Even so, some argue that you get what you pay for, and Vivint certainly has a strong reputation in the security industry. Link Interactive costs less than most of the other solutions listed here, plus it boasts an admirable range of security options you can customize yourself. Promoting itself as "the best value in home security", the company runs on a cellular network rather than a landline, and puts less reliance on using a phone app for monitoring. By providing a two way voice panel, if you can't get to your phone, the firm can contact you or the emergency services directly if they suspect there's a need to. When you get existential about it, much of our daily lives revolve around the notion of "protection. " When you toss a password on your computer's log in screen, for instance, you're protecting your data against wannabe hackers. When you slip a cardboard sleeve on a paper coffee cup filled with your half caf vanilla oat milk latte, you're protecting your hand from the sloshing liquid's scorching heat. And when you vaccinate your kids — you're definitely vaccinating your kids, right?— you're protecting them and people who are immunocompromised from potentially life threatening diseases. Maybe it's because shopping for a home security system is kind of a nightmare. When I, your friendly neighborhood tech writer, began my reconnaissance for Mashable's roundup of the best home security systems, I was taken aback by the amount of complicated jargon I encountered — more so than usual for consumer technology, and plenty enough to scare off the average homeowner with limited knowledge of the market. I was taken even further aback by the ambiguity of some popular companies' websites when it comes to basic details like system specs and average costs, and by the sheer number of companies that offer seemingly identical gear.