Your numbers are right. But remember. Core is the basic package which includes alarm monitoring with video verification without this active guard feature.
So Core is 1.06 x 365 / 12 =32.24
Nighttime Active Guard Pro is $18.25 a month extra (not $30 as I said) on top of Core
24x7 Active Guard Pro is $48.67 extra per month on top of Core
We’ve been researching this and SimpliSafe is the best price we’ve found for a similar feature. It’s not like AI Deterrence but it’s similar to RVM. I don’t know if we’ll be able to match their pricing but we’ll try. Of course, you would have to also consider whether their cameras and service work as well as Alarm.com’s.
It’s also worth noting that SimpliSafe supports up to 3 cameras with that feature and it requires the alarm system. If you wanted to have 5 to 8 cameras as you said, you would have to have 2 to 3 SimpliSafe systems & monitoring accounts at your property which would be much more expensive.
Currently, I don’t think we’re going to offer a night-only option. Just 24/7 RVM. Still working out the details though so that could change.
24x7 is not an issue for me as long as there is a way to activate privacy for when say we are using outdoor patio and dont’ want to be monitored. It has to tie to alarm modes ideally (Away, Armed Stay, etc.). In Disarmed mode it should not monitor.
How soon do you think you will offer RVM?
I assume AI Deterrence does not have any live escalation path, so if the burglar is intent on proceeding with the crime, then I would not have got an earlier call to the police as I would with RVM?
Yes, RVM rules can be set to only monitor when the system is armed in a particular arming mode. That’s encouraged to help prevent false RVM events.
Correct, AI Deterrence doesn’t involve the monitoring center. From the AID docs
The two can even be used together. AID would respond first and hopefully scare away the intruder. When RVM kicks in the monitoring center would take over and AID would stop talking.
I’m hoping for Surety to have RVM live in early 2025. January is the goal but it remains to be seen. There are some minor technical issues to overcome.
If AI Deterrence doesn’t involve the monitoring center then why is it priced per camera and with a limited number of events per month. If it is software based then the marginal cost of additional events and cameras is close to zero isn’t it?
Most Alarm.com add-ons are software based. It’s software-as-a-service. The software runs in their cloud. For AI Deterrence, part of the cost is the AI models that process the video, identify details about the subject, and generate the voice warnings. There is AI on-board the cameras for initial person detection but the more advanced AI runs in the cloud.
Personally, I wish the event limits were higher but maybe those models cost more than we realize.
Ring also has a human based live video monitoring solution. Their pricing is $99 a month, covers the cameras on your base ring subscription, and is limited to 175 incidents per month.
I find this sort of price point quite compelling. I prefer to price per incident vs. per camera, because at the end of the day incidents is what drives the cost rather than the number of cameras.
Ryan - if you offer this service would you offer it using Avantguard monitoring? Or would you use someone like RRMS (the company that Ring uses)?
I ask because I didn’t have a particularly positive impression of Avantguard after my intrusion event last weekend. The person literally answered the phone and said Are you calling about a false alarm. Also she did not see evidence of the intrusion, whereas I was able to see it (I was also not at home).
Yes, we’re planning to be competitive with Ring and SimpliSafe. Those are the two lowest cost RVM-like services we’ve found.
I agree, per-event pricing is more aligned with actual monitoring center costs. What we’ve found is most monitoring centers don’t want to charge that way. Most charge a flat fee per site and then either have an event limit or an overage charge if you have too many events. Alarm.com, on the other hand, charges per-camera. Our internal costs for set up and support are more correlated with the number of cameras than events.
Ring’s pricing isn’t per-event. It’s a flat fee per site with a limit on the number of events. If you have 1 event in a month it’s still $99. The $99 is on top of their alarm monitoring so it’s $120 to $130 per month total.
Our current plan is to use AvantGuard, as usual. You can’t really use different monitoring centers for RVM and alarm monitoring. That would result in 2 monitoring centers trying to handle the same intrusion, it would be a mess.
I’m sorry that you had a bad experience with AvantGuard. After working with them for years and seeing them handle a lot of alarm events, we’ve had an overwhelmingly positive experience with them. That’s usually the feedback we get from customers, very positive. We’re happy to dive into what happened with your experience in a separate topic, it would be off topic here as this is about getting feedback for RVM.
One more data point if helpful. A local Alarm.com vendor here is also offering RVM (also using Avantguard). Their pricing is $70 plus $10 per camera. So for cameras would be $110. However it is not based on number of events. They said only AI deterrence is capped based on events because that’s how Alarm.com prices it.
Given you both use Avantguard my sense is it would be better to stay with Surety. However I sure wish you would launch this RVM product before the holidays. I really have a burning need to secure the property after what happened.
I don’t think we will be ready to launch RVM (Surety Cam Pro, as we will call it) until at least January. But we are planning to run a beta test program sooner than that. As a beta tester you would get early access to the service and wouldn’t be charged for it during the test period. In exchange, you would be obligated to provide feedback and potentially deal with hiccups, as that’s the point of testing.
Is anyone @here interested in beta testing? If you’re interested, let us know.
I would be interested in being a beta tester to see how it works and determine that based on pricing if I would want to keep the service or revert back to AID.
Yes I would love to be a Beta tester. I would run RVM in conjunction with AI Deterrence.
From the conversations I have had with companies that currently offer both, these are complimentary products because AI Deterrence is Instant - the perp hears a warning within 0.5 seconds. Whereas RVM may take 30-120 seconds to respond. So RVM is essentially a way to close the loop on the process that AI Deterrence starts (if the trespasser does not respond to the AI Warning).
oooooo good point!
Cam Pro (RVM) is now available as an add-on to Surety Protect & Surety Complete. The stand-alone plan (monitored cameras without an alarm system) is coming soon.
It’s $48 for the first monitored camera and $12 for each additional. We did our best to be priced competitively with SimpliSafe & Ring. Thank you for all your feedback on this and a special thanks to the beta testers!
If i was a beta tester does this mean this feature has now been removed from my account? If so, can somone removed the locked RVM rules from my account for cleanliness?
The service has not been disabled for testers yet, we will be reaching out via PM soon to determine whether you want to continue, modify, or turn off the service at this time and help with deleting RVM rules if needed.
Surety Cam Pro is now available as a stand-alone video monitoring plan, with no alarm system required.
