Subject says it all for the most part. I moved into a new house about ten months back, and the neighborhood is just sketchy enough I'd rather have an alarm system, particularly when I'm traveling and my wife is home alone.
The house is partly prewired: I've got a bundle in the basement with four 22/4 wires and a Cat.6. Two of the 22/4s end in gang boxes for keypads (back door and master bedroom), one goes to the ceiling of the open living area, and another to the ceiling of the unfinished basement (no idea why). The Cat.6 ends in a gang box in an A/C closet upstairs, and I assume is meant for a cellular communicator or something.
It used to look as if Elk was the way to go for integration, but it's not super DIY friendly and costs several times as much as competitors, and then I'd be gambling that money on my ability to pick up the Elk plug-in and get it working again.
Any advice?