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For the past 3 years my home alarm has been monitored by The Monitoring Center (you've heard the radio spots - 24-7-4-9.99) ... frankly because I like the price point - 10 bucks a month.

I just got a call asking for my new credit card info because they wanted to renew me ... no problem - that is I thought no problem. I don't know why but I asked what the charge would be for (easy math right - 12 x 10 = 120 + HST) ... but wait the number they gave me was 175 - WTF?

So here's the deal ... yes they are advertising 9.99 a month (everywhere - website, radio, TV etc, etc) - but that's only for new customers. Existing customers must renew at 12.99 a month (+30%) ... here's how their customer rep explained it.

"Our customers understand fully that we need to keep customer volumes high and new customers coming in the door in order to guarantee our low volume discounting. We make no apologies for delivering high quality monitoring at an affordable price."

So I'm shopping around - anyone on here use a web-based or VOIP friendly alarm monitoring company?

Your alarm panel could be configured to just call your cellphone? Decent systems how a days even support tcp/ip email. I'm sure if your running a DSC model alarm system they probably have a module to plug right into it.

Thing is though if the alarm system he's using is a "closed" type system, where only the monitoring company has the configuration information, they likely will not release it meaning that if he goes elsewhere his old system will have to be disabled / pulled out.

Which is what these slugs bank on.

Odd thing is that the price actually remained the same for three years, unless ZTW signed a three year deal when he had the system installed?

NefCanuck

(01-11-2011, 02:47 PM)hardk0re Wrote: [ -> ]Your alarm panel could be configured to just call your cellphone? Decent systems how a days even support tcp/ip email. I'm sure if your running a DSC model alarm system they probably have a module to plug right into it.

It is a DSC (about 10 years old now - installed when house was new) ... but I like the idea of someone else responding to say the smoke alarm if I can't ... but I'm also about to turf Bell ... so in the absence of a landline, I'm hoping there's a web-based monitoring company out there.

Get rid of the alarm system and get a Mastiff

There is always the option to run a dry loop line for the alarm system only.
Without out POTS though, you'll need to add a GSM communicator to link up with your monitoring station. You shouldn't have to replace your panel though.

What panel do you have?

(01-11-2011, 11:37 PM)j3rt Wrote: [ -> ]There is always the option to run a dry loop line for the alarm system only.
Without out POTS though, you'll need to add a GSM communicator to link up with your monitoring station. You shouldn't have to replace your panel though.

What panel do you have?

Not sure what you mean by a "dry loop" - what I have is the entry/burglar alarm and the smoke alarm that I need monitored (and a new monitoring company).

DSC Power 832 PC5010.

a "dry loop" is also known as a naked line

it's a phone line, except the ability to make and receive phone calls has been filtered out. Everything else though, works and technically a dry loop has a phone number (and you can call 911 from it, I believe).

but yeah, it's a phone line, I'm gunna say for simplicity's sake, a phone line stripped(filtered out) of it's calling ability but not of it's data transfer ability.



@10$/month, it's semi-expensive.