Norm...just ignore that guys comments. Having been in law enforcement for over 27 years I have even seen places with alarms buglarized they simply cut the phone lines and the alarm wont go to the monitoring station...not every alarm monitoring company pays attention when service is lost. They can also disconect the siren portion if so equipped and in reality by the time the monitoring station gets the alarm, calls the local law enforcement agency they dispatch it and a unit arrives you are at best 10 minutes into the crime..so while an alarm is a good thing you can still fall victim...hang in there and hope 2008 is better...Artie