Tellular's Telguard Interactive and M1?

Im interested in this GSM monitoring service as primary means of communication
If anyone is using it please leave some feedback
Thanks

panamanian said:

Im interested in this GSM monitoring service as primary means of communication
If anyone is using it please leave some feedback
Thanks

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The Telguard units from Tellular are compatible with the M1. You'll need a monitoring contract from a central monitoring station that supports it. Going prices typically are $10 a month plus normal monitoring fee.

The better GSM units are dialer capture and then connect to the vendor themselves using GSM or SMS and the better ones use multiple formats. Tellular is a nice unit, but you're looking more power draw and backup battery considerations. I've also had good luck with the DSC GS 3060. In between those 2 vendors, I've had coverage in about 95% of my state, which is difficult due to rural areas and mountains.

Im looking into getting their TG-1 Express

this unit will take any reporting protocol, it does full reporting capability but also if you have an output that can be triggered when the system is armed and a spare zone programmed as a keyswitch the user can use and iphone or android app and arm or disarm the system remotely

the TG-1 express gets the power from your control panel rather than a dedicated power supply and during transmission it uses no more than 200mA

well that is what they claim but i wanted to know if it really works as advertised

my main concern is to get text messages for anything that happens with my M1 i dont care for getting a phone call or a monitoring station or their multi year contracts at 50 bucks a month.

The person selling me the tellular said i could go without a central station since tellular servers get the reporting codes first and re-route them to a CS or simply send them to me via text or by using their telguard app i can see the history of all signals received

If you're looking for system alerts and you have an Android phone, check out ElkDroid. Not only can you configure it to give you text to speech alerts of zone violations, etc., but you can trigger tasks, turn on and off outputs, arm/disarm the system and a lot more -- remotely.
This solution relies on an internet connection for your M1XEP, however (not cellular).

Im posting my final findings about Telguard Interactive using a Tellular TG-1 Express GSM communicator.

1. Telguard Interactive is an add on service (usually $5.00) that will allow you to arm and disarm your system from your iPhone, Android and soon Blackberry smartphones. This application will also allow you to see the open close history of your premises.
2. In order to work it requires the TG-1 express to be connected to your control panel in a very specific way. It needs a zone programmed as a key switch and thats how the system is armed and disarmed remotely. Also it needs and output to trigger (negative or ground not positive) when the system is armed or disarmed and thats how Telguard knows the arming status of your system. This trigger so far is not supported with the ELK M1 Gold after I talked to Telguard's tech support, they have tested this feature with many panels and their documentation shows very clear instructions but the ELK M1 has not been tested yet. That does not mean it cant be done or it will not be supported in the future. Perhaps someone else can clarify how to trigger this output because as far as I know the elk outputs are positive.
3. The signal or report code path is: from control panel, to TG-1 express dial capture, to Telguard's operation center, to Central Station, to homeowner/police/guard response/responsible parties. Telguard's operation center will not send those signals to the homeowner directly, you will always need a central station. The only signals Telguard will keep track of are openings and closings that will then be shown via Telguard Interactive application on your phone.
4. The TG-1 express is a dial capture communicator that is listed to be compatible with the ELK M1 Gold. When connected as described on the TG-1 express manual the ELK M1 will perform full reporting to a central station without the capability of being armed or disarmed remotely using the Telguard Interactive service. The TG-1 express has one input and one output. It is fully supervised, it will trip its output connected to a 24hr zone in your panel whenever: no service condition, radio communication failure condition, unit is not activated at the Telular Communications Center, catastrophic failure if all power is lost, and transmit-disable command from the Communication Center (disables only the Telguard transmitter and would be used, for example, to shut down the Telguard due to a runaway panel dialer). When the TG-1 express input is tripped, a supervisory message is sent to the central station via the Telguard Message Center. This allows an external relay, separate from the alarm panel, to be connected to the Telguard unit in order to provide independent sensor input for other functions, such as tamper detection.

Telguard's TG-1 Express connected to your ELK M1 control panel is a good choice for those looking for cellular based communications without the use of phone lines but you will not be able to get this service without a Central Station in between, they will charge you their regular monitoring fee plus the Telguard service fee plus the Telguard Interactive (optional smartphone) service fee if your panel is not an M1 and is supported. Also there is an activation/equipment charge of $150 for the TG-1 express communicator (leased not owned) but that charge may differ based on your central station or state or residence.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions let me know.