Having a home security alarm system installed is a great step to take to help improve the security for your home and family. There are lots of choices to be made when selecting a security alarm system itself, but after selecting the appropriate alarm for your home, it's a good idea to consider whether you want to have an outside service monitor your home alarm as well.

Oftentimes, security alarm companies offer this option along with the alarm system that they install, but if you decide to install the alarm yourself or have it installed by a local contractor, you will need to decide on taking this extra step and which company you would like to choose for a monitoring service.

The good news is that most monitoring services are very reasonable and affordable. In fact, you can get a monthly subscription to many monitoring services for $10 or even less per month. A lot of homeowners conclude that this is money well spent for the extra peace of mind that it affords.

So how does a monitoring service work?

Well, usually the alarm system is set up so that if the alarm is triggered, a phone call is made to the monitoring service automatically, where the personnel on duty call your home first and try to determine if a false alarm has sounded or if a real break-in has happened. This can save you money in case of an accidental triggering of the alarm.

If a break-in is in progress they then call the local law enforcement who can then get to your house quickly and investigate the matter. This kind of home protection is especially valuable when you are away from home as that is when most burglaries take place.

So which monitoring service should you choose? There is a wide variety of these services available and not all are as vigilant as you would like them to be. Our suggestion is to poll your neighbors, family, friends, and perhaps your real estate agent to see what recommendations they have for a reliable service that they know of. Quite often, you will begin to hear the same names come up in conversation, and that is the short list of companoies that you should investigate regarding the features they offer that you feel will be of most benefit to you.

It is not necessary to have an alarm monitoring service, but it is cheap insurance that does you one extra layer of protection in your home security plan.

Jim Johnson writes on many consumer related topics including home security. You can find out more about home security alarms and home security surveillance by visiting our Home Security Review website.