Learn About Wireless Home Security
Only about one in four homes in the US has a monitored alarm system – which is not a lot, when you consider that a burglary occurs about once every 15 seconds.
The gradual increase in burglaries across the US, which is often tied to a suffering economy, has certainly generated more interest in protecting our homes and families: more and more homeowners are getting on board with a new system, especially now that systems can be smarter (with interactive features), and safer (with 100% cellular monitoring).
Sadly, I hear all too often that there just aren’t enough objective and reliable sources of information about alarm systems, and that is why this blog sprang into being – to fill a gap that has existed since before I joined the industry in 1989. So, from time to time I will pen an entry that starts with “Wireless Home Security 101” – and pick a topic that explains some nuts-and-bolts aspect of how alarm systems work.
Many people are not familiar with the terms “Stay” and “Away” in reference to how an alarm system is set. The alarm industry calls these “arming modes,” and pretty much every good system out there offers you both of these two setting options:
“Away Mode” refers to when you are arming the system prior to leaving the house entirely, such as during the day if nobody is home. An easy way to remember this arming mode is that everything is armed: the exterior sensors (doors, windows and glassbreak sensors), and the interior sensors (motion sensors). If this is the only way you use your system (and some folks do just that), then you can usually get by with fewer alarm sensors. You always want to have a sensor on every exterior door, but the interior spaces are more easily protected using motion sensors – one or more of these sensors placed strategically where an intruder might go will detect motion in the house and activate the alarm.
Note: these motion sensors are generally pet-friendly up to 40 pounds, so if your Newfie or Bernese Mountain Dog has the run of house all day, then you need to use (and equip your house for) the other mode. Remember my two dogs? One of them is pretty big, so Away Mode is not for me!
“Stay Mode” is used when you are arming the house when you are there, like at night – and this setting arms only the perimeter of your system: that means doors, windows, and glassbreak sensors. The motion sensors are not armed, since you don’t want to set off your own alarm when going for that midnight snack.
Of course, if there are areas of the house where you don’t go at night, such as an unfinished basement, then you could put a motion sensor down there and ask your alarm company to program the device to be armed even in the Stay Mode. Then, if you ever do need to go down there when the system is armed, you just need to disarm it before you go down to check the furnace: simply rearm it when you come back upstairs.
FrontPoint Security, a leader in interactive wireless home security, is pleased to present this blog for its customers, soon-to-be customers, and the alarm-shopping public. The FrontPoint web site has produced targeted and informative videos on plenty of alarm topics, and this one is no exception. In fact, here is aneasy link to a video entitled, What Alarm Equipment Do I Need, that is tailor-made to help you understand the relationship of your alarm equipment and the arming modes.
I promise to address the topic of alarm system design in a later post, but since we get a lot of questions about arming modes, it made sense to address Stay & Away for the first installment of “Wireless Home Security 101.” With your new understanding of Stay and Away modes, you are now good to go – or stay!
Joe Wojtas
Is there a way to “arm imediately” so we don’t have to listen to the series of beeps for 30 seconds? Interested in this for control panel and iPhone application.
Peter M. Rogers
Joe – thanks for your excellent question. The answer is a resounding yes, although you have some options here, based on whether you are arming in “Stay” or “Away” mode: it may be easier for you to call the folks in Customer Service to have them walk you through the various processes. For example, you can “Instant Arm” in “Stay” mode by pressing the “Doors & Windows” button twice. To silence the beeping, you then press the “Silent” button. And there is now a way to arm the system without delay from your iPhone. You will have to download the latest version of the app to get that feature. Once you have done that, you will see a pop-up box when you select the arming option. It’s there that you select or unselect the “Entry Delay” option (it’s a check-box). Thanks again – and if you have any issues or other questions, please don’t hesitate to call our Customer Service team.
Kim Clark
On the mobile app, what are “push notifications”?. I’m afraid to put it on for fear that I won’t know how to fix it back if I don’t need it. I have no idea what push notifications are.
Thanks, Kim
Peter M. Rogers
Kim – Great question, and thanks for asking. We specialize in the kinds of interactive services that are getting so much press these days, and push notifications are just one more cool aspect of what FrontPoint can do to make your life more convenient – and secure.
A push notification is a service that can send notifications to third party applications on an iPhone, Android or Blackberry. Instead of the notification being sent in the form of a text message over a cellular network, it is sent via a mobile or wireless internet network directly to an application. When setting up notifications on MyFP.com, instead of having to type in the mobile number in which to send text notifications, you can enable your mobile phone or tablet as a push device and be able to select that device as a recipient. This is a great time saver. However, in order for push notifications to work, the device must always have some form of internet connection and must be permanently logged into the alarm.com application.
Please feel free to call our Support team for assistance with this or any other FrontPoint questions. We want you to get the most out of your system!
mike
is there a way to arm the system using the iphone app, where there is no entry delay? using the control panel, that is done by hitting the doors and windows button twice; but can it be done from the iphone app? otherwise, there is always a 30-second delay with armed stay and armed away modes.
Peter M. Rogers
Mike – thanks for your question. In fact there is now a way to arm the system without delay from your iPhone. You will have to download the latest version of the app to get that feature. Once you have done that, you will see a pop-up box when you select the arming option. It’s there that you select or unselect the “Entry Delay” option (it’s a check-box). Thanks again – and if you have any issues or other questions, please don’t hesitate to call our Customer Service folks.
LaLa
I arm my alarm for “away” before bed because my motion detector is in the living room area and I don’t have to go that way at night even if I do get up. However, about 80% of the time, my alarm will change by itself to “stay”. If I wanted it on that, I would do it myself. Why does it sometimes do that?
Peter M. Rogers
Thanks, LaLa, for your comment. Some people do just as you do – they use the “away” mode even when they are home, if the motion sensor location(s) can be avoided while the system is armed. However, I’m not aware of any situation where the system will change its own arming status, and strongly suggest you contact your alarm company’s service department to straighten this out. I do not see you in our customer account list based on your email, so I am not sure if you are a FrontPoint customer or not – but if you are with FrontPoint, please call (877) 602-5276 as soon as you are able to do so.
Thanks again.
Danny
Hi LaLa and Peter,
Some alarm panels switch automatically from AWAY arming to STAY arming if the alarm panel does not “see” an entry/exit door being opened during the exit delay after the alarm system was AWAY armed.
In other words, the alarm panel has recognized that you did not exit the home during the exit delay, and as such, it automatically switched the arming to STAY mode to prevent you from causing an alarm by passing in front of the motion detector(s) which would be active in AWAY mode while you are still inside your home.
You must contact the alarm company that installed your alarm system and ask them to change the programming to prevent automatic AWAY to STAY arming detection.
Or, you can arm your alarm system in AWAY mode and then open and close your front door during the time alloted for your exit delay to “trick” the alarm system into thinking that you have left the house.
The alarm panel will “see” that the front door has been opened and then shut and it will “think” that you left the house. So it will arm in AWAY mode, as you want.
Peter M. Rogers
Danny – Thanks for weighing in here. It happens that you are correct when you say “some” panels work that way. The GE Security Simon XT control panel sold by FrontPoint has the option to work that way, but we turn that option off 100% of the time, unless a customer specifically wants their panel to work that way. The feature is called “Unvacated Premises” and works as you describe it – but again, it’s not relevant for FrontPoint panels. Just one more way that we differentiate ourselves from the rest of the crowd! Thanks again.
LaLa
Thank you both. I think that is how mine is set up where one of the exit doors must open and close with the away mode. so now I just arm it, open the door, and shut it and all is well. Thanks
Peter M. Rogers
You are most welcome!
Jennifer
I just recently had an ADT alarm system installed. We have away mode, which covers doors, windows, and motion…as well as a stay mode which only covers the perimeters. We have a large dog that comes with me at times during the day, which is when I would set the alarm to away mode. However, when I leave the house and leave him in it, I would need to set the alarm to stay so that he does not set off the motion sensor. However, once I set the alarm to stay mode, it will not let me leave the house without changing to away mode. Is there a way to set the alarm to stay mode, leave the house, and let my dog still be able to roam about? Thanks in advance!
Peter M. Rogers
Jennifer – thanks for your question. Of course, we wish you had just bought a FrontPoint system – but if you had, you would not be facing this dilemma. What you are trying to do makes perfect sense: be able to arm the system in “Stay” mode and then leave the house. When I was traveling a lot for work, that is exactly what I would do when leaving at 5 am to catch an early flight: arm the system in stay mode, so that my family was still protected after I left. It amazes me, in fact, that your system won’t let you do that. I would be calling ADT right away, if I were you, and getting them to make that change in the programming for you – for free.
Of course, a FrontPoint system would give you another option. With our interactive monitoring services, you can can remotely disarm and arm your system (in either mode) from anywhere, using our free mobile app. Almost all our customers have these cool interactive features, including notifications, video, and even remote home automation capability, for lights, locks, and thermostats. ADT was late to the game, and they charge a lot for these services – and I’m not sure they have the ability to support them very well.
Good luck to you, and thanks again for your question. And next time you are in the market for some real peace of mind, please give us a call!
Katharina Ray
When issuing “Arm Stay” with my iphone Alarm.com app, the base station issues a long series of beeps. If I were using the base station, I could hit the Silent button on it to stop the annoying arming beeps But I’m using an iPhone at the other end of the house. How can I silence all those beeps without impacting the intrusion alert sounds.
Thanks in advance or your help.
Peter M. Rogers
Katharina – Thanks for your question. I’ve replied directly to you with the answer, but for anyone else who might be curious, here it is:
You can set the panel to always arm “Silent” when arming from a remote device. This option can be found on the myfrontpoint website. In the top right corner of the Arming box there is a gear icon that you can click, and it will bring up an option for having the system arm in Silent mode in arm Stay or Away, or both.
If you have any questions, please call us at (877) 602-5276.
Thanks again!
John DePrato
Is there anyway to do this with the keyfobs as well? It’s great to have this setting for the smartphone app, but it would also be great to have this same setting for the key fobs!
Peter M. Rogers
Actually you can use the key fob to arm in Stay or Away. If you have any question, call our Support team and they will be happy to help you. Thanks!
Henry Munford
This article was timely for me but unfortunately it does not help. I want to know how to arm the system for when I am at home at night (and so have no delay for an entry) and also when I am away and there is a delayed alarm so I can have time to enter and disarm the system.
My alarm system is not yet a year old and i do not see or have a “stay” or an “away” button on the master or outlying panels as the article suggests.
Any help?
Steve Roberts
Hi Henry! On your Control Panel:
To arm your system in Away Mode, press the Motions Button once.
To arm your system in Stay Mode, press the Doors+Windows Button, once to allow for the standard 30 second entry delay and twice for no entry delay (primarily used at night when no one should be expected to enter). You can also press the Silent Button after intiating a command on your Main Control to silence the beeps and double your exit time.
Peter M. Rogers
Steve – You are right on the money – and thanks! That is exactly the set of instructions that our Support Team would provide.
Bob Miller
I started with FrontPoint early in 2009 and I just ordered and installed a FrontPoint alarm for a neighbor. One of the best things about ordering and installing was the interactive communications between myself and FrontPoint. This is a significant change from just 15 months ago. Howell of FrontPoint was extremely helpful and it seemed that he became my “account executive”. Whenever I sent an email or called he was the one who responded. That is great. Howell, was able to answer my 3-4 questions and informed me of things I had not known or which I had forgot. Your newsletter just informed me that special programming for motion sensors in the stay mode. Great!! Keep up the good work.