[TriLUG] OT: internet-based alarm service

[Heath Roberts]

On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 9:46 AM, Christopher L Merrill <
chris at webperformance.com> wrote:

> We're looking for an alarm service that uses the Internet connection for
> monitoring, rather than a phone line.  We use VOIP and have an adapter
> for the alarm/fax, but the reliably is questionable.  Our internet
> connection
> is considerably more reliable.
>

There are several companies that will provide a custom terminal adapter so
that your alarm system thinks it's talking to a phone line, but which use IP
for the actual connection. I think the difference between that and what
you're doing is that actually decode the alarm format in the T/A, instead of
trying to send the whole audio stream with a voice codec.

Two companies that I know about are nextalarm and ucontrol.

Monitoring services that do 'true IP' monitoring, where the alarm system has
an IP interface that talks to the monitoring company,  seem to be harder to
find.

I don't use them (have been planning to switch), but I've heard many
positive comments about nextalarm, and they told me in an email that they do
true IP monitoring, although I can't find that on their website. Their
service is something like $10/month, and I think they provide telephone
support for alarm programming.

If you end up using one of these companies, I'd like to hear about your
experience.

-- 
Heath Roberts
htroberts at gmail.com