Heard of alarmrelay.com?
- Thread starter IVB
- Start date
sonypoolplr
Member
Yes, I have heard of them, and I also use them. I have had them for about two months now after I installed my ElkM1 gold. The sign up process was simple and the setup of the monitoring was also a snap using the elk remote software to enter the alarm company information. The people I talked to seemed to have a good understanding of the Elk system as well.
HTH
HTH
IVB
Senior Member
I heard from cjett over on AVS that they do monitor cells. Dunno about your other questions though.rfdesq said:
One other thing - alarmrelay is UL rated, nextalarm is not. Dunno if you care.
The one sticky wicket is that they ask for 12months upfront plus a $35 upfront fee. In the end, this might be a bit more expensive than nextalarm (i think cjett said $21 incl cell), but the whole outsourcing thing bugs me. I want to go with someone who owns their own stuff.
When I chose a monitoring company a couple of months ago, it was down to AlarmRelay or NextAlarm. I have an M1G with the ethernet adapter, so I called AlarmRelay to see if they supported it. They don't, and said if I had VoIP (which I do), they don't "support" that, and instead suggest their cell offering. So I can at least say they do offer cell monitoring. Don't remember what it was, but it was reasonable for cell monitoring (though still more than standard). I don't THINK they have the web features that Nextalarm has. Since Nextalarm has the web features, and doesn't seem to mind VoIP, I went with them. Although in the end, the web features ended up mostly not working for me, because the Contact ID protocol wasn't reliable over my VoIP line, and I had to switch to another format which "broke" most of NextAlarm's internet features. I can still see that a call was made, but there is no detail of what type of alarm or what zone, and the email functions don't work. Nextalarm is SUPPOSED to be working on Alarm over IP, which will hopefully solve these problems. But I'm not married to them either. If another reputable company came along with cheap Alarm over IP monitoring, I'd switch unless that was RIGHT around the corner with Nextalarm.rfdesq said:
From NextAlarm's website:IVB said:
"NextAlarm.com uses fully UL-listed central stations, and our customers qualify for a discount from most homeowners' insurance carriers. We will provide you with a certificate to show your insurance agent, stating that we are monitoring your home or business."
To everyone on these boards, I would highly recommend FrontPoint Security Solutions of McLean, VA (they offer service pretty much everywhere in the U.S.). They offer absolutely TOP NOTCH customer service, use *wireless cellular DATA channels* to communicate from your home to the central station (no cut wires can disable your phone! -- wireless to the CS is the only way to go in my book!), offer the most impressive web (or wireless web via blackberry, etc) control with the most impressive feature set I've ever seen (if you don't believe me, go to Alarm.com and check out the demo), and hands down, offer the best value for what you get in REAL security (meaning security that can't be defeated by simply cutting a phone/dsl/cable line... this is why Internet monitoring, in most cases, is little better than phone monitoring... and you can't REALLY monitor for cut internet lines and dispatch on that... I mean really, every time your Internet goes down you're supposed to rush home and/or dispatch the police... I mean, really?!?). One thing to note: unlike the likes of NextAlarm, which kludges together technologies that only sometimes works the way it should to give you full functionality (like dscline mentions), Alarm.com has built their technology from the ground up, and tightly integrated their technology in a partnership with GE Security. Alarm.com does not offer their technology direct to consumers any longer, so you must go through a dealer, and I highly recommend Frontpoint Security for that. Don't take my word for it... check out all the 5-star reviews they have with a simple Google search on "FrontPoint Security". Then check out their website, also easily found with a Google search.
Further thoughts on AlarmRelay: They are usually not easy to contact by phone and once you do, it's hard to get much information from them as to how their system works. I think this is partly to do with competitive reasons, and partly because if people knew how simplistic and what a kludge the system was, fewer would be interested. And at the end of the day, since the signals to them still travel over wires from your house, it can be easily disabled in most cases.
AlarmRelay: I have heard very good things about this company. They seem to have a good reputation on the web, which is fairly rare in this industry... FrontPoint is the only other company I can say this about (that I know of). I have never directly used AlarmRelay's service, though came close. I did call and ask them several questions in my search, and they always were responsive and knowledgeable. I probably would have gone with them if I hadn't have found Alarm.com and FrontPoint Security shortly thereafter. If you do go with AlarmRelay, I would definitely go with the wireless cellular communications model, which is quite a bit more than their standard land line phone plan, but still reasonable compared to other cell monitoring plans. However, once you upgrade to that, you could get FrontPoint's standard cellular monitoring for about the same price, or their much better, full-featured Interactive cellular monitoring for a little above that (which is what I have and highly recommend... it's worth the little bit extra)!
One other really nice thing about Alarm.com technology through Frontpoint is how they implement alarm pending: if the system is armed & a sensor is tripped, even if it's still in the disarm window, a signal is sent right away to Alarm.com's servers as to the tripped sensor and to expect a subsequent disarm code shortly... and if that doesn't occur, Alarm.com servers contact the central station to initiate an alarm response. So an intruder would have only about 5 seconds to locate and destroy your control panel from the second a sensor is triggered (good luck with that!). Contrast this to most alarm systems, which only begin to initiate a response after the disarm period is up, then still has to dial out and transmit the alarm codes... so an intruder would probably have at least 40 seconds in most cases.
Anyway, enough. However, I do want to say I am in no way employed or compensated by Alarm.com or FrontPoint Security. I'm just a very satisfied customer of theirs and try to get the word out where I can. I'm also interested in this industry in general, so have some Google Alerts set up for various subjects, and so often run across opportunities to post good comments for Frontpoint. But lots of other people have posted great reviews for FrontPoint Security and alarm.com as well. If you don't believe me or just want to talk to me about it, feel free. You can contact me at 925.265.1376 or [email protected].
Hope this helps,
Alan
Further thoughts on AlarmRelay: They are usually not easy to contact by phone and once you do, it's hard to get much information from them as to how their system works. I think this is partly to do with competitive reasons, and partly because if people knew how simplistic and what a kludge the system was, fewer would be interested. And at the end of the day, since the signals to them still travel over wires from your house, it can be easily disabled in most cases.
AlarmRelay: I have heard very good things about this company. They seem to have a good reputation on the web, which is fairly rare in this industry... FrontPoint is the only other company I can say this about (that I know of). I have never directly used AlarmRelay's service, though came close. I did call and ask them several questions in my search, and they always were responsive and knowledgeable. I probably would have gone with them if I hadn't have found Alarm.com and FrontPoint Security shortly thereafter. If you do go with AlarmRelay, I would definitely go with the wireless cellular communications model, which is quite a bit more than their standard land line phone plan, but still reasonable compared to other cell monitoring plans. However, once you upgrade to that, you could get FrontPoint's standard cellular monitoring for about the same price, or their much better, full-featured Interactive cellular monitoring for a little above that (which is what I have and highly recommend... it's worth the little bit extra)!
One other really nice thing about Alarm.com technology through Frontpoint is how they implement alarm pending: if the system is armed & a sensor is tripped, even if it's still in the disarm window, a signal is sent right away to Alarm.com's servers as to the tripped sensor and to expect a subsequent disarm code shortly... and if that doesn't occur, Alarm.com servers contact the central station to initiate an alarm response. So an intruder would have only about 5 seconds to locate and destroy your control panel from the second a sensor is triggered (good luck with that!). Contrast this to most alarm systems, which only begin to initiate a response after the disarm period is up, then still has to dial out and transmit the alarm codes... so an intruder would probably have at least 40 seconds in most cases.
Anyway, enough. However, I do want to say I am in no way employed or compensated by Alarm.com or FrontPoint Security. I'm just a very satisfied customer of theirs and try to get the word out where I can. I'm also interested in this industry in general, so have some Google Alerts set up for various subjects, and so often run across opportunities to post good comments for Frontpoint. But lots of other people have posted great reviews for FrontPoint Security and alarm.com as well. If you don't believe me or just want to talk to me about it, feel free. You can contact me at 925.265.1376 or [email protected].
Hope this helps,
Alan
It's uControl that I do not think is UL approved, at least I searched their website for it and didn't find it.
I also pulled their license and looked at their licensed personel, they have 2 people who have technical licences the rest are all licensed for "Sales". One of the two took 8 years to get his 2 year experience mark (??) and is a partner the other they just hired back in 2/07.
Thats niiice. lol
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/psb/company/c....aspx?id=B13755
In TX monitoring licenses don't seem to be any big deal, in OK it's an entirely seperate license process to monitor.
I also pulled their license and looked at their licensed personel, they have 2 people who have technical licences the rest are all licensed for "Sales". One of the two took 8 years to get his 2 year experience mark (??) and is a partner the other they just hired back in 2/07.
Thats niiice. lol
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/psb/company/c....aspx?id=B13755
In TX monitoring licenses don't seem to be any big deal, in OK it's an entirely seperate license process to monitor.
technerd
Member
Hi CollinR - what does the UL approval cover, can you let me know?
In my experience uControl is more of a high tech technology company than a traditional security company. Their product is absolutely state of the art in terms of functionality and interface, and the hardware / online portal are incredibly reliable and user friendly.
Yes they happen to offer traditional security monitoring but the fact that they are so on the cusp of new network technology and operating systems/environments is what was really compelling to me.
Thanks.
I also use alarm.com... the system is great.. they use cellular packet data(over GSM - at least in my area). I get emails and text message for every door opening if I want. And it is really fast.. a few seconds and I get the mssage. They use GE alarms, the home automatation aspect isnt built in like the elk.
I bought a RS232 module for mine and plan to try and hook it up to the PC via CQC but I have not gotten that far yet.
I bought a RS232 module for mine and plan to try and hook it up to the PC via CQC but I have not gotten that far yet.
I don't know as I'm not into monitoring and I don't even have the lowest level of montioring license.
but...
A bunch of it is painfully obvious stuff, the receivers need to be hardwired so they cannot easily be unplugged. The facility has to be somewhat protected and have backup power sources, they aren't asking the world.
If they are not UL approved then I can totally see whay some states refuse to deal with them. I consider UL approval to be minimum basic requirements, they should be able to do all the fancy stuff too but you must cover the basics first.
I'm sure there are some gotchas in that too, as I said I'm not licensed in that so I know more about how to connect to them then their specific requirements.
Also many systems can do this stuff and are simply not known about or not discussed. The new Ademco 7845GSM radio can perform most of these functions on even the basic vista 15p which many lick and stick people already have.
Spanky
Senior Member
I know that the M1 works with Vonage VOIP. I have used it for over a year. Many controls that do not have a true modem has a problem with VOIP. The only way to know for sure is to try it with a test account into the central station. You should turn on the "Butt Set Mode" on the M1 so that you can hear the call progress over the Output 1 speakers.
GraysonPeddie
Active Member
I'd also prefer uControl over any alarm monitoring companies as I'm not into traditional alarm companies like Alarm Relay.
TeleFragger
Active Member
I have adt currently...
and pay $48 a month so im going to replace my alarm and use someone else...
so I will have to check out some of these that you all list..
I was going to use nextalarm.com but then when looking for my hardware I found...
www.safemart.com
nextalarm.com is $11.99 a month if you pay for a year up front and safemart.com is $9 a month
from their site..
Have your alarm system professionally monitored 24 hours a day without high-cost lengthy contracts! SafeMart offers professional, UL listed monitoring for as little as $9.00 per month. Plus, you can get two months of service FREE when you prepay annually.
their AlarmNet Cellular pricing is
$19.95 a month, pre-paid annually — Includes 2 Free Months.
$19.95 a month, billed monthly
$24.95 a month as backup (includes standard digital service)
so im thinking of going with them..
also wish I had an elk like yall... im stuck with the GE/ITI caretaker which was installed by the previous owner... I just bought the concord 4 from ebay (sweet deal too) and I will be able to put the alarm in and replace mine and keep all of my devices!!!!! which is a big plus as i have 9 door window sensors, few smokes, few carbon and 2 glassbreaks.... since they are all wireless and adt said they could put it in with a 2 year renewal I figured they gave me enough info to buy my own....
and pay $48 a month so im going to replace my alarm and use someone else...
so I will have to check out some of these that you all list..
I was going to use nextalarm.com but then when looking for my hardware I found...
www.safemart.com
nextalarm.com is $11.99 a month if you pay for a year up front and safemart.com is $9 a month
from their site..
Have your alarm system professionally monitored 24 hours a day without high-cost lengthy contracts! SafeMart offers professional, UL listed monitoring for as little as $9.00 per month. Plus, you can get two months of service FREE when you prepay annually.
their AlarmNet Cellular pricing is
$19.95 a month, pre-paid annually — Includes 2 Free Months.
$19.95 a month, billed monthly
$24.95 a month as backup (includes standard digital service)
so im thinking of going with them..
also wish I had an elk like yall... im stuck with the GE/ITI caretaker which was installed by the previous owner... I just bought the concord 4 from ebay (sweet deal too) and I will be able to put the alarm in and replace mine and keep all of my devices!!!!! which is a big plus as i have 9 door window sensors, few smokes, few carbon and 2 glassbreaks.... since they are all wireless and adt said they could put it in with a 2 year renewal I figured they gave me enough info to buy my own....
v1rtu0s1ty
Senior Member
I have adt currently...
and pay $48 a month so im going to replace my alarm and use someone else...
so I will have to check out some of these that you all list..
I was going to use nextalarm.com but then when looking for my hardware I found...
www.safemart.com
nextalarm.com is $11.99 a month if you pay for a year up front and safemart.com is $9 a month
from their site..
Have your alarm system professionally monitored 24 hours a day without high-cost lengthy contracts! SafeMart offers professional, UL listed monitoring for as little as $9.00 per month. Plus, you can get two months of service FREE when you prepay annually.
their AlarmNet Cellular pricing is
$19.95 a month, pre-paid annually — Includes 2 Free Months.
$19.95 a month, billed monthly
$24.95 a month as backup (includes standard digital service)
so im thinking of going with them..
also wish I had an elk like yall... im stuck with the GE/ITI caretaker which was installed by the previous owner... I just bought the concord 4 from ebay (sweet deal too) and I will be able to put the alarm in and replace mine and keep all of my devices!!!!! which is a big plus as i have 9 door window sensors, few smokes, few carbon and 2 glassbreaks.... since they are all wireless and adt said they could put it in with a 2 year renewal I figured they gave me enough info to buy my own....
Please let me know your experience once you get your system monitored by Safemart. I would also like to try it and save. I've already told my 4 friends about it.
Ok, please let me know. :blink:
Thanks!
