A Most Unique Experience
Keeping You Aware and Worry-Free
MAY/JUNE 2016
| TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 113
By Robert Hessel
Your home has a lot to tell you since, thanks to the
technology available through smart home security, it
now has a voice. It can keep you aware of everything
that occurs in your home from fires to teenagers’ parties,
no matter where you are, through real-time text and video alerts.
In extreme cases, like a fire, tornado or potential break-in,
knowing what’s happening can literally save your life. At other
times, you’ll enjoy enhanced peace of mind, comfort, protection
and the ability to address problems before they get worse. The
new smart home security features will certainly change your
life for the better.
This technology is simple to manage, as you can opt for the type
of alerts that you want and need, as your security system filters
out the events that don’t concern you. Thanks to the wealth of
data that your smart home security system has from its sensors
and devices, it can tell the difference.
A home security system can tell you when something’s wrong.
If there is an alarm event at your home, you’ll be the first to know,
even when you are not there, via an alert on your smartphone.
Your 24/7 professional monitoring service will also be alerted
immediately so that they can assess the situation and dispatch
emergency personnel to your home if necessary. Even if your
security panel or phone lines are damaged, companies such as
Source 1 Solutions in Largo can still alert everyone who needs to
know thanks to advanced secure cellular connection technology.
You will also know when everything is all right, since this
sense of awareness gives you confirmation that things are fine.
For example, you can set up an alert that lets you know that
your children have arrived home from school every day, based
on them entering their user code into your alarm panel. This
feature will help you keep track of contractors, dog walkers and
even out-of-town guests.
Most importantly, you will know if there is a dangerous
situation. You can integrate your smoke and carbon monoxide
sensors into your system, so that they will instantly alert you and
others who need to know if your property is in danger. These
alerts allow you valuable time to get home and handle situations
that may occur. One Source 1 Solutions user was able to save his
dogs from a house fire after receiving such an alert. Another user
was able to get his family to safety with minutes to spare before
a tornado struck his home, thanks to a severe weather alert on
his smartphone. If you’re out of town regularly, you can even
set it up to have alerts sent to a trusted neighbor. This is a great
option for peace of mind when you are traveling.
If you forget to arm your smart security system when you
leave home, you don’t need to return home to set it, as you can
use your smartphone app to arm your system remotely.
Emergencies aside, many minor household events can cause
you a problem if you’re unaware of them. Toddlers can open a
freezer and leave it open. Teens can bring other teens into your
home when you’re out, or a guest can change the temperature
of your thermostat without telling you. All of these situations
can be detected with different smart home security sensors that
will generate alerts to let you know what is happening.
You may wonder how to tell if it is an intruder or a squirrel
that set off your porch’s motion detector. A smart security image
sensor will tell you. This small device combines motion detection
with the ability to send you a snapshot of whatever caused the
motion, giving you instant knowledge of what happened. If you
are using a video solution on your porch, you can create smart
rules that filter your video alerts in accordance with specific
event triggers. You will be amazed how much you can do with
these systems. 9
EDITOR’S NOTE: Robert Hessel at Source 1 Solutions can be
contacted at (727) 538-4114 or www.source1security.com.
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