Today we will be comparing home security providers Vivint Smart Home and Xfinity Home Security, and see how they stack up! We’ll go over equipment, monitoring plans, and more!
We know it can be hard to shop around for a home security system due to the amount of information that needs to be sorted through. We are here to make that process easy for you by breaking down some of the top security companies’ products and services. Today we will be taking a look at and compare what Vivint and Xfinity have to offer.
Vivint has a modern-day control panel that is easy to use and is packed full of features. Their control panel is known as the Vivint Smart Hub. The Vivint Smart Hub is a full colored 7-inch touchscreen hub that connects all of your security and home automation devices to one place. You can arm and disarm your system right from the touchscreen as well as customize and add security and home automation devices. It is a wireless control panel that doesn’t need a landline or internet connection to work due to it having a cellular chip. You can however connect your Vivint Smart Hub to your WIFI connection as a backup. It is powered by an AC power source, but it does include a 24-hour backup battery just in case your power goes out. It has a 2-way audio feature that lets you directly communicate with your central monitoring station. The Vivint Smart Hub has a built-in 100 decibel siren when your system or devices have been triggered by an advent. It has a built-in Z-wave protocol that allows you to use different branded home automation devices with your Vivint Smart Hub making it really expandable.
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Xfinity is widely known as a provider of cable, phone, and internet services. Just like many other cable companies, Xfinity also offers a security system to their customers called Xfinity Home. Xfinity has a full colored touchscreen control panel that is packed full of features. You can control all the features of your Xfinity Home security system right from the control panel including arming and disarming your system. You can also easily add new devices to your Xfinity Home system right from the touchscreen control panel. Their touchscreen will display the current time and temperature in your area, so you can always prepare for a rainy day. Xfinity’s touchscreen control panel has a very thin designed which means it can be placed pretty much anywhere. The panel works by connecting wirelessly to your home’s WIFI network. If your WIFI is down the Xfinity Home touchscreen control panel has a cellular chip as a backup so it will still continue to work even if your internet is down. It is powered through an AC power source so you want to make sure you have one nearby. If your power does go off, the touchscreen has a backup battery. Xfinity Home control panel is pretty expandable as well, and you can use other branded devices with it. You can expand your Xfinity Home Panel due to their control panel having a Z-Wave protocol built-in.
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Vivint’s and Xfinity’s control panels are very similar to one another. They both have full colored touchscreen control panels that connect all your devices wirelessly. They both include a Z-Wave protocol that allows you to expand them using other branded home automation devices. Their control panels also use cellular chips or a WIFI connection to transmit your data and come with a backup. For this category we are giving Vivint and Xfinity a tie due to their control panels being so similar with similar features.
Vivint has a lot of great devices that can provide your home with complete security coverage. They offer battery-operated and wireless intrusion sensors such as door/window sensors. Their door/window sensors can be easily placed on the door/window frames of your home, and you will be alerted if a door or window has been opened in which these sensors are placed. They offer motion sensors which are great at providing coverage for large areas of your home. Their motion sensors will trigger a security event if motion is detected in a room which they are placed. They offer glass break sensors that will listen for the sound of breaking glass in your home, and a security event will be triggered if this sound is heard. Vivint has a tilt sensor which will let you know if your garage doors have been open or shut.
When it comes to environmental safety devices, Vivint offers wireless and battery-operated smoke, CO, and flood sensors. If any dangerous environmental factors such as rises in smoke, CO gas, or water are detected by the specific sensor for each of these, they will trigger a security event while making an audible alert.
Vivint has key chain remotes that are battery-operated for you to be able to quickly arm and disarm your system with a push a button. Their key chain remotes have a built-in panic button that will immediately trigger your system and contact emergency services. The last piece of basic equipment offered by Vivint is their medical pendant. Their medical pedant is battery-operated and it has a push button that when pushed will immediately notify emergency services that help is needed. All equipment offered by Vivint is professional installed by a professional installer.
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Home Automation
Vivint’s Smart Touch control panel can really be expanded to include some home automation and video surveillance equipment. Vivint offers automated garage door openers that will allow you to remotely close and open you garage door on the go. You will also receive push-notifications that are sent to your smart phone anytime your garage door has been open or shut. Vivint also offers smart thermostats that allow you to set custom timers for when your heating and cooling system comes on and goes off. You can also remotely control you heating and cooling system through your smart phone. They have smart locks that have a push-button design that allows you to create custom user codes. These locks can be quickly locked and unlocked using the push-button keypad. You can also remotely lock and unlock your smart locks on the go through your smart phone.
Video Monitoring/Cameras
When it comes to video surveillance equipment, Vivint has a nice selection of these devices for you to choose from. They offer indoor, outdoor, and video surveillance cameras. Their cameras are wireless and work by connecting to your home’s WIFI network. Vivint’s indoor and outdoor cameras are powered by an AC power source while their doorbell camera is powered by your existing doorbell wiring. Their cameras can capture video in stunning video resolution and include night vision, 2-way audio, and motion detecting technology.
Xfinity Home offers every sensor you could need to keep your family and home totally protected. The first type of sensors they offer are door/window sensors. Their door/window sensors are wireless and battery-operated. You will be instantly notified whenever these sensors have been triggered. Xfinity Home also offers motion sensors. Their motion sensors are wireless and battery-operated. Xfinity Home offers a wireless and battery-operated keypad as another way for you to arm and disarm your system. The Xfinity Home keypad has a push-button design that allows you to easily arm and disarm your system with a push of a button. Xfinity Home offers a smoke detector as well. Their smoke detector is wireless and battery-operated with a battery life up to 5 years. When smoke has been detected the Xfinity Home smoke detector it will make an audible alert, and you will also be sent an instant notification that this event has taken place. All of the basic security equipment that is mentioned above is installed via a Xfinity professional installer so you do not have to worry about setting up the equipment yourself.
Home Automation
Xfinity has a lot of great add-on equipment that allows you to really expand your system. They have some great home automation equipment that can help cut down on your home’s energy costs per month. Xfinity Home offers Zen Thermostats. The Zen Thermostat has a LED touch display and works for the majority of HVAC heating and cooling systems. The Zen Thermostat works by connecting wirelessly to your home’s WIFI network, and it is powered by it being directly wired to your home’s power source. The Zen Thermostat allows you to set custom timers for when your heating and cooling system comes on and goes off which can save you money on your home’s energy bill. Xfinity Home also offers a smart outlet. Their smart outlet plugs directly into an AC power source, and works with a variety of small appliances. You can set timers for when the appliances connected to the smart outlet come on and go off. There are also a wide variety of other branded smart home devices that will work with the Xfinity Home system such as Phillips and Yale.
Monitoring/Cameras
When it comes to video surveillance equipment Xfinity Home offers their indoor/outdoor camera. Their indoor/outdoor camera can be used for providing video coverage for the areas that are on the outside or the inside of your home. It is a wireless camera that works by connecting directly to your home’s WIFI network, and it is powered by an AC power source. Xfinity Home’s indoor/outdoor camera can capture HD video clips, and it comes with night vision technology that allows you to capture images when there is little to no light around.
Vivint and Xfinity offer a lot of similar equipment. Their sensors for their control panels are battery-operated and wireless, and they offer standard intrusion sensors such as door/window sensors and motion sensors. Vivint and Xfinity both offer professional installation so you don’t have to worry about setting up the equipment yourself. Vivint however does a larger selection of basic equipment than Xfinity, and for that reason we are giving them the win for this category.
As you can see Vivint and Xfinity have a lot of addon equipment you can use with their control panels. They both offer smart locks that high-quality and are built to last. They both smart thermostats which are great at saving you some money your home’s energy costs. However, Vivint does have a nicer selection of video equipment. Due to Vivint having a nice selection of add-on equipment than Xfinity, we are giving them the win for this category.
Vivint and Xfinity offer professional, self, and video monitoring services. Their self-monitoring services are done through their apps. Their apps are free to download and work for Apple and Android devices. Their self-monitoring services allow you to arm and disarm your system, add/remove devices, control home automation devices, receive push notifications for events, and stream live and recorded video remotely through their apps. Their professional monitoring services work the same in where you have a professional monitoring station watching over your home 24/7. Xfinity however does not offer services in all 50 states while Vivint does. Vivint’s month to month monitoring prices tend to be cheaper than that of Xfinity’s as well.
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Vivint and Xfinity offer quality home security systems that are easy to use and professional installed. Xfinity has a great variety of home automation products, and full colored touchscreen is packed full of features. Vivint offers some really great video surveillance equipment, and they have affordable month to month monitoring. Because Vivint has a bit larger selection of basic equipment along with cheaper month to month monitoring cost, we are choosing them as our overall winner. But, read on to find out what’s better than both of these companies and their security systems.
Recommended Alternative: Link Interactive
If you’d like a better bang for your buck without skimping on features and quality of service, take a look at our security system at Link Interactive.
Link Interactive and Vivint are very similar in terms of equipment and monitoring services. At Link we offer a better, more advanced control panel in the the Qolsys IQ 2 Panel with Alarm.com self-monitoring and third-party professional monitoring. We also offer cutting-edge video monitoring services, all at a much better price point than Vivint.
We have thousands of 5-star reviews on various reputable third party review sites complimenting our awesome after-sales support! We encourage you take a look at our offer here, get a quote and compare. You can also call us direct at 1-877-826-5443 for further details and speak with a rep!