Elk M1G Cellular....

[newalarm]

Wow, Dejavuuuu....

jmed999, you may want to do a search as I had brought this up few months back and it had been hotly debated then. Seems like same arguments are coming up again. What I derived about everything is that the costs of running both systems were very similar. The Uplink running slightly more per year. But the overall security of the uplink made it a more appealing to my personal situation. The HAI seems like good option if you don't have basic phone, due to cost of running lines, or cable or other. In our case. Negative for us with HAI is that you have to deal with ANOTHER bill and make sure you don't forget to pay. I understand that billing can be automatic and what not, but hiccups/life happens... and you may end up forgetting to pay your bill/renew your CC.
We already have VOIP due to bundling that goes on with cable/internet. We could pay for an additional phone line, but that added 12-15/month and still has the snip-snip vulnerability; again, you end up with similar cost to Uplink monthly charges with Alarm relay. Plus we would have to deal with Verizon and I would rather not go anywhere near that company.

In our area, we don't have many power losses, but our internet/VOIP provider does. So we need some kind of backup. Plus, the fear of easily cutting wires on the side of our house. Finally the similar cost of both systems... We are going with the uplink.

 

[chrisexv6]

Newalarm - who are you planning to use to monitor it? Through some research and posts on this forum it seems not all Uplink providers (and its not even like there are a lot of them) are created equal.

 

[newalarm]

Well, I am by far not an expert... but from my research there is only ONE company that monitors, and that is the maker of Uplink. They receive the signal, then bounce the alarm information to the monitoring company. I think you can pay them directly if you were to self monitor, or they get paid by Alarm Relay or other monitoring company.

I have not yet set up monitoring but as soon as i finish install, I will probably get Alarm Relay. They seem well recommended and were professional and helpful on phone when i called them.

 

[Del91574]

Not trying to butt in, but I think another thing to be taken into account is the fact that there are only so many Uplink service providers. Whereas the HAI setup seems to be a lot easier for a DIY-er (aka a Cocooner) to hook their DIY alarm up to. Even the few Uplink providers Ive found on the web have very few reviews about their Uplink service.

You have to take into consideration that Uplink isn't a direct service provider, no more than Alarmnet, Telgard, Connect 24 or who else you want to throw on there (I mentioned the most prevalent). The cell service provider isn't going to necessarily have a review out there, as they only port the data and signal to the CS. Telgard and Connect 24 need to have the CS set up for their product, whereas Uplink data can be ported to any CS and essentially be invisible to the CS if the data is not direct ported via TCP/IP into the CS, where the signals are essentially retransmitted from Uplink just like your panel sent them. The data will essentially get to the CS no matter which true "cell" provider there is, either via a retransmit of the same account or via a sub account from the service provider. The data is either direct serial or dialer capture and retransmit, all straight data irregardless.

The C3 units are voice grade items and services, just taking the raw DTMF from the panel and connecting to the CS receiver, good or bad.

 

[chrisexv6]

You have to take into consideration that Uplink isn't a direct service provider, no more than Alarmnet, Telgard, Connect 24 or who else you want to throw on there (I mentioned the most prevalent). The cell service provider isn't going to necessarily have a review out there, as they only port the data and signal to the CS. Telgard and Connect 24 need to have the CS set up for their product, whereas Uplink data can be ported to any CS and essentially be invisible to the CS if the data is not direct ported via TCP/IP into the CS, where the signals are essentially retransmitted from Uplink just like your panel sent them. The data will essentially get to the CS no matter which true "cell" provider there is, either via a retransmit of the same account or via a sub account from the service provider. The data is either direct serial or dialer capture and retransmit, all straight data irregardless.

The C3 units are voice grade items and services, just taking the raw DTMF from the panel and connecting to the CS receiver, good or bad.

Agreed. I guess I should have phrased it better.

All of the Uplink service *resellers* Ive seen dont have any reviews on exactly how well (or badly) they handle the Uplink signal. Alarm Relay, GeoArm, etc.

Id hate to get locked into a year long contract and find out they arent that good, arent that flexible (i.e. how easy is it to add/remove/setup zones, etc), missing features, not using all of the data from the Uplink, etc.

 

[newalarm]

http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/21985-recommendations-for-monitoring-companies/page__hl__%20cellular%20%20backup

Here is the link to the previous discussion earlier this year. It was a heated one.... but went over the issue pretty well, especially page 2-3.