Re: Next Alarm

[J. Sloud <jsloud@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 7 Aug 2005 15:55:55 -0400, "R.H.Campbell"
<rh.campbell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Sir, the price you pay for monitoring has little or nothing to do with how
>good or bad the service is. The only real money for most companies in the
>alarm security business is in monitoring , so you will see every marketing
>gimmick in the book to get you to sign with them. Some of the real questions
>you should ask yourself before signing with ANYONE are:
>
>1- Am I dealing with a recognized ULC rated monitoring station
>2- Do I want or need the intermediary services of a conventional alarm
>company for service and warranty on my equipment (if so, you will be going
>through them for monitoring services), and realistically, most consumers
>definately do.
>3- How long do I have to contractually obligate myself with the company in
>question (the shorter the term, the better for you)
>4- How flexible are they in their ability to deal with my requirements for
>customization of the calling list and / or the exact type of response I
>require. This is especially important in locales with false alarm
>surcharges.
>5- If the company is not local to you, how flexible are they in being able
>to deal with the specific requirements of the authorities in your locale.
>

Good advice.  You may also want to consider the differences in
services that you may or may not need:

1.  Redundancy.  Is there any way to transfer your monitoring signals
to another monitoring center if the primay station suffers an overload
or is forced to shutdown?  Is the transfer of signals to the secondary
monitoring center automatic?

2.  Online account management.  If you're posting here, you'd probably
like the ability to manage your accounts online, ie. change call
lists, see alarm activity, run reports, etc.  Some central stations
have online access to do just that.  This is most useful for managers/
owners with multiple locations with multiple alarm users.

3.  Video verfication.  Does the central station have video monitoring
services.  Central station video verification is one of the best ways
to eliminate false alarms.

4.  UL Listing.  At least establishes a minimum level of performance
that is pretty much accepted as universal.

5.  24hr Toll-free Technical telephone support.  If it's 2 am and you
need to figure out how to disable a panel that just got zapped, you'll
appreciate this service.

You can find bare bones monitoring for $8 a month, or you can pay $50
for services like the above.  Really depends on what you need.

J.