ElkM1G - Newbie Monitoring Question

[lost404]

New cocooner here. I've been lurking for the past few weeks though. My shack was recently burglarized and I decided to have a security system installed. I just had the ElkM1G installed and have a question. The system I had installed included an ELK-M1XEP and ELK-M1XSP (for UPB Lighting). It was installed by a local security company and came with telephone monitoring over my POTS line but I was wondering... Can I use more than one monitoring service simultaneously? If so, I was thinking of signing up with the NextAlarm "NetAlarm Non-Dispatch Monitoring Service." They mention on their website that I may need an "ABN Broadband adapter." Would this be necessary for my Elk setup?

Thanks,

lost

 

[me2]

New cocooner here. I've been lurking for the past few weeks though. My shack was recently burglarized and I decided to have a security system installed. I just had the ElkM1G installed and have a question. The system I had installed included an ELK-M1XEP and ELK-M1XSP (for UPB Lighting). It was installed by a local security company and came with telephone monitoring over my POTS line but I was wondering... Can I use more than one monitoring service simultaneously? If so, I was thinking of signing up with the NextAlarm "NetAlarm Non-Dispatch Monitoring Service." They mention on their website that I may need an "ABN Broadband adapter." Would this be necessary for my Elk setup?

Thanks,

lost

The M1 can dial up to 8 phone numbers. I don't see why you couldn't use Nextalarm. I use Nextalarm for my monitoring service and just use the POTS..

 

[Sandpiper]

......I was thinking of signing up with the NextAlarm "NetAlarm Non-Dispatch Monitoring Service." They mention on their website that I may need an "ABN Broadband adapter." Would this be necessary for my Elk setup?

The ABN is needed only if you have VOIP telephone service or if you want to use the internet to transmit alarm signals. With POTS it is not necessary.

 

[lost404]

I was hoping that the ELK-M1XEP would be able to transmit alarm signal to NextAlarm across the internet (not VOIP). Is this not the case?

lost

 

[WayneW]

I was hoping that the ELK-M1XEP would be able to transmit alarm signal to NextAlarm across the internet (not VOIP). Is this not the case?

Correct, that is not supported. NextAlarm talked about doing it and probably has the technical ability but apparently decided not to offer IP monitoring. Some have found local alarm installers to set them up with a central station that does IP monitoring, but there is not a national DIY-friendly IP monitor.

 

[Spanky]

The M1XEP supports IP monitoring into a GE Osborne Hoffman OS-2000 receiver. It is sometimes hard to find a Central Station that has one of these. There is an upcoming software upgrade for the M1XEP that will support the SIA IP Reporting Protocol and one other IP protocol that is to be announced.

Remember if you are going to use IP monitoring, you will need to battery back up your cable modem, router, and any Ethernet switches that may be between the Internet and the M1. A UPS does the job nicely.

 

[tmbrown97]

A couple notes... No offense to Elk or those affiliated, but the XEP seems to be the weak link in the chain - if you already have POTS, then I'd try to stick with that. Also as Spanky noted; you have to make sure you power everything in the ethernet chain long enough to allow alerting. In my case, I have the XEP plugged into one of the router's 4-ports; then another going to a switch for everything else in the house; this way the switch and AP don't need power as long as the router does.

POTS really is the best method; others can correct me if I'm wrong here, but in a lot of the cases, the systems emulate the connection to the elk then take over responsibility for delivering the message (with the Cell link or the ABN, the elk thinks it succeeded; will never know if the ABN or Cell link succeeded in delivering the final signal. Only with the POTS does the Elk have 100% positive confirmation that the central station received the update.

Did your installer lock you into their monitoring plan? That's where they tend to make their money... perhaps you could give him $200 and get him to let you out of his deal and just call nextalarm for a one-stop shop? Seems like multiple monitoring systems is more trouble than its worth.

Now - hopefully soon we can get Spanky and the other boys at Elk to beef up the alerting capabilities of the M1 so we don't need NextAlarm's notifications! Configurable rules/texts for alerts, etc... I know Spanky's heard this before, but it's fun to keep "reminding" him how many people want this!!

 

[lost404]

Thanks for all the input guys. This has helped.

I was originally thinking that having the Elk dial NextAlarm was not an option with the "NetAlarm Non-Dispatch Monitoring Service" service. But I went and re-read the description of the NetAlarm service and I guess I can have the Elk can report to them over POTS. I think the "Net" in NetAlarm caused me to make the assumption that POTS wasn't an option with that Package.

I still haven't decided if I want to sign up with them in addition to the monitoring from the local company. I just thought it'd be cool to have an account to log into from my web browser and see what data gets reported and get more familiarity with reporting in general. Is it worth the $11.95/month? Will I learn anything worth knowing?

Did your installer lock you into their monitoring plan? That's where they tend to make their money... perhaps you could give him $200 and get him to let you out of his deal and just call nextalarm for a one-stop shop?

Yeah, I agreed to 2 years of dispatch monitoring with the local company at just under $18 per month. This wasn't a significant fraction of the total bill though. My home is over 30 yrs old and never had an alarm system. They didn't do any wireless at all so they had to run allot of wires. They did a good job too. You can't even tell that they were here. It wasn't cheap though.

lost