Alarm: Monitoring Company v's Speach Dialler

[bothyhead]

Hi,

Our house alarm is connected to a monitoring company for a certain annual fee. I have just discovered that you can buy 'speech diallers' for more or less the same price.

The dialler that I was looking at can be programmed with 4 phone numbers, 1 long voice message (e.g. your name and address) and 4 short messages which indicate the action that triggered the alarm (break in, panic button, ...)

Do these diallers offer the same level of security as the monitoring companies, or is there a catch?

Thanks again,
Bothy

 

[andy]

Hi,

Our house alarm is connected to a monitoring company for a certain annual fee. I have just discovered that you can buy 'speech diallers' for more or less the same price.

The dialler that I was looking at can be programmed with 4 phone numbers, 1 long voice message (e.g. your name and address) and 4 short messages which indicate the action that triggered the alarm (break in, panic button, ...)

Do these diallers offer the same level of security as the monitoring companies, or is there a catch?

Thanks again,
Bothy

the monitoring company will know immediatly and they can either call police on your behalf or send someone round. speach dialers can phone you so you know whats happened and can do something about it (go home/phone someone else nearby etc)

 

[bothyhead]

Thanks Andy,

the monitoring company will know immediatly and they can either call police on your behalf or send someone round.

My monitoring company don't send any one round (it's 60 miles away.)

Because I have given my mobile number as the primary keyholder, I am the first person that the company contacts. I'm trying to justify the cost of renewing my contract with them when I can pay a once of fee for a machine to do the same thing.

As for sending the Guards around: From 01.Jan.2007 the Guards will not respond to a general alarm unless one of the keyholders has been contacted and agrees to be a the property when they arrive. They will however respond immediately to a Panic Button activated alarm, which is perhaps one advantage of keeping the monitoring company.


www.garda.ie/angarda/pub/intruder_alarm_policy.doc

 

[Lectrician]

They are supposed to contact the police if it is a 'confirmed alarm' - ie, two detectors in the property activated.

Maybe I am out of touch??

Dialers are quite slow - by the time you get the call, they thief has been and gone!

 

[bothyhead]

Now that you mention it Lectrician, I think that you are right about the two detections being a confirmation. We got documentation from the monitoring company at our last renewal period which I probably threw away - silly me

 

[Steve]

Careful you dont get any false activations though - you will get a nasty letter from the local police if they get called out too often to false alarms, we got one a month ago at our shop. During the recent refurb, they moved the panic buttons and one of the contacts was faulty or something, causing false alarms consequently, they will not come to our shop unless they have nothing better to do (basically what the letter said!)

 

[breezer]

may i point out that bothyhead is in ireland (thats where he claims to be)

the Guards will not respond to a general alarm unless one of the keyholders has been contacted and agrees to be a the property when they arrive

that doesnt happen here in England, its the polce that turn up, but it has been the rule for quite some years that unless the arc* can contact a keyholder first then the police will not accpt the call.

the following is true In England and Wales

regarding "confirmed signalling" it only applies to new installations, if you have not lost your police responce then they are quite happy to come out without a confirmed signal.

if police responce is lost the only way to get it back is to either

a) have a police inspection ( a civilian working for the police comes and inspects the alarm,) He does want to see and know everything, he doesnt just look at it, you will loose a point for not having a 3a fuse in the fcu, etc etc

he will / may then make various recomendations which you must do.

b) have brand new confrmed system installed

confirmed also means that you have to unset the system without using a code, this is usually achievd by the use of a proximity tag and reader

 

[?]

There are two types of monitered systems. Redcare (a BT service) moniters digitally over the line whilst the phone can be used. A lost line is classed as an alert. A standard dial up (monitered) system is no better than a speech dialler (and a speech dialler is quicker )but the down side is if the line is lost or someone dials in to engage the line neither can dial out. This is why you are asked to provide a line with incoming calls barred.

 

[breezer]

There are two types of monitered systems. Redcare (a BT service) moniters digitally over the line whilst the phone can be used. A lost line is classed as an alert. A standard dial up (monitered) system is no better than a speech dialler (and a speech dialler is quicker )but the down side is if the line is lost or someone dials in to engage the line neither can dial out. This is why you are asked to provide a line with incoming calls barred.

I dissagree, you have not mentioned paknet, or direct line, also redcare gsm

Most arc's* will now not as you put it "A lost line is classed as an alert." this is following the high number of genuine line faults, they will how ever contact the keyholders

Also most customers do not have an icb line as this means paying for a line they dont use, although i agree it is a good idea to have an icb line

I would also dissagree about a speech dialer being quicker, a speech dialer by deffinition dials and then plays a digital recording, not very usefull if you are on the move trying to find your list of keyholders. A digital communicator dials a number and sends a few tones to a receiver at an arc, this information is then displayed in front of an operator who then takes the appropriate action (all details are also displayed to the operator)

Choice of signalling is usually down to insurance company requirements for the risk of that which is being protected, but if its for a domestic dwelling a speech dilaler will surfice, but a digital communicator is better

*arc = Alarm Receiving Centre

 

[?]

Some good points Breezer. Its usually down to the insurance co anyhow

 

[emc2jkd1]

This is dodgy in case you or your other named keyholder goes to the premises without knowing if the intruder/s have left yet.
With sequential confirmation the 1st detector is a keyholder call only.
The 2nd detector would be confirmed and would be a call to the police.
Also
There is also Audio Confirmation - using microphones
and Video Confirmation using cameras
It's 4 false alarms within a year and you lose 'immediate response'. You go to a level 'when available response'.
A further 3 and you lose response altogether.
Also the police are looking for confirmed signals not just for the alarm panel but also the method of signaling i.e 2 methods of signalling like Redcare GSM or Dualcom GSM etc..

 

[breezer]

this bit is not quite right, slightly misleading

It's 4 false alarms within a year and you lose 'immediate response'.

its actually 12 months not a calendar year:

that is to say if you have your first false alarm in say june, 12 months starts then, not finishing in December which would be the end of the calender year,
also its two false alarms and you get "moved down a peg" 4 and you loose police responce

 

[bothyhead]

Thanks for all the replies guys. It's certainly food for thought but I am still thinking that maybe a speech dialler is the way to go:

* The alarm is in a domestic setting so audio and video confirmation are not required.

* At present the monitoring company contact one of the key holders - not the Guards directly (unless it was a panic button activation, or no keyholders answer the call)

* It's up to the keyholder to contact the guards if required

* I am the primary key holder and am in the best position to know what to do next (depending on my location if I'm not at home)

I'll probably have a chat with my alarm installer and see what he thinks.

Thanks again,
Bothy