Cableco expands home security to Canada's 'Golden Horseshoe'

I wrote recently about two Canadian giants, cable company Rogers Communications and telecommunications company Bell Aliant, planning to offer home security/home automation for the first time in Atlantic Canada this spring. And now Rogers has announced it's expanding the service in its Ontario footprint.

Rogers launched its Smart Home Monitoring in its cable footprint in Ontario in August 2011. And today, Toronto-based Rogers announced it is now expanding its offering to Ontario's “Golden Horseshoe.” That's a region of southern Ontario that includes Greater Toronto and is quite densely populated, with about 26 percent of Canada's population calling the region home, according to Internet sources.

Rogers said its service now will be available to residents of the Golden Horseshoe, which includes Oakville, Lincoln, West Lincoln, Grimsby, Hamilton and the Greater Hamilton area, Burlington, Niagara Falls, Thorold, Pelham, Niagara-on-the-Lake, St. Catharines, Wainfleet, Welland, Fort Erie and Port Colborne.

Roger's offering, like Bell Aliant's NextGen Home Security, is professionally installed and monitored. Both offering are powered by California-based iControl's OpenHome software platform.

“We're thrilled to now offer Rogers Smart Home Monitoring to residents of the Golden Horseshoe," Ian Pattinson, VP and general manager, Rogers Smart Home Monitoring, said in a prepared statement. “Since we launched a year and a half ago, our customers continue to discover new system features that keep their homes and families secure while helping them better manage their daily lives for ultimate peace of mind.”

The company said that customers' alarms are monitored by the Rogers Central Monitoring Station, “a 24/7, real-time monitoring service provided by certified security experts with over twenty years of experience in security, monitoring and emergency services.”