Simpli an easy option to protect your home
American experts SimpliSafe’s system brings benefits of the wireless age to the important world of home security
ONE of the best things about the wireless revolution is the simplicity it’s brought to installing new devices in our homes.
This week we focus on one area that has benefitted most from this – home security.
Once upon a time, in the Dark Ages before wireless broadband, if you wanted to install an alarm system in your home, you had to have someone come in, trail wires all around your house to hook everything up – the control box, the siren, the sensors… it was a big job.
You can still do this, of course – or you can join the rest of us in the future.
One of the most celebrated wireless home security systems is made my SimpliSafe – the US-based firm has so far sold protection to more than three million Americans. And it’s just launched in the UK.
It’s not quite the new kid on the block, though – it’s been in business and steadily growing since 2006, and its devices have won awards and rave reviews.
It manages to stand out from the crowd by going beyond just making a simple wireless security system, and the attention to little details to make users’ lives easier is a real selling point.
First of all there’s the monitoring
system – you don’t have to sign up to a contract and can pay for the monitoring of your home on a monthly basis. Maybe you only need it for the month you’re away on holiday, for example.
As for the devices themselves, they are beautifully designed, very easy for anyone to fit, and offer a comprehensive range of sensors to keep you safe not only from intruders, but from other unexpected disasters, like fire and flood.
The system revolves around a base station, which you can place anywhere in your home, and needs plugging in to the mains (although there is a back-up 24-hour battery if your power is cut), a siren that has an obvious purpose and can be stuck anywhere, and a stick-anywhere keypad for arming and disabling the system with a display that shows you what’s going on (and is designed to send an alarm if anyone tries to smash it up).
These three devices are the heart of the system, and once these are in place you can add sensors and cameras to tailor protection to your needs.
There are, of course, small window and door sensors that can tell if anything is opened (even warning you if something’s not closed when you leave the house and arm the system) and clever motion sensors that can distinguish between humans and pets.
There’s also a sensor that can detect the sound of glass being broken – so if someone smashes a window to get in, bypassing the window sensor, the SimpliSafe will hear it and trigger an alarm. The makers say it can tell the difference between breaking glass and a breaking plate.
Then there’s the camera – indoor only, but essential so the monitoring team can tell if the police need to be called. And you can even buy a panic button to send an alarm if you’re in the house while someone who shouldn’t be there gains entry.
Beyond security against intruders, there are three other sensors you can add to your kit – a water sensor to protect against flooding, a freeze sensor to protect against burst water pipes, and a smoke detector to warn of fire.
You can have all this without paying any kind of subscription – you can simply have motion alerts sent to your phone via the SimpliSafe app. Or you can sign up to the monitoring system.
SimpliSafe has gone into partnership with UK security monitoring experts Securitas, who will keep an eye on your system 24/7 and notify you if anything is wrong, and the police if they think a crime is being committed.
There are two plans to chose from – Pro for £12.99-a-month, which gives you 24/7 monitoring (they’ll tell only you if something goes wrong), environmental monitoring (if the water, freeze, or smoke sensors go off), and cellular connection (so if your wi-fi goes down, the system will still be connected); and Pro Premium for £19.99 a month, which does all of the above and adds the ability to arm your system from anywhere via the app, and police dispatch if an intruder is in your house. It’s a complete system that literally anyone could install. No wires, no fuss. Simple.
You can buy SimpliSafe systems in kits, which start at £279 and go up to £454, or you can build you own system. Visit simplisafe.co.uk.
The attention to little details to make users’ lives easier is a real selling point.