Electronic Alarms and Home Security Devices - Security system/company comparison

I'm looking at different security system setups for my home. The previous owners left a Honeywell system in place. I called a few of the major security system vendors, ADT, APX, Brinks, they all said they would replace my current (2 year old system) with their own system and charge me ~ $39.99 a month. So now to my question:
Is paying that much a month to get the automated call to authorities or cell phone required and if so what kind of opinions do people have on these companies/setups?
If this has been discussed in a previous thread or if someone knows of a good review/comparison link, please share.
Thanks,

If you have a Honeywell system that is only two years old, you should not have to replace it. You should be able to get a national company to monitor it for around $25. The quotes you got were with extended service and possibly inflated to subsidize the unnecessary upgrade.

Don't do business with anyone who demands to replace your system. They likely want to do that so they can charge you for the install and keep ownership of the equipment... and then they have you by the ummm... throat.

One thing I'd look for in a monitoring company is full web access. With my company I can log in and view open/close logs for no additional fee, place the account on test, etc. If I had to call up and deal with a human each time I wanted to add some gadget to my system or test it, I'd never do it. Well at least not as often.

After an incident with fire trucks a while back I have gotten into the habit of putting my account on test before I attempt to cook anything.

There's another ulterior motive for these companies to replace
your existing system. They claim to give you ~$900 worth of
equipment for "free" and then have you sign a 2, or, 3-yr
contract where the penalty for early termination can be as
high as 70% of the remaining period on the contract. I was
totally turned off by this practice as I already owned brand-new
equipment installed by our builder and went with a company
that would monitor without any such contract. Only downside
to this route is you are responsible for your system's
maintenance.

Also, once they have their system in, which often has proprietary hard coding in it so no one else can monitor, as core said, they have you. And that $39.99 a month won't go down after 3 years.

Find a good local company of reasonable size, that's been around a while, and keeps their monitoring contracts in house. You'll get better service. Even if they can't get into programming, and have to replace the panel, that should only be $100 or $200 bucks, depending on the model and rates in your area. Then the monitoring should be around $20 or so.

You may pay a couple bucks more for a shorter contract, for instance we offer a standard 3 year. For 2 bucks more a 2 year, $2 more than that for a one year. And $2 of any of those for auto bank draft or not monthly invoiced. But you don't find that everywhere.

trust me you dont want to go with a major monitoring company..

yes I pay $48 a month for monitoring by adt. I moved into a house with a fairly large system in place.. all wireless...

safewatch caretaker
2 x wireless keypads
9 x door window sensors
2 x basement window bars
1 x motion sensor in basement
2 x glassbreaks (1 in second floor bedroom.. that is stupid so I had adt move it)
2 x carbon detectors
3 x smoke detectors

so my insurance is about $17 of that $48 a month..
so instead im going to buy the concord 4 system and use with the currently installed units and use most likely next alarm and cut that bill way down. I am thinking off my head but i think 1 year was like $110 and there was another company for $8 a month!!!!!!
now that is how I want it!!!!

It is true that some National companies overcharge. However, I can't imagine what kind of service you would get for $8 a month. Would you get a UL listed central station with a network of redunant sites? Would a live operator answer your calls 24 hours a day? Would you have 24 hour tech support and emergency downloading? Would you have a local branch that can service your alarm when it is needed? Will your alarm be able to "dial out" when the phone line is cut? Would you like to sacrafice these services to pay $8 a month? I wouldn't, but there is a happy medium, there are companies that will provide these services for a reasonable rate. You really do get what you pay for in many cases and the key is VALUE.