re: Home Security System Questions

I have the ring system in my house, only the sensors. Pro monitoring is $14/month. You can either buy their branded smoke detectors, or buy this little sensor that sticks onto the ceiling right next to an existing smoke alarm and listens for it. Zero issues with it. It's all wireless, but going on two years and have yet to replace a battery or have a single wireless issue. Just works. It's got it's own battery backup, and an LTE modem that it will switch to when the internet fails. Lasts something like 48 hours - I was able to ping it after hurricane Ida while I was out of town, long after the power and net had gone out.

You can add cameras too, but I opted to run my own cameras and record to a DVR in the house. I have it set up so I get motion notifications, and can watch live over the internet. That plus the router are on a battery backup that lasts a couple hours. $0/month, but startup cost varies.