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Three Terrific Ways to Use Security Cameras for Convenience
You just fell into bed after a long day and everyone in the house is snug as a bug in a rug. You’re nodding off, almost asleep, when you hear it: a distant crash from your front porch.
What was that? Is it a prowler? A raccoon? Just the wind?
Good news! With video cameras and smart home security, you don’t even have to get out of bed to investigate. Your convenient smartphone app (powered by Alarm.com) can show you exactly what’s going on outside.
“What’s that noise on the front porch?”
Is it a raccoon or something else making that noise on your porch? With a doorbell video camera, you can see right away. This popular camera detects motion, captures clips, and sends video alerts to your phone. It’s also
two-way voice!Even better, you can view
live video feed from your doorbell in your app.
“Are the kids okay in the back yard?”
Your baby needs to go down for a nap, but the older kids want to stay outside and play. Or maybe the dog isn’t ready to come in, but you have things to do inside.
With smart video camera monitoring, it is easy to keep an eye on kids and pets. Live video streaming can show you exactly what they’re up to. Making dinner? You can even stream the video to your kitchen TV.
“Is the pool area secure?”
Your backyard swimming pool is a dream come true, but it requires extra vigilance to keep your family, guests
and neighbors safe.Smart home security can help with a combination of security cameras and a contact sensor on your pool gate. Should some curious children wander into the pool area, you’ll be notified on your phone with both a sensor alert and a video clip.
10 Tips For Better Wi-Fi Signal
Have you ever heard the saying, “If Mom isn’t happy, no one’s happy?” Well it’s the same with your Wi-Fi. A slow or intermittent Wi-Fi signal can disrupt the entire household. Including your security system. There are many home security systems and cameras that connect via Wi-Fi so it’s important to ensure it’s working properly.
To ease your frustration and improve Wi-Fi performance, try these tips
1. Use Up-to-Date Equipment
Technology has changed rapidly over the last several years, so old technology doesn’t always work to full capacity. A simple replacement may do the trick.
2. Pick the Right Location for Your Router
For the best signal, place the router in an open area, free of any walls and obstructions. Elevate the router if you can. Distance is the most important factor. We have found that the center of the house will give the best coverage possible throughout your home.
3. Avoid Interference From Other Electronics
Have you ever sat right next to your router but still don’t get good connection? This is because a wireless signal can be blocked by many different devices including cordless phones, microwaves, and televisions. Make sure your router is positioned away from any large electronics.
4. Use The Right Wireless Channel
If several routers in a close area are using the same wireless channel, they can easily reduce the speeds of your Wi-Fi. Choose a channel that has as little signal interference as possible. Your router will include instructions on how to change your wireless channel if you do not know how to change it.
5. Control Bandwidth Hogs
If someone in your house regularly plays online games or streams movies from Netflix, they may be hogging the bandwidth. To get around this, set up QoS (Quality of Service) rules to prioritize certain applications over others so the most important applications get the bandwidth they need.
6. Install A Wi-Fi Extender
A Wi-Fi extender is captures the Wi-Fi signal and allows it to reach further. This is especially helpful in a home with brick walls or other blockers to the Wi-Fi signal.
7. Restart Your Wi-Fi On A Regular Basis
It is important for your Wi-Fi to be rebooted on a regular basis. This will allow it to update. To avoid the annoyance of rebooting every day, set it on an outlet timer to reboot once a day when it’s not in use.
8. Turn Off Power-Saving Mode
Turn off the power saving, or eco mode, to restore the proper speeds to your router. These may be on by default and do not save a significant amount of power.
9. Try a Better Antenna
Quality matters. Think of all the TV antennas on the market: the bigger and more powerful the antenna, the clearer the picture. Router antennas follow a similar principle. A good rule of thumb is to point the antenna towards the device. If you have multiple antennas, point them all in the same direction.
10. Wi-Fi Security
A great way to protect your Wi-Fi connection is to use “cloaking”. This is done by hiding the SSID(the name of the network), which forces anyone that wants to connect to type in the name of the network manually. Always set-up your Wi-Fi as a security connection with password protection. For further protection, enable WPA2 password protection on your WiFi network. It’s encrypted, making it more secure than the older WPA or WEP security protocols.
Clark Howard’s Tips for Shopping for Home Security Systems
Are you ready to protect your home with a professional home alarm system?
Knowing what to look for is key in finding the right fit to protect your family.
At EMC Security, we’re local and know who to trust when it comes to making the best purchasing decisions: Clark Howard. Recently, Clark shared a customer experience on his blog along with his recommendations for choosing the right home monitoring system. Here are his tips.
Clark says…
Keep these pointers in mind when you’re shopping for a traditional home alarm system
- Know how many doors and windows you need protection before you get a quote.
- A basic system hooked up to a UL-approved station should cost $15-$20 each month for monitoring. Installation of equipment will be extra, usually $600 to $800 for a typical house. Beware of supposedly “free” equipment because the costs will be built into your monthly monitoring.
- Never sign a contract. Contracts with hidden rollover provisions are particularly dangerous. If you have a rollover provision, you must contact the company in a very specific way (sometimes even on a certain day) to break your contract without being penalized. If you fail to do that, you’re automatically renewed for high-rate monthly monitoring for a period of 1, 2, or 3 years.
- Most people sign up for monitoring following a crime in their neighborhood. The perceived risk you feel skyrockets when you hear about break-ins, robberies, and smash and grabs near your home. But that’s not the time to shop for a burglar alarm. You never want to make an emotional decision.
We’re proud to provide affordable home security monitoring starting at $16.95 a month with no contract. Have a question about our security services? Please give us a call at 770.963.0305.
Burglars Answer Question that Could Help Protect Your Home
Fox 5 Atlanta reported on a study where they sent 20 questions related to home burglaries to the Georgia Department of Corrections. The questions ranged from how burglars chose the homes they targeted to what time of day they preferred to try to break into a home. 99 convicted burglars responded. Their answers could surprise you, but they should also encourage you to take steps to actively protect your home from criminal activity.
For example:
- 28% said they entered the home through an unlocked or open window
- 25% through an unlocked door.
- 60% responded that they would leave immediately if an alarm sounded
- while 66% responded that a visible security camera would deter them from breaking in.
- In fact, 60% responded that lights turned on inside the home would make them think twice about attempting to break in.
See the entire 20-question survey in the slideshow below:
EMC Security offers a number of ways to protect your home, from our popular DIY Self-Install System and Security Cameras to Glass-Break Sensors and Home Automation Features. As you can see from the study above, these features could deter would-be criminals from breaking into your home.
To learn more about EMC’s home security options, give us a call today at 770.963.0305, or contact us online at emcsecurity.com/contact.
Don’t Miss an Important Call from EMC Security
Do you ignore calls from numbers you don’t recognize?
If you answered yes, read on for important safety tips regarding your EMC Security home monitoring system.
A call from the EMC Security Monitoring Center may indicate that there is an emergency at your home or business, or we may be calling to alert you of a problem with your alarm system. We know that many of our customers are using their cell phone as their monitoring center primary contact numbers, and we want to make sure you don’t miss an important call from our monitoring center. Many mobile phones will not display the caller name, only the incoming number, so you will need to enter this information on your phone.
Please enter these numbers in your cell phone and identify them as EMC Security Monitoring Center or EMC Security.
678-765-1000
1-888-745-4733
Insuring these numbers are identified as EMC Security, willinsure that you never miss an important call regarding your alarm system and your family’s safety.We don’t want you to miss an important call from our security monitoring center so please take the time to add these numbers to your cell phone and share them with your friends and family members. Everyone has something worth protecting, so share your sense of security with
you neighbors and coworkers and you could get two free months of monitoring. Find out more about our referral program here.
Attic Storage Safety Tips
According to the US Fire Administration, over 10,000 attic fires a year are reported to US Fire Departments.
The majority of these fires are caused by electrical malfunction (created by faulty wires and ignition sources) and natural causes (such as lightning, which we reported last summer.) How do you take steps to mitigate the possibility of a dangerous fire in your home’s attic? We’ve got some tips here:
Don’t Store Flammable Liquids in the Attic
Volatile solvents such as paint, turpentine, cleaning products, gasoline, propane, kerosene or other hazardous chemicals don’t belong in an attic. Due to variances in insulation, extreme temperature swings occur in attics, which causes expansion and contraction of objects and liquids. This can cause combustion. All hazardous chemical liquids should be properly discarded—see the bottle label for exact details—or stored somewhere away from an ignition source.
Don’t Trust Your Treasures to the Attic Space
Valuable or sentimental papers, clothes
and toys are hard to toss, but they’re highly combustible fuel for a fire–especially if it’s a lightning strike, which is common in Georgia during thunderstorm season. All too often these items are stored in cardboard boxes, which not only burnfaster, but also attract insects such as termites or silverfish. If you can’t reduce, reuse or recycle, take a picture of the items as a keepsake.Clothing Storage Is Fine, with a Few Precautions
Never store fur or leather in an attic; the heat will damage the leather, and the fur will attract other furry creatures. Store other clothing in vacuum-sealed storage bags, and then place the bags in a plastic trunk, tote or portable closet. Plastic will burn, but it has a higher flash point than cardboard and provides some protection against smoke and water damage.
What Else Is Ok for the Attic?
Your empty suitcases are safe to store in the attic; they’re lightweight and not likely to combust. Lightweight holiday decorations are fine if they’re stored in plastic tubs, with one caveat; don’t store candles in the attic, unless you want to become the “House of Wax.” Off-season athletic equipment, if it’s not heavy, is fine too. Remember to store items only on step-secure flooring, or you could end up in the living room.
Want to make sure your entire home is covered for fire and smoke monitoring? At EMC Security,fire monitoring is part of our basic services. With alarm monitoring rates beginning at $16.95, you can protect against intrusion and fire at one low price.
Stop Burglars From Stealing Your Packages
Learn more about EMC Security’s camera options here, and don’t forget to check out the rest of our smart home innovations!‘Tis the season for holiday shopping. And today, buying gifts is easier than ever thanks to online stores. But since many delivery services aren’t legally allowed to use your mailbox, they have to leave their precious cargo on your porch, right out in the open.
And an unguarded box on an un-watched porch is about as easy as a target as there is. Up to one in three people in America will be victims of porch package theft, and those odds only increase near the holidays.
So, how do you protect your packages from porch pirates?
By having an extra set of eyes to watch your back.
A Video Doorbell allows you to see and hear exactly who comes to your door, no matter where you are. Even if they don’t ring the doorbell, the PIR (passive infrared) sensor will detect human activity and alert you on your mobile device. With 2-way audio, you can speak with whoever is at the door, watch live video, and store clips.
Studies have shown that burglars are much less likely to target homes with visible security cameras, and the outdoor camera looks the part. It features infrared night vision, so you can see what’s happening at your front door, back entrance, or garage, no matter what. If something is detected, you’ll get notified on your mobile device.
So, once you’ve outfitted your front door with a security camera, what else can you do?
- First, if possible, become friendly with the people that deliver to your house and let them know where you prefer to have your packages left – like, for instance, behind the potted plant, or by your back door.
- Better yet, purchase a package locker or lockbox for your front porch, so your delivery person can lock your holiday gifts safely inside until you get home.
- And don’t forget to post a sign mentioning that your home is under surveillance!
5 Ways to Use Your Indoor Security Camera
Every home could use an indoor security camera as an extension of their home security system. They are great for peace of mind when you have a new baby, kids at home
alone, It’s important to remember that security cameras are not a replacement for monitored home security systems. They are to simply add an extra layer of security. If you want to feel safe and secure inside your home, you should purchase a security system with professional monitoring so if an intruder gets inside, you will have help – quickly.
Below are 5 places inside your home that you should consider for an indoor camera:
Front and Back Doors
- It makes sense to monitor the main entrances of your home. Most burglars will try the front doors first, and
then side and back doors next. - For indoor security, point the camera directly at the door. If possible, aim to keep the camera about 7 feet off the ground pointing down at a slight angle. This is ideal to capture a clear view of an intruder’s face.
First Floor Windows
- If an intruder cannot get in through a door, they might try the first-floor windows. Having a security camera sit on a table facing the window (diagonally to reduce glare) can work as a great deterrent. Because burglars know more about home security and security systems than most law-abiding citizens, they might deduct that they have been caught on video and make an escape.
- Cameras may deter would-be burglars, or record their crime, but they do not physically reinforce your first-floor windows. Installing a security system with sensors on both your doors and windows should always be a priority in making your home the most secure.
Master Bedroom
- The master bedroom is usually the first place a burglar heads to because many valuables are stored here.
The master is also a great place for a camera with two-way audio. Speaking to the intruder directly might cause them to flee the scene without taking anything.
Stairways
- Home burglaries happen very quickly, and as a result, the criminals are in and out of the home in minutes. The stairs are an area that forces a person to slow down, especially on the descent. Placing a camera here guarantees two looks at the perpetrators, as they will need to go up and down.
Garages & Sheds
- Approximately 9% of all break-ins occur through garage doors. But even if your home isn’t invaded, open garages can offer a wealth of opportunities to steal resalable items. Place the camera inside the garage at an angle, facing out to reduce glare.
Check out EMC Security’s selection of video cameras at emcsecurity.com.
- It makes sense to monitor the main entrances of your home. Most burglars will try the front doors first, and
How to Create a Fire Escape Plan
If there is a fire in your house, your ability to get out depends on the reliability of your fire alarm system and proper planning.
Below are tips from the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) for developing a fire evacuation plan for your household. For easy planning, download NFPA’s escape plan here.
- Draw a floor plan of your home.
- Walk through your home and inspect all possible exits and escape routes.
- Mark two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.
- Mark the location of each smoke alarm.
- Check to make sure the escape routes are clear and doors and windows can be opened easily.
- If your home has two floors, every family member (including children) must be able to escape from the
second floor
- Choose an outside meeting place a safe distance in front of your home where everyone can meet after they’ve escaped. Make sure to mark the location of the meeting place on your escape plan.
- Make sure your street number is clearly visible from the road. If not, paint it on the curb or install house numbers to ensure that responding emergency personnel can find your home.
- If there are infants, older adults, or family members with mobility limitations, make sure that someone is assigned to assist them in the fire drill and in the event of an emergency.
- If windows or doors in your home have security bars, make sure that the bars have emergency release devices inside so that they can be opened immediately in an emergency.
- Practice your home fire escape plan twice a year, making the drill as realistic as possible.
- Install smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home. NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm Code® requires interconnected smoke alarms throughout the home. When one sounds, they all sound. Call EMC Security to add fire detection devices in your home today.
Download Escape Plan Template Here
EMC Security monitors for
fire at no additional monthly monitoring cost. Call us to purchase smoke and heat detectors for your home today at 770-963-0305.
5 Facts You Need to Know about DIY Self-Install Security
We have seen an influx of DIY “Big Box” Security Systems enter the marketplace over the last few years.
Technology has proven to be easy to use and install, and
cost effective for the consumer.In fact, EMC Security launched our popular Self-Install Security System for these very reasons. Our customers love the option because it saves money, time, and it’s hassle-free. Additionally, the system works great. It’s the same professional system our technicians install in homes every day with the same great professional monitoring from 2 central monitoring stations, and all the benefits that every EMC Security customer receives:
award winning service and 24/7 technical support.Some DIY Security Systems can be down-right dangerous to rely on as a source of protection for your home and family.
Below are 5 Facts You Need to Know About DIY Self Install Security Systems
1. You are on your own when purchasing a system at a retail store. If you don’t know what you need for complete protection, how are you going to “build” your DIY system?
EMC Security’s DIY Security consultants work with you to determine exactly what you need according to your home specifications and safety concerns. We’ll even label the equipment for you so you know which piece goes where.
Once you install the system, our central station will test each sensor to ensure it works properly.
2. A system built for self-monitoring gives a false sense of security. A lot of the DIY home security systems on the market are built specifically for self-monitoring. While we are big fans of interactive technology that sends alerts and notifications to your smart-phone, we do not think you should rely on alerts alone when it comes to the protection of your home and family.
EMC Security’s
self install systems are designed for professional monitoring by EMC Security’s central monitoring stations. If an alarm is triggered, EMC Security will notify you, and if you can’t be reached the authorities will be dispatched….within seconds.3. Poor “cheap” equipment. One of the number one consumer complaints about DIY security systems on the market is
the cheap , unreliable equipment. There’s something to be said for equipment manufactured by a leader in the industry.4. Lack of technological support. If you have an issue with the installation, who can you call? What if something goes wrong with one of the sensors or the keypad? Does the company have service reps that can swing by your house to assist you? These are important questions to ask before buying from an online or “big-box” retailer.
Even though our DIY system is fast and easy to install, EMC Security has local,
award winning service representatives available with just a simple phone call.5. Who is testing the system? EMC Security runs alarm signal tests on every customer every month. If we don’t get a signal, the customer is notified and a service technician is sent out if necessary. A DIY system purchased from a retail store will most likely not provide any customer support after the purchase.
Give EMC Security a call today at 770.963.0305 to discuss your needs and how we can build a DIY Self Install Security System that’s right for you. OR order online now!
