Temperature Sensors

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Titan Alarm is taking the Smart Home Energy Management System to a new level, we are now rolling out the Alarm.com Smart Home Thermostat Temperature Sensors. With these sensors your Smart Thermostat will now be enabled to take smarter steps to maximize energy savings and the comfortability of your home.

With out new wireless Temperature Sensors, you can deliver precision comfort to all of the rooms that you spend most of your time, not just the hallway that your thermostat happens to live.

Follow these steps to really utilize the Temperature Sensors:

1: Install Sensors in High Traffic Rooms. 

Chances are that the room your thermostat lives in, isn’t the room that you spend the most time in. Even if you have your current thermostat installed in your living room, that doesn’t mean the thermostat knows the temperature in your bedroom.

The answer to this problem is to install a Temperature Sensor on the wall of each room that has a high area of traffic, like your kitchen, bedrooms, living room and dining room.

2: Adjust comfort to the room you’re in

Now that you have temperature sensors around the house, you can specify which sensor commands the thermostat.

For example, let’s say that it’s bedtime. Downstairs, where the thermostat sits, the temperature is a comfortable 72 degrees. Upstairs, though, it’s 76 degrees—too warm for a comfortable night.

Simply open your Alarm.com app and tell your smart thermostat to optimize the home’s temperature for the bedroom until your bedroom sensor registers 72.

3: Create a Schedule

Creating a schedule is actually pretty easy, and the nice thing is, you can have it follow your daily routine and make your house that much more comfortable as you go about your day.

In this example, the user is assigning different sensors to each of the thermostat modes in the Alarm.com application.

For energy savings during the day (Away), they use the thermostat. For evenings (Home), they use the living room sensor. At night (Sleep) the bedroom sensor takes over.

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4: Be sure to use your other thermostat features

Temperature Sensors are just one of the many ways of using your smart thermostat! Make sure you learn more about the system by contacting Titan Alarm today! Give us a call 602-680-4567

Learn More About Energy Management

Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.

Beat The Heat

When you think “Smart Thermostat” do you think of saving money on your energy bill? Or do you think of a more comfortable house?

If you’re one of the people who think of both, well then congrats! You aren’t alone in your thinking! In fact, according to a recent Home Owners Survey, 93 percent of homeowners all think the way you do, and want both money savings and a more comfortable house!

So, why do most smart thermostats fail to deliver?

Most thermostats still monitor and control a house’s comfort and climate the old way, based on the temperature only in the room that the thermostat is installed in.

That technique works great if you want to have a comfortable living room or hall way, but not that well if your bedroom is upstairs where heat rises to.

 

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Luckily, with Titan Alarm, there is a thermostat that gives you the options of having comfort around your whole house 24/7. A nice and even balance of a great temperature that is customised to each area of your house!

The Alarm.com Smart Thermostat is one of the most cutting edge thermostats on the market. With it’s smarter build and technology put into it, the thermostat has access to monitor every room in your house that has remote temperature sensors!

To utilize this feature, simply install remote sensors in every room you want to be able to monitor and control, assign it in the application to your thermostat and enjoy the precision comfort that has been assigned and targeted to that room. You can now easily create schedules for the temperatures in the rooms throughout the day and it’s all thanks to your smart home with temperature sensors.

If you want to learn more about saving money or having a more comfortable house, give Titan Alarm a call today! 602-680-4567.

Learn More About Energy Management

Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.

Saving Money with Energy Management

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In Arizona, we all know that July and August can be some of the hottest times of year in this hot hot desert state. Which means expensive energy bills to keep your house cool and in a comfortable environment to live in.

Inside houses, the top floors of the house get extremely hot, which is caused by heat rising. When this happens it creates hot zones, which aren’t necessarily where your thermostat is positioned.

This then will make it harder to keep your house comfortable and cool throughout the day and in the summer heat.

Unfortunately most homeowners simply put their air conditioning units on full blast until the whole house feels cool, but that actually racks up the energy bills quite a bit and is extremely inefficient.

Titan Alarm powered by alarm.com delivers a new way to keep your house at a comfortable and cool temperature, and we can help provide precision comfortability to your whole house.

 

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1: Place Sensors in Main Rooms.

Temperature sensors that sync with your Titan Alarm system can and should be placed on the wall of high traffic and main use rooms in your house, that way it will give accurate readings sent back to your panel and thermostat to control the comfortability of the house.

For example: if you want your kitchen cooled down to 69 degrees, you can set the thermostat to target the kitchen and cool down your house until the sensor you have installed in the kitchen reads that the temperature is 69 degrees.

It’s worth the investment to have a temperature sensor in each other rooms in your house, that way you can have accurate readings of the temperature of the house as a whole.

Pro Tip: If you have young children and you make sure to put one in their bedroom or nursery, put it out of their reach.

 

 

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2: Create a Schedule

With the temperature sensors, you can now target individual rooms and their climate all from your smartphone and the Alarm.com app! You can now manually control targeted rooms but the easiest way to do it is all with a schedule!

Based off of your family’s routine, you can make a schedule that will target all of the different rooms in your house as your family uses them and changes their routine around the house as the day goes on.

A great example of how scheduling works can be something as perfect as follows: you can set your house’s schedule to change the climate of the house at around 9am when you take the kids to school and you head to work, and then around 5pm when you’re heading home you can have the house change climate again to fit what you want to come home to.

Pro Tip: Schedule your house to change when you’re going to be gone for most of the day.

 3: Balance Your Smart House  

 

With precision comfort it can help save money on your energy bill by delivering just the right amount of energy needed to keep your house at a comfortable temperature rather than blasting the air conditioning all summer long.

Some of the amazing features and add ons you can get for your Titan Alarm Smart Home Thermostat are as follows:

Auto-Setback: This feature monitors your doors and windows to make sure none of them are accidentally left open and you accidentally start heating or cooling the outside world. If anything is left open, your thermostat will alert you and it will automatically set your houses temperatures back as to minimize energy waste until the door or window left open is closed.

Geo-Services: Using your smartphone’s location, your thermostat and smart home panel will use your phone’s location to control the climate and comfortability of your house. By using your phone’s location your house will go into “savings” mode once you leave a certain radius. To learn more about Geo-Services CLICK HERE.

Extreme Temps: This feature gives you the possibility and options of setting your thermostat to change temperatures when the outside temperature gets too hot, so that your house won’t fry while you’re away on a hot Phoenix day.

If you want to learn more about using Energy Management and how it can integrate with your Titan Alarm Home Security System, give Titan a call today! 602-680-4567

Learn More About Energy Management

Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.

Home Automation with Voice Control

Imagine controlling your whole house, with the power of your voice. Things like the air conditioning or the kitchen lights, all controlled with a mere voice command. It’s now easily accessible for you and your house! With the pairing of alarm.com and Amazon Echo’s voice control Alexa, you can now control your smart home with voice commands!

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Here is how this amazing technology works:

Naming and Grouping Devices

When it comes time to start configuring all of your devices with the Amazon Echo, make sure to use this pro tip and try to group together similar items into one name, that way it’s even easier to control with your voice. For example, if you have multiple smart lights that are configured in your living room, group them all together, then name them something like “Living Room Lights” that way when you want to control the whole living room, you just tell Alexa, “Living Room Lights off” and your whole living room with turn off. Make sure to try and apply this in multiple rooms that way you have an easier time controlling your smart home.

When you have to name your group Amazon has a few times for truly utilizing Alexa’s full capabilities.

  • Make sure you use a different name for each group in your house.
  • Names that only have two or three syllables are the easiest for Alexa to recognize.
  • Use names that will be easy for you to remember and not take too long to say.
  • Set groups that will work together and not be effected by one another turning on or off.

Be sure to really think about how you will use your house’s lights and thermostats on the everyday basis, and then build the groups in your Alexa app to match your lifestyle and house.

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Say the Commands

Once you have set up and configured your smart devices in with Alexa and Amazon Echo, turning on or off your groups are as easy as saying the command out loud. The Amazon Echo and Alexa are command specific and not voice specific, so if anyone in the house says the correct phrasing then Alexa will follow through and either turn on or off the grouping paired with that command.

This set up obviously makes it extremely convenient to go and change out the settings without having to actually use a light switch or have to pull out your smartphone. Imagine how awesome that can be if you’re walking into a dark house with arms full of groceries and all you have to do is say out loud, “Alexa Kitchen Lights On” and your lights in your kitchen turn on, making it that much easier for you to bring your groceries in and see where you’re going in your house. We all know that walking into a dark house and stepping on Legos is the absolute worst.

If this home automation sounds like something you could use in your life, or you’ve just stepped on far too many legos, then give Titan Alarm a call today, we can get you set up with a custom solution just for your house and your needs and really make the smart home your best friend.

 

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Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.

Tech Gifts for Dad

With Father’s Day right around the corner, why not get Dad an awesome Tech Gift this year? Whether your Dad is into gardening, cooking, or exercise, there are tons of awesome home automation and tech gifts to help improve your Dad’s life!

Here are some of our favs over at Titan Alarm:

1. Amazon Echo

Echo

List Price: $179

Find it on Amazon

This little guy is a powerhouse when it comes to home automation, the Amazon Echo is one of the most recently integrated devices into the alarm.com family, so if you’re looking for a useful but fun gift, then look no further. When using the voice service, also known as Alexa, the Amazon Echo can do so much! It can read you audio books, check the weather, and even turn on and off your smart home’s lights through the integration of the alarm.com application.

 

 

2. Fitbit Charge HR

FitBit

List price: $149

Find it on Amazon

This FitBit is designed to track all of your activities, sleep, calorie intake and your weight, the FitBit Charge HR is the most advanced wearable device for those who love fitness. The small, but powerful wireless tracker uses your stats obtained throughout the day and the syncs it to your smartphone, that way Dad can keep track and monitor his progress throughout the day.

 

 

3. Mr. Coffee Smart Coffee Maker

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List price: $115

Find it on Amazon

This is for those mornings where Dad just doesn’t want to get out of bed without a cup of coffee. With the Mr. Coffee Smart Coffee Maker, Dad can have his coffee brewed and ready to go before he even steps out of bed. This coffee maker is attached via wifi and a smartphone application and is easily accessible, even through the morning grogginess. This awesome 10-cup coffee maker, even has the possibilities to send notifications, reminders and alerts to your Dad’s smartphone.

 

 

4. WORX Landroid Robotic Lawn Mower

WORX

List price: $999

Find it on Amazon

Let’s be honest, Dad probably has a few better things to do then spending his Saturday mowing the lawn, let Dad spend some time relaxing and pick up the WORX Landroid Robotic Lawn Mower. The lawn mower works off of a pre-programmed schedule, and can even run up to 7 days a week. This lawn mower is quiet and electric so you don’t have to worry about constantly refilling it on gasoline.

 

 

5. Tile

Tile

Find it on Amazon

Dad’s can be forgetful, especially when mom isn’t there to find his keys. So if this is the case, then the Tile is going to be the best gift you can get for him on this Father’s day. When Dad loses his keys all he has to do is access the app on his smartphone, and then choose to locate his keys, the Tile will then start chiming so Dad can find his keys. The nice thing is, Tile can easily attach to most devices, like keys, Dad’s wallet or even his smartphone. If Dad loses his smart phone, but has his keys or a device with a Tile on it, all he has to do is tap his Tile and the smartphone linked to the Tile will start ringing.

One of the best gifts for dad this year, that didn’t end up on the list, is a smart home automation system from Titan Alarm, if you’re really wanting to give dad a gift that is cutting edge in technology and is focused on home improvement, making your home safer, and making your whole house tech savvy, then contact Titan Alarm today, we’d love to get your dad the perfect smart home automation system today.

Learn More About Smart Home Technology

Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.

Prevent Phoenix Bicycle Theft

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Downtown Phoenix is such a great area to spend the weekends biking around going cafe to cafe and bar to bar. Which means your form of transportation, your bicycle, is important to enjoy the nice weekends out. Every year there are approximately 1.5 million bicycles stolen throughout the U.S. and that’s just the bikes that are reported stolen. Over 5000 bicycles were reported stolen in Phoenix last year alone. Check out this blog we’ve put together for you on how to prevent bicycle theft in Phoenix.

How To Prevent Bike Theft

In Phoenix, there is a local bicycle shop that took it upon themselves to create the Phoenix Stolen Bicycle Registry. Aside from that, there is also the National Bicycle Registry also known as the NBR. The NBR helps combat bicycle registration, and it’s so helpful that if a bicycle is stolen, it is nine times more likely to be found than if you hadn’t registered the bicycle. When you register the bicycle, it will then be entered into it’s database that your local and federal law agencies have access to. For $10 you can use the NBR’s services for 10 years, that’s $1 a year, which is a pretty cheap investment to add a layer of safety and protection for your bicycle. If your bicycle is unfortunately stolen and is registered with NBR and it isn’t recovered, the NBR will provide you a free 10-year registration for your next bicycle.

Buy a tamper-proof bicycle lock.

One of the strongest and most common bicycle locks you can get is a U-lock. The shape of the “U” makes it so that potential bike thieves are unable to pry it open and the steel cabling inside makes it almost impossible for them to cut. Bicycle U-locks are surprisingly affordable too, when you weight the cost of a lock to the cost of your bicycle, it’s completely worth the investment. Don’t know where to find a bicycle lock that fits your needs? Check out Amazon.

 

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Lock your bike to something secure and in a high traffic area.

Let’s be honest, you’re probably not really wanting to keep your bike for too long if you lock it in an alleyway away from the public eye or locked to a parking meter on the main streets. Lock your bike to a place that someone can’t lift it off of or easily break or cut whatever your bike is latched onto as well. A parking meter or street sign might seem secure but all it takes is for the thief to lift the bike higher than the sign or meter and off comes the bike and there goes the thief off with their new bicycle.

What To Do If Your Bike Is Stolen

While we are hoping that this is never your fate, there are many possible ways you can help recover your bicycle:

Contact the police.

If your bicycle is stolen make sure you file a police report as soon as possible, call the non-emergency phone number of your local police department and file a police report for your stolen bicycle. Make sure you follow up with the police a few times to see if there has been any progress made toward the recovery of your bicycle, or just to remind them to keep an eye out on the lookout for your unfortunately stolen bicycle.

 

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Alert local pawn shops.

Most pawn shops around Arizona actually run the serial number of your bicycle against police records and stolen bicycle records before they’ll buy a bicycle from you, so if your bicycle is stolen, there is a good chance a pawn shop can recover it as well, even if a pawn shop doesn’t run the serial number, make sure you visit the local pawn shops and ask around and alert the employees of your stolen bicycle.

Check Craigslist.

Would you be surprised if we said that not every criminal is the sharpest tool in the shed? A lot of criminals steal stuff and don’t know how to make money off of it so they go straight to Craigslist to try and sell the stolen loot. If you find your bicycle on craigslist or another online selling website, do not try to retrieve it yourself, contact the police immediately and inform them of the craigslist advertisement and they will recover your bicycle for you all while keeping you safe and away from the criminal.

In the meantime, your safety and well being is one of our biggest concerns here at Titan Alarm, we want to make sure your house or business is just as safe as your bike is, let us get you a customized solution for your needs. Give us a call today 602-680-4567!

Learn More About Home Video Surveillance

Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.

What You Need To Know About 2G Sunset

If your current alarm system is using 2G cellular technology, there’s a very unfortunate possibility that your security system will no longer communicate effectively with a monitoring station. Here’s what all of Titan Alarm’s customers need to know about this extremely important update:

This is out of our control. An extremely large number of home and commercial wireless security systems use AT&T’s 2G cellular network to communicate with the co-inciding monitoring stations. Unfortunately AT&T has announced that by the end of 2016, they will be shutting down their 2G network and change all of their cell towers over to 4G cellular. AT&T is calling this transition the 2G Sunset and that is why your system is going to need to be updated. To put it in basic layman’s terms, 2G and 4G do not communicate the same language.

Update NOW. AT&T is starting to shut off many cell towers throughout the different markets and regions throughout 2016, that’s why it is so important to do the update immediately. Titan Alarm wants to keep your security system always on the cutting edge of technology. If AT&T turns off the 2G network in your area before your security system has been updated then your security system will stop communicating with the monitoring company without any notice to you. We want to keep you safe and keep your security system working, so make sure you contact Titan Alarm today to make sure that your security system gets the required update.

It’s not just Titan Alarm’s customers. Believe it or not, not just Titan Alarm and our customers are being effected by this fade out. Every security provider that uses wireless security systems is facing the same issue. We’re trying to be extremely proactive because nothing is more important to Titan Alarm than our customer’s safety.

What is 2G, anyway? It’s just a fancy way of saying “second-generation.” So it’s not hard to guess what 3G and 4G stand for. It’s all part of the same technology your smartphone uses.

Smartphone not affected. If you control your keypad or home automation from your smartphone, that’ll still work once your keypad is updated. You won’t need to do anything to your phone.

 

If you’re a Titan Alarm customer and you’re unsure if you have a 2G system, please call 602.680.4567 and we can assist you and help you figure out what you need to know about your Titan Alarm Home Security System.

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Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.

Smart Home Interaction

Four Ways to Interact With your Titan Alarm Smart Home

If you’re always on the lookout for the newest and most innovative ways to increase your technology in your home, then here are four amazing ways to get it even more integrated into your life, by connecting the following devices to your Titan Alarm Smart Home.
Smartphone and Tablet: 
The application for Alarm.com on iOS and Android can turn your mobile phone or tablet into a central command station for your home, using portability and convenience to make the application extremely useful.

With everything from instant security notifications and one touch commands, to setting custom rules and commands that can access multiple smart home devices at the same time, the Alarm.com smartphone and tablet applications give you a complete solution to smart home control whether you’re at home, or away at work.

Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV 

If you’re watching TV when the door bell rings you can use your remote for either device to navigate quickly to the native Alarm.com application and see who’s at the door and check your other cameras around the house as well.
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Both of these applications have been designed by Alarm.com to make viewing all your live feeds from your house painless. That way you have a larger screen to view more detail from the cameras rather than using a smaller smart phone screen to see everything. The tv applications allow up to four live feeds simultaneously to stream to your tv.
Smartwatch Apps

With the Alarm.com application for the Apple Watch, it allows awareness, control and visibility all at a quick glance of your wrist, which makes it an amazing part to integrate into your smart home system. With the taptic feedback responses programmed into the watch, it can let you know when something is happening with your smart home automation system.

Amazon Echo

The future is officially here, with the Amazon Echo, your smart home automation system is controlled by voice control! Starting later this year you’ll be able to control everything with simple commands like “Alexa, turn off the kitchen lights.” and your kitchen lighting will turn off without you having to move a muscle. So sit back and enjoy your movie night when you forget lights on.
Want to learn more about how to control your home with amazing applications on devices like the ones mentioned above? Contact Titan Alarm today 602-680-4567 or text us 623-523-4849.

Learn More About Smart Home Technology

Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.

Public Building Surveillance

In larger cities like the Phoenix Metropolitan area, and the surrounding cities, there is always a lot of vandalism, traffic violations and crime, all of which put neighborhoods and properties at risk. With the latest technology from Titan Alarm, we can help these cities avoid and decrease their risk of these problems happening.

Security cameras although unable to stop a crime, can help prevent crimes by scaring off a potential criminal if they see the cameras.

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How to Help Deter Local Crime.

With Video Surveillance in Phoenix, city surveillance can help local officials identify and respond to incidents that happen wherever the city has video surveillance cameras installed.

With the help of Titan Alarm, the local law enforcement and the local city officials can all monitor the activity that occurs in the public spaces remotely, with the Alarm.com application.

If your city needs a surveillance camera monitoring system, consider getting them for the following locations:

  • Public City Buildings. Avoid vandalism, and prevent crime and break ins at city owned public buildings.
  • Parking Lots and Parks. With Titan Alarm you can carefully keep an eye on the wide open areas of your city, like parking lots and public parts. With multiple cameras you can keep the best watch in your control.
  • Stoplights. Video Surveillance cameras at stoplights can help you make sure that traffic flow is smooth and you can check on intersections before emergency vehicles need to cross intersections.
  • Restricted City Areas. Set motion-triggered cameras and video surveillance to receive notifications if movement is detected in restricted areas of the city.

 

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Custom Solutions for Your City’s Needs 

Although most larger cities face challenges similar to each other, no two city’s needs are going to be the same. Titan Alarm offers a fully customizable solution for your city and it’s needs. Make sure to think about the following questions when you call Titan Alarm to meet with one of our amazing Sales Associates.

  • In what areas would video monitoring be helpful?
  • How many surveillance cameras are needed?
  • What is the proper bandwidth and storage needed for functionality?
  • Will cameras be used indoors or outdoors?
  • Are cameras compatible with current network connection(s)?

Contact Titan Alarm today and let us help you secure your city! Call us: 602-680-4567 or Text us: 623-523-4849.

 

Learn More About Commercial Video Surveillance

Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.

Smart Home Security For The Working Parent

A recent study stated that a majority of households in the United States are dual income. Around 68% of all married mothers and 94% of all married fathers are all in the labor force and working to provide for their families.

For the working parent, they’re overwhelmed by busy schedules, school trips, business trips and often are stuck with hours at work that are unfortunately not flexible, which leads to managing the home being a daily challenge.

With the advances of technology, home automation has become a life saver for parents who are not able to be home as much as they would like. Things like remote monitoring, notifications for when your front door is opened and so much more have opened the door for parents to be able to keep a better eye on their house and family when they’re away.

1. Automated Lights

With Automated Lights you can help shrink your electric bill and really control and conserve energy with the use of your smart phone. If you forgot a light on? Go ahead and turn it off remotely via the Alarm.com application, saving you money on your electric bill rather than paying for lights to be on when they’re not needed.

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2. Remote Locks & Access Control 

When people think Access Control they think about commercial businesses using Key FOBs and coded cards to enter into the facility, but what most people don’t know is that you can have Access Control at Home as well. When you have Access Control installed at home, you can set a code for your family, friends and trusted people to enter and exit the home securely and to receive notifications when it happens as well. Through mobile alerts, you can instantly know if a child or family member has entered your home, it’s a great way to have accountability especially when they get to the age where they have a curfew.

One of the main forms of Access Control at home is to have Automated or Remote Control locks installed on your door, these locks can be controlled with the touch of a button from your smart phone and the Alarm.com application. It’s an  awesome feature to have installed on your home especially if you have a lot of people coming and going through your house, or if you’re going on vacation and you have a house sitter and don’t want to have to make a copy of your key.

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3. Sensors

When you’re a busy parent, you can have issues keeping track of areas of the house that you don’t necessarily want your children in, such as medicine cabinets or alcohol cubbards. With a sensor installed in high risk areas, you’ll receive notifications when the sensor is triggered and it will allow you to check in and make sure the restricted areas are accessed by the right people at the right times.

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4. Video Surveillance

Using your smart phone, tablet or computer, you can keep an eye on your house, home and family, anywhere you are, remotely with Titan Alarm’s Video Surveillance for Home. Keep an eye on your kids, tutors, caregivers and babysitters with the touch of a button on an extremely amazing application.

If someone arrives at your front door, motion triggered notifications can let you see who’s knocking on your door with a live video feed from a Home Security camera installed on your front door or porch.

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Titan Alarm has the solution for busy parents and the parents who just need an extra hand keeping an eye on their home. If any of these solutions sounded like a great fit for you or you want an even more customized solution call Titan Alarm today! 602-680-4567 or text us! 623-523-4849

Learn More About Smart Home Technology

Updated by Titan Alarm on November 5, 2018.