So, previously in our last house we had Vivent. We liked it.
With our new house, we purchased a user-installed system; SimpliSafe. I liked the idea that I could easily take it down and put it up myself. Regardless of owning our house, I get a new job assignment every 2-3 years. So if we both go wherever my new assignment is, we can easily take the SimpliSafe with us. What's also neat is that the base station simply looks cool, instead of standing out as ugly. So, points for both functionality and aesthetics. The system also has really good reviews in several online publications.
I also liked the aspect of being able to build out a system with exactly how many sensors I want, and at lower cost than some other systems. So we have a combination of panic buttons, motion sensors, cameras, a water sensor, entry sensors, and fire alarms linked to the base station. They also have freeze sensors, glass break sensors, some other gizmos (I think) as well as stating that their doorbell/outdoor camera is due to be released later in 2018. Sweet. I'm in.
Installation was a breeze. I got the cameras hooked up to my wifi, and they worked great (notice that past tense? foreshadowing). Know what didn't work great? Getting the base station to connect via wifi. It simply wouldn't. I called SS on Sunday, and the tech sounded fairly clueless and evidently reading a script without any understanding. She says it won't connect to wifi because the system is waiting to be activated, which should take 30 minutes. Monday comes around and it still doesn't work. I get someone with much more knowledge and an apparent urgency to fix my problem. Turns out the system won't connect to a Verizon Fios wifi unless we use the original router name. Weird. Okay. So I change the router name. Woohoo! The base station works.
So I go in and try to view video, and oh...fuck...the cameras have to be reconnected because it's a new network. Ok.....so I retrieve a new QR code for the first camera.....but wait, why isn't it scanning? Oh, that's right, the fucking privacy shutters are shut, and I can't connect to the camera to open the privacy shutters......so it won't scan a QR code to connect to the network! So I try switching the network name back to "our" designated name we had given it at installation, with the hopes of the camera automatically picking it up and me being able to lock the shutters in the open position. No avail; the cameras won't automatically connect to the "old" network they were previously working on. I unplugged a camera to see if it reverts to some default mode with the shutters open, and no dice.
So now the base station works, and the cameras don't. Just emailed the guy I've been working with and hopefully he'll have a solution. He's been great with me. Yesterday he gave me 2 months free service in compensation for the headache, but at this point I'm at my wits end with this system.
Share your thoughts, concerns, successes, and aggravations with home security systems here.