This Privacy Policy describes why we collect, use, disclose and maintain personal information about these individuals. This Privacy Policy may be amended from time to time. Notice of changes are given by positing our revised Privacy Policy on our website at https://telsco.com/privacy-policy/. An up-to-date version of this Privacy Policy may be obtained on our website or by contacting us.
Why We Collect and Use Personal Information
We collect, use and disclose personal information primarily for benefit administration purposes and also for optional marketing purposes. Collectively we refer to the benefit administration purposes and the optional marketing purposes as the “purposes”.
Optional Marketing Purposes
From time to time, subject to any legal and contractual restrictions, we may also collect, use and disclose basic information about an individual, such as their contact information, to offer or inform individuals of upgraded or additional products and services (the “marketing purposes”). These marketing purposes are entirely optional and any individual who does not wish us to collect, use or disclose their personal information for these optional marketing purposes may contact us.
How We Obtain Consent
At TELSCO Security, we obtain consent from individuals for the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information, unless inappropriate. We may rely on express consent or implied consent, depending on the circumstances. Express consent may be given verbally, in writing or by electronic means. Implied consent is consent that is inferred from a person’s actions. We collect, use and disclose personal information in accordance with the consent provided, in accordance with this Privacy Policy, our contractual rights and obligations, those that apply to any plan we administer, and the law.
Safeguarding Personal Information
We restrict access to personal information to those of our employees, authorized administrators, and consultants who need to know that information for legitimate business purposes. We protect personal information by applying physical security measures and barriers to our premises, by adopting policies and procedures to protect information, and technologically, where appropriate, by the use of security measures, including passwords, encryption, firewalls and other software security solutions.
The Personal Information We Retain
We only keep personal information for so long as it is required to fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or as required or permitted by law. We attempt to collect and use information that is accurate, up-to-date, and as complete as possible. However, we rely on individuals to disclose all material information to us and to inform us of any changes.
Access to Information
With satisfactory identification and proof of entitlement, an individual may request to access and, if applicable, request that we correct, personal information about them in our possession. Individuals should be aware that the right to access the personal information we hold about them is not absolute. For example there is no right to access and we may decline a request for access, if the information requested is subject to a legal privilege.
We are committed to conducting our business in accordance with these principles in order to ensure that the confidentiality of personal information is protected and maintained.
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Reviews
Most business owners who call a new security company are not starting fresh. They are recovering from something — a missed appointment, a system installed without anyone walking the space, a support line that routes to a call centre with no knowledge of their building. By the time Dwight J. Potvin reached out to a different provider, he had already been through enough to describe his previous experiences as disastrous. That kind of starting point makes a clean changeover feel almost unbelievable when it actually happens.
What Dwight J. Potvin Said About Switching to a New Security Provider
“Our experience with some other security alarm companies was disastrous and frustrating, to say at least. Then, we called TELSCO to see what they could do for us. A technician arrived at our premises, at the scheduled time of our appointment. He walked through the premises with myself and made recommendations to further safe guard our warehouse and office area… the installation and change over went without a hitch.”
Dwight J. Potvin
What a Commercial Security System Installation in Edmonton Should Include
A commercial security system installation covers more than dropping hardware on a wall. It starts with a site assessment, moves through custom system design, and ends with a working system connected to live monitoring. TELSCO — an Edmonton-based full-service security company providing alarm systems, video surveillance, access control, and 24/7 local monitoring since 1970 — handles every stage in-house rather than handing off to third parties. For a business with both warehouse and office space, that means a single point of accountability from consultation through commercial security systems activation.
What Makes a Security Changeover Work Without Disruption
A clean changeover does not happen because the hardware is good. It happens because someone walked the space before anything was ordered. Hardware is largely commoditized — the same panels, sensors, and cameras appear across multiple Edmonton providers. What differs is whether the technician understands your layout well enough to design around it. A motion sensor placed without accounting for warehouse forklift traffic generates false alarms. A camera selected by spec sheet rather than sightlines produces footage that does not hold up. The walkthrough is the work.
Is Your Current Business Security Provider Failing You?
Before deciding whether to switch providers, it helps to name the specific gaps you are experiencing. Score one point for each item that applies to your current situation.
| # | Symptom | Applies? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Technicians have missed scheduled appointments or arrived significantly late | ☐ |
| 2 | Support calls go to a call centre outside your region, with no local knowledge | ☐ |
| 3 | No one walked your space before recommending a system | ☐ |
| 4 | False alarms have resulted in unnecessary police dispatch or after-hours call-outs | ☐ |
| 5 | Your contract locked you in for multiple years with no clear exit terms | ☐ |
0–1: Your provider is likely meeting baseline expectations. A switch may not be urgent. 2–3: You are experiencing service gaps worth investigating. 4–5: Your current arrangement carries real operational and financial risk. Get a second opinion from a provider with a local monitoring centre.
How a Commercial Security Installation Works — Step by Step
When Dwight’s technician arrived on time and walked the premises before making any recommendations, that was not exceptional service — it was the baseline a properly run installation requires. Think of it this way: a contractor who quotes a renovation from a single photo may get the price roughly right, but the work will not fit the space. When was the last time a vendor showed up when they said they would and actually understood your building before specifying anything? That question has a short answer for most businesses that have cycled through more than one security provider.
From First Call to Changeover Day: The Six Steps
A commercial security installation for a property with separate warehouse and office zones typically moves through six stages. First, a security consultant contacts you to schedule an on-site visit. Second, the technician walks both zones — the warehouse perimeter, loading access points, interior motion coverage areas, and the office entry and interior — and makes specific recommendations for each. Third, a custom system design is produced based on that walkthrough. Fourth, technicians install the system per the agreed design. Fifth, the changeover is managed — existing hardware is assessed for reuse and the new system is activated in sequence to avoid gaps in coverage. Sixth, the system is connected to live commercial alarm systems monitoring and you receive training on day-to-day operation. Each step depends on the one before it. Skipping the walkthrough makes steps three through six guesswork.
Why Camera Placement and Monitoring Grade Are the Two Decisions That Matter Most
Two selection decisions produce the most common installation failures. The first is camera type matched to environment. A high-resolution indoor camera aimed at a dark warehouse loading dock produces unusable footage — the right choice requires matching camera type, field of view, and lighting compensation to the specific zone, whether that is a warehouse interior, a yard perimeter, or a front office. The second is monitoring certification. ULC-listed monitoring centres meet defined operational standards covering staffing, response protocols, and alarm handling — non-ULC monitoring carries no equivalent guarantee. For Edmonton commercial properties, ULC compliance also affects insurance eligibility and emergency dispatch credibility. Choosing either without understanding the specifications produces a system that looks adequate until it needs to perform. Proper video surveillance design starts with the zone, not the camera catalogue.
Local Monitoring and What It Changes About Alarm Response
If your alarm triggers at 2 a.m., do you know where the operator answering it is located? For many Edmonton businesses, the answer is somewhere outside Alberta — sometimes outside Canada. The distinction matters because a remote operator working from a script has no knowledge of your building layout, your local emergency contacts, or Edmonton’s current bylaw environment around false alarm penalties. A local operator with access to your video feed and familiarity with Edmonton EPS dispatch protocols responds differently than one managing volume across hundreds of unrelated sites.
What TELSCO’s Edmonton Monitoring Centre Delivers
TELSCO — which operates its own ULC-listed, 5 Diamond-certified monitoring centre at 12750-127 Street in Edmonton — reports an average alarm response time of 33.5 seconds and a combined team experience of 397 years across its security staff. That response time matters because it limits an intruder’s window of activity and reduces the costs that follow a confirmed breach: damages, downtime, insurance claims, and the overtime or guard fees that accumulate when employees are dispatched to investigate in person. Reviewing video at the Edmonton monitoring centre before dispatching also reduces false alarm call-outs — which carry real cost in both staff time and municipal penalty exposure.
How Access Control Fits Into a Warehouse Security Design
Warehouse environments create access management problems that standard alarm systems do not solve on their own. Multiple employees entering and exiting at different hours, seasonal staff turnover, and the need to restrict interior zones without rekeying locks all require a dedicated layer of control. Card access control systems address this by replacing physical keys with fobs or swipe cards that can be added or removed remotely in seconds — no locksmith, no site visit, no gap between an employee’s last day and the moment their access is revoked. Integrated with the alarm system, access events and alarm events appear in the same log, which simplifies incident investigation and provides a reliable audit trail.
Deciding Whether to Switch Security Providers — What to Weigh
Not every business in a frustrating security situation needs to switch providers immediately. If your existing hardware is functional, your monitoring is ULC-certified, and your primary complaint is a single missed appointment, the disruption of a full changeover may outweigh the benefit. The calculation changes when the failures are structural — no site walkthrough was ever done, the monitoring centre is out of province, the system design does not match the space, or the contract terms prevent reasonable exit. Dwight’s situation was the latter: not one bad experience, but a pattern across multiple companies.
The Strongest Argument for Staying With Your Current Provider
Switching security companies carries real costs that do not disappear because a new provider sounds better. You need to coordinate deactivation with your outgoing provider, which may involve contract review and a notice period. There is typically an overlap window where you are paying two monitoring fees. Your staff will need to relearn a new system — codes, app interfaces, reporting procedures. Existing hardware may not be reusable, which means capital expenditure beyond the monitoring change. And there is always the possibility that a new provider introduces a different set of problems. These are legitimate friction points. Anyone presenting a switch as straightforward is not giving you the full picture.
Which Business Types Get the Most From a Local Full-Service Provider
Businesses with split layouts — warehouse plus office, multiple interior zones, outdoor yard access — tend to get the most value from a provider who handles design, installation, and monitoring under one roof. The same applies to businesses that have experienced false alarm problems, are facing insurance compliance questions, or manage multiple sites. A single-location business with a small office, a functioning existing system, and a provider whose only failure has been a slow callback may not justify the switchover cost right now. Some businesses will find that enterprise security systems with integrated monitoring solve problems their current setup cannot address; others with simpler needs can evaluate whether small business security options from a local provider change the cost equation. The right decision depends on what is actually failing, not on dissatisfaction alone.