eKeypad is awesome - I was one of the first to jump on that; before that, I used a Remote Desktop app to RDP into my computer and run Elk RM. And depending on how you set things up, of course you can access it remotely - and it's been well optimized to run over the internet. The best way is to use VPN, although plenty of people just expose only the secure port through their firewall.
I use it often to arm/disarm the alarm, open the garage door, check on the house, etc... and it even saved my butt one time - we were moving into a new house - had the elk at the old house - wife drove my truck and left the keys in it when she got out. Well, it auto-arms and locks. We were able to call someone who lived by our old house and have them go to our house and call us - then I pulled out my phone, opened the garage door, disarmed the alarm, turned on the lights - and told them where our spare set of keys was... when they were done, I closed up everything and rearmed the house - and they brought me a set of keys without having to drive across town twice.
I couldn't imagine dealing with the voice prompts - this is so much more efficient. For about a year, that was my garage door opener too which I used daily since I didn't have a remote...
