life), it’s important for technicians to test each sensor and make sure they are working properly.  Reprogramming an alarm system is also time consuming, as is checking out each sensor, and is where “takeover” alarm technicians take short cuts.  These technicians are paid to do their job in a specified amount of time and if that time runs out, some of the inspection process and reprogramming process requirements may be cut short.  Any “takeover” or activation of an alarm system done properly (depending on the number of sensors) will take hours.