Wonderful HPers, thanks again for all this useful info! I've summarized the info & included some of the quotes below. jai Guardian recommended by 6. --We have used Guardian Protection Services for over 13 years and have been extremely happy with their service! Never a problem and never an increase in ouir rates. The Home Show usually offers a multitude of companys as well as free systems. (Great tip about the Home Show.) --We have Guardian and have been very happy with them. Their customer service has been very good. We shopped around before we had the system installed and Guardian had the best installation and monthly contract deal. That was almost five years ago now so things may have changed. Most of the system was installed when we bought our house but we did install smoke detectors and a heat detector and added window alarms. I think it ended up being around $300.00 to get all the extras installed and monitoring started. --we are satisfied with guardian protection; have been with them awhile so don't know what to tell you re costs. pay $25 / mo for monitoring. --I had a Guardian system put in last fall. The monthly charge is $39.95. The installation/equipment charge was about $500, which included a remote key fob, three door alarms, two glass-break alarms, the power unit (which has a battery back-up), control panel, and communications device. (If the alarm goes off, the Guardian monitoring people can speak to you directly over the device, which is tied directly into your telephone line.) The installation took the better part of a day. I was quite satisfied with the sales person, who answered all my questions, and with the installation itself. I've accidentally set the alarm off a couple of times and got a quick response from the monitoring people. So far, I'm happy with the system - thank goodness I haven't had a real alarm yet! Probably the yard sign and the window stickers they provide are a good deterrent. Vector recommended by 2. --I went through this kind of search about 5 yrs ago. Ended up with Vector Security and have been happy with them. I pay 24.95/month. Everybody tells you the installation is free, and it is to some extent, but that doesn't usually include very many sensors. I don't remember what I spent on the installation, but it's a one- time cost and was worth it for my peace of mind -- I'd had a break in right before I got the system. I chose Vector mostly because of the salesman, Walt (I don't remember his last name). He was informative, low key, dedicated, knowledgeable, attentive, and did not dismiss the anxiety I was feeling because of the break in. I think all of these companies probably work about the same and cost about the same, so, in the end, it was Walt who won me over. The other salespeople were fairly pushy and seemed interested only in selling me something. I didn't feel that way with Walt. All of my dealing with Vector have been positive. ARM recommended by 1. We have had ATM and SSA in the past. We now have ARM and really like them. They are a small local company. The contact is Michael Houlis at ARM Security Systems. Phone is 412 531 1314 or 724 222 3761. Deitz recommended by 1. Deitz security system. They are in Allison park as I recall but very professional and nice. ADT recommended by 1. When we bought our house, it had an ADT system. That was 8 years ago and we have been very happy with it. Additional suggestion, make sure you buy the maintenance package on it. Brinks (now Broadview) - they said their experience has been good, but a small upgrade that was desired seems to have been expensive.