Unbiased Next Alarm Security Alarm Customer Reviews

(Added Aug 7/10) We've had a NextAlarm wireless system for just over 5 years, having previously used ADT. The system has performed near-flawlessly for the entire period. Pretty much set-it-and-forget-it. We've had ~6 inadvertant alarm trips and the response from the monitoring folks was immediate every time (called within seconds). Love the features, like receiving text msgs whenever the kids come or go and being able to arm the system remotely from a web browser. The hardware paid for itself in 1-year from the monthly monitoring cost savings (first year was FREE) and, since then, we've pocketed more $250/year in savings vs. ADT. Even if you have to pay a 3rd party to help with the initial install/setup, you'll still come out ahead.

(Added Aug 4/10) Nextalarm partners with real alarm monitoring companies and gets a....(read the whole review)

(Added July 1/10) I installed a Simon XT security system myself and bought the Nextalarm ABN adapter for monitoring. Easy as pie to set-up the ABN with a wireless bridge to my router. Now, getting my Simon to stay connected to my glassbreak sensor is another story. The few times we have "accidentally" tripped the alarm, we received a call within 30 seconds from the monitoring company. It doesn't get much better than that in my opinion, especially for the price they charge. I would recommend this company to anyone performing a DIY security project.

(Added May 28/10) My problem is with the supplier of alarms to Next Alarm. The Home Technology Store gave me the wrong system....(read the whole review)

(Added May 18/10) Well, I have tried unsuccessfully to get through with NextAlarm to even become a customer. All I get is...you are the first in line..for about 5 mins just to tell me all Customer reps are tied up and leave a message. I have done this for 3 days and 5 times a day! If this is what kind of service you get when you are trying to get onto their alarm system, guess what you will get when you do become a customer. I decided based on their lousey customer service I will have to seek out one of their competitors. I truly believe there are no customer service reps at all. And I am glad I did not sign up online and have them take my credit card number just to give me lousey service. I cannot believe the great reviews this company is getting when I can not even get in contact with a person there. It's your home and your security folks. I want a company who is responsive.

(Added May 10/10) I have continued to use nextalarm.com for nearly 6 years. They still provide quick and reliable responses to my legitimate alarms, as well as some false alarms I have had. Recently, I requested some dispatch response times the local sheriff asked for, and I received complete dispatch log entries in a couple days. (Note: I could not accept the sheriff's report that a car "just happened to be in front of my house". Turns out they were!)
All in all: I give nextalarm.com an A+ grade!

(Added Mar 4/10) I am a brand new NextAlarm customer, and have had a....(read the whole review)

(Added Feb 24/10) I've been using Next Alarm for about a year. Switched from ADT. Extremely pleased. I even get email notification (I had to do some programming) for Arming/Disarming. Once, I accidentially set the alarm off and a police officer showed up at my front door within 10 minutes. I had to show him my I.D. to prove I live at my house. This was never the case with ADT. (Bad customer service as well). I was paying $33/month with ADT and it is now only $11.95/month.

(Added Nov 25/09) Our company has used NextAlarm for over three years. Alarm was set off one time in that period. Police were on site very quickly. Cost is good and no problems to this point.

(Added Oct 15/09) I had been a customer with Next Alarm for a little over a year. I really admire them being "the broadband alarm company." However my confidence ends there. I had an issue in regards to my account and my bill. And then I found out that NextAlarm is not a UL Listed company (Which I was told they were), and in fact, a completely seperate institution is watching over my home and family (one of the 3rd party wholesale monitoring companies they contract). Overall my service with NextAlarm was ok, I had chose them because at the time they were the leaders in the VOIP world. I chose them over Alarm Relay (Their competitor) because at the time Alarm Relay didnt have all the necessary solutions for the VOIP world. I've recently contacted Alarm Relay and I found out that they do have the same broadband innovation as NextAlarm and for FULL resedential VOIP service is the same $8.95/month rate. Plus, I'm not big on the fact that depending on my issue I may not be dealing with NextAlarm, I may dealing with their affiliated monitoring partner. Alarm Relay is proprietary in the sense that: the people you deal with on the phone, and the people you sign up with and the techs you work with, are employed by the same people who protect my wife and kids. To some that's not important, but I think it's a huge deal. This is a life safety service, not cable tv service.

(Added Aug 24/09) We have had NextAlarm for 3 years. We had several problems with the wireless bridge, but honestly that is not NextAlarm's fault. The tech service, however, helped me many times. They are quick to respond, they are patient, polite and informative. Their tech folks really are tops and speak volumes of the quality of this company. I have had a few false alarms due to weather or "stupidity" on our part. The monitoring is fast. I highly recommend this company.

(Added July 7/09) Just a couple of comment for the Feb 5th, 2009 review that claims his service may have been cancelled because he got Next Alarm in trouble with UL (UL claims to not have any listing for Next Alarm). Clearly you did not read the Next Alarm web site. They do not claim to do the monitoring themselves. Instead they use two third party monitoring services that are UL listed. Here is the information (taken directly from their Q&A section of the web site).

"UL Listing Information: NextAlarm.com alarm monitoring service in the United States is provided through two contracted third-party UL listed dispatch centers. The primary center for your account depends on your location. The other center will function as a backup in the event that your primary center is unable to respond.

General Monitoring Services: 800-634-3915, UL ID: 892912-001
Amcest: 800-631-7370, UL ID: S2299"

(Added April 24/09) I installed an Abbra system at my partner's office about 3 years ago. It has performed very well, and the monitoring is fine. We've only set it off a few times when an employee forgot their code, but the calls from the monitoring station were fast. I appreciate the ability to control or monitor the system over the web, and it sent me a text when a battery finally went low after a few years. I can control what kinds of events send me a message, which is perfect. Now I am installing a system at my home too. Just had a minor glitch with their website, but I'm sure that's temporary. Programming is not so easy, but I figured it out & now can do it without much difficulty. The free monitoring period is a great bonus too, but the regular price is quite decent, especially compared to the other companies out there. I wish the control panel was a little smaller & better looking, and I suppose the same for the wireless sensors.

(Added April 5/09) I ended my 2 year commitment with ADT. I switched to NextAlarm and my ADT Safewatch Pro system works just fine with NextAlarm. The tech support walked through reprogramming the system and it was easy. The system works perfectly and the web logging takes 30 minutes plus as designed. The response time of the Monitoring people is fast just like any of the big Alarm monitoring companies. I am very satisfied with NextAlarm and it's monitoring service. Don't forget to tell them to take you off the trial/test mode once you are ready to go to live monitoring mode. For the price and quality service, it would be very hard to find a better Alarm company.

(Added April 1/09) I've been using NextAlarm for over a year, and recently installed a system at my girlfriends house and set up monitoring by NextAlarm. The person that earlier railed about entries not showing up on NextAlarms website for 30 minutes is obviously confusing the web site logs with the monitoring service. The logging page clearly states that the logs are not displayed in real time. Everytime there has been an inadvertent alarm on mine or my girlfriends system, the dispatcher called within a couple of minutes. Their tech-support is not available 24/7, and a argument could be made about the wisdom of broadband monitored alarm systems. But I think it a pretty good deal and have no reservations about having my loved ones use their service.

(Added Feb 5/09) I have run into two instances where my alarm signals were not logged on the Nextalarm site for over 30 minutes when they were sent in from....(read the whole review)

(Added Dec 10/08) I have used NextAlarm for 3 years in my home and have recommended them to 3 other friends. Their tech support for reprogramming the alarm system to communicate with their service is excellent.

(Added Nov 18/08) (Updated April 24/09) Recently bought the Abbra 2 kit w/ ABN Adapter for broadband monitoring and so far the experience has been great! A few minutes before completing my order I had a couple of last minutes questions so I hoped on the Chat option at the NextAlarm store and they were able to answer many detailed questions. After receiving the kit I had more questions and response time via e-mail was less than 24 hours. Just wanted to say that so far so good. I will report back after a couple weeks of full use.
Update:
I am impressed with your diligence in keeping reviews fair. Very cool!! My experience has still been great a few months in and I wouldn't change anything in the review. Thanks for checking in :)

(Added Sept 16/08) As a customer support specialist here @ NextAlarm, I can personally assure you that I have, in fact, configured the NextView function for many of our home security, and business security customers with successful results. We have hundereds of customers happily using that and other security functions daily. The fact that we offer it to our full dispatch security customers for FREE, (along with many other great web based functions) is, in itself, an advantage that we have over other home security companies. We are here to offer free tech support during the weekdays, 7am-5pm. We check our messages, and answer emails on a regular basis. Our ABN security device allows one to send traditional alarm signals over a broadband connection, so we regularly, remotely configure the customer's networks with our services. If you have 'any' questions, (customer or non customer) or need help in any matter give me a call.
~Robert F., NextAlarm.com Customer Support ext. 3

(Added Aug 22/08) Overall, the Abbra system from Next Alarm works well with VOIP....(read the whole review)

(Added June 29/08) I switched from ADT to Nextalarm because ADT would not monitor my alarm over VoIP. I just had an alarm and Nextalarms monitoring center called within minutes. I had several alarm incidents happen during my 6 years with ADT but never received a phone call from ADT. I am very happy with my switch to MyAlarm (Nextalarm), should have done it a long time ago.

(Added <Apr/08) (Updated July 8/08) We've had next alarm since 2/05 & the service has been pretty good. Tech support, earlier this year was....(read the whole review)

(Added <Apr/08) I highly recommend Nextalarm. I'm using their wireless ABN with my Ademco system that used to be monitored by ADT. Set up was easy, because I called Nextalarm and one of their support people spent about 30 minutes with me and walked me right through it. The cost is $143.40 a year and my insurance company gives me a $160.00 reduction for having a monitored system. It was a "no-brainer".

I recently purchased the Abbra Pro System and began service/support from NextAlarm. While I was totally flabbergasted with the programming instructions for the system, I called NextAlarm and....(read the whole review)

I live in Marietta, GA which is a suburb of Atlanta. I have used NextAlarm for almost 2 years. The service is very....(read the whole review)

I think this is hot considering until last week I didn't know anyone but ADT could monitor my home alarm. I have been paying....(read the whole review)

I have been a customer of NextAlarm for about six months now and think they're great. They're certainly the best monitoring deal we found and the service has been better than we ever had during our previous contract with ADT. They have cool features that allow you to know when your kids get home from school or when the housekeeper lets herself in that are included in the price. Right now you get two months free although I think I got three when I signed up. I hope I'm posting this in the right place, but I thought some folks might be interested.

The only thing I don't really like about Nextalarm is that when I update my contact list, zone list, etc online it makes my online account unavailable for up to 24 hours. It will give you the message that you will be unable to access your account while the updates take place. Other than that I'm happy so far. Later this week I plan to disconnect from my broadband and see what happens when my broadband connection goes down.

I've been using NextAlarm for 3 months, so far so good. They respond very quickly, much better than ADT which I had before. Very satisfied.

I wanted to share my experience with Nextalarm. First, let me say I really, really wanted to like this company. I like that they let me manage my service over the Internet, review my logs online, and get alerts by email. I haven't seen any other....(read the whole review)

I setup two systems with NextAlarm recently. First let me say unless you are familiar with how the system works and are comfortable repairing it I would suggest you find a.....(read the whole review)