Tech Savvy Mama

Parenting in the Digital Age

Alarm.com: Smart Interactive Tech Secures Your Home

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If you’re heading out of town for the long weekend or have an upcoming summer vacation on the horizon, chances are you’ve given a little thought to how to best secure your home.

Nothing feels more violating than having someone break into your house.  While stuff is stuff and can be replaced, the physical clean up and emotional scars that come with feeling violated can take a long time to heal.
Over the past two years our usually quiet neighborhood has been subjected to violent break-ins around the holidays.  Thieves waited and watched for occupants to leave for work and then kicked in front doors, ransacking the interiors of nearby houses. To say I was paranoid about leaving the house even for 5 minutes is an understatement.

My husband and I talked a lot about how we could protect ourselves and secure our home. Being mindful of cars on our street and randomizing our activity didn’t seem like enough.  We took measures to reinforce deadbolts on doors, beef up security on windows, but knew our 4 year old adopted Yellow Labrador might not be the most reliable security system. A love of treats and affection are his weaknesses! 

My parents encouraged a home security system.  It was an option we considered but I wanted more than what popular traditional companies offered.  I wanted the technology to make my home smarter and safer.  I wanted to be able to use an app to turn lights on and off, lock and unlock doors, program the thermostat from afar, and even monitor video cameras remotely.  In other words, I wanted my home security system to be tech savvy by providing remote automation and allow me to see what was going on in my home on my terms rather than waiting to be notified after a security breach.

Little did I know that Alarm.com, the company that creates the innovative technology for home monitoring tools, is located in the DC Metro Area.  They invited me to come see their products in action and immediately I recognized how their wide range of products could provide the home security, remote management, and wireless monitoring I wanted for our house.


Alarm.com provides the technology that allows homeowners to monitor everything that happens in their homes from keeping track of activity on entry doors, windows, liquor and medicine cabinets, safes, drawers, and more. While most home security systems rely on a phone line (that can be disabled by thieves or intruders) to notify authorities of a break in, Alarm.com works through a secure wireless network and you can monitor and secure your home through an easy to use web dashboard on any computer or on your mobile phone using the app for iOS (iPhone, iPad) or Android in real time. Ah, sweet tech savvy heaven!

After seeing Alarm.com’s technology infrastructure, the security measures their smart connected devices use to protect homes, the web dashboard, and ease of using the app, I was sold.  I wanted everything they offered in the hopes to make me feel less paranoid.

Working with Alarm.com and our local ASG Security installer (Vivint and other companies also supply devices with Alarm.com technology), we were provided with a customized package of equipment designed to secure and monitor our home.  Our home isn’t just secure, it’s secure in a smart and tech savvy way.

We’ve been using window sensors, wireless and fixed video cameras, emPower lights, and glass break sensors as part of our Alarm.com home security system. We’ve found the advanced interactive technology to be easy to use and provides peace of mind that our home is protected.  

I love the integration with our smartphones that allows us to enable and disable security features while monitoring our home remotely through archived video feeds, text alert notifications, and a great dashboard that provides a comprehensive look at activity in and around our house from any computer.

This is just an overview of the Alarm.com technology in the ASG Security products we are using.  More in-depth coverage about the different products we’re using to secure our home will be shared through future posts. 

Alarm.com and ASG Security provided our family with a customized package of home security products to meet our needs.  Products and 6 months of service were provided in exchange for sharing my honest experience with the technology with you.  No additional compensation was received for this post and we do plan on continuing to pay for our service when our complimentary service ends. Images courtesy of Alarm.com.

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    • Leticia- Tech Savvy Mama says

      Hi Nick! Great question! We use emPower for our lights which is easy to use. You can plug your floor lamps or table top lights into a light timer-like device and can either turn them on and off remotely using the app, desktop dashboard via any web enabled computer, or set them to turn on within a 30 minute window. emPower will select a random time within the 30 minute window so they aren’t going on at the same time like they would with a traditional light timer.

      One thing that we’re looking into getting is the emPower thermostat which enables homeowners to control the temperature in their homes remotely.

      Hope that helps!