M1XEP Monitoring

[euphline]

In my (reasonably regular) calling around to find someone to monitor my Elk over IP, I spoke with one fellow who indicated that many central stations are getting rid of their OH-2000E's due to the GE acquisition and changes in GE's support of the devices. I currently have a lead on someone who may be able to monitor it, but it certainly raised the question: is the OH-2000E really disappearing? If so, are there any plans for a firmware upgrade that might support other receivers, and open the doors to broader IP-based monitoring of the M1G's?

-jbn

 

[Spanky]

The SIA IP protocol Plus another one is in the works.

 

[BioSehnsucht]

The SIA IP protocol Plus another one is in the works.

Like, next 6 months in the works? Next 12 months? How widely supported will these be?

Just bought a house and I haven't got my Elk yet, but its very high on my list of things to do after I put in an attic access on the bedroom side of the house so I can run wiring (not just for the Elk) - big vaulted ceiling living room prevents attic access in that half of the house.

I'd love to drop POTS (only reason to really keep it is for alarm monitoring) but I've heard bad things about alarm monitoring over VOIP regarding reliability. Having googled around (not made any phone calls yet, not having an Elk yet no point in spending that much time on it yet) I haven't found anyone in DFW that does OH-2000E IP monitoring...

 

[dscline]

The SIA IP protocol Plus another one is in the works.

Like, next 6 months in the works? ...

Well, apparently not 6 months. Any update on this?

 

[apostolakisl]

I bought an HAI C3 which converts a cellular line into a regular POTS phone line which you can plug the Elk directly into as well as your home phones. Then I set up a regular alam monitoring company which doesn't even need to know it is coming over cellular. So I pay an extra $10 to ATT per month for the line that shares minutes with my iphone, $9.00/ month for the monitoring company and save the cost of a regular land line or VOIP set up. For all of that I get a monitoring solution which is pretty much impossible to tamper with. I suppose someone may have some kind of frequency jammer but I don't think anyone that sophisticated would bother to break into my house.

My only gripe with the HAI unit is that it does not pass caller id through to your other phones.

 

[Digger]

I bought an HAI C3 which converts a cellular line into a regular POTS phone line which you can plug the Elk directly into as well as your home phones. Then I set up a regular alam monitoring company which doesn't even need to know it is coming over cellular. So I pay an extra $10 to ATT per month for the line that shares minutes with my iphone, $9.00/ month for the monitoring company and save the cost of a regular land line or VOIP set up. For all of that I get a monitoring solution which is pretty much impossible to tamper with. I suppose someone may have some kind of frequency jammer but I don't think anyone that sophisticated would bother to break into my house.

My only gripe with the HAI unit is that it does not pass caller id through to your other phones.

I am considering doing something like what you are. My ABN for NextAlarm TCP/IP is crapping out after about 4 years of flawless service and I am going on vacation starting this weekend. I contacted Nextalarm and requested a replacement ABN and was denied. I explained to the tech that I verified the ELK is putting out the proper CID and I can see the voltage from the ABN to the ELK Telco dropping out occasionally giving me Communication failures on my end (polling to Central Station unaffected so they dont notice it). They didnt seem to care and when I asked for a supervisor they "disconnected" me. I emailed the tech my phone number but he did not call back so I assume it was on purpose.

Its a shame as it worked perfectly for years and their monitoring was very responsive (calls within a minute for any alarm etc) To lose a customer by refusing to replace an ABN that probably costs them less than $50 is very short sighted (I also have two accounts with them so they are losing two).

Once I sent them a cancel notice they decided to escalate the problem to their Engineering department and I have not heard from them yet (probably after I leave for vacation they will call). I even would pay for priority mail (now overnight) shipping on my dime since I need it in a rush but that apparently isnt even an option if their engineering department doesnt get back to me. Without their engineering departments approval they can not send out an ABN. What is the harm especially if I am paying shipping (time is of the essence here). If by chance I am wrong and it is something else (dont see what) they lose nothing as I just return the ABN (again on my dime). If I never return the ABN they have my credit card for billing (heck charge me for it and when I return the defective one refund me I dont care).

No customer friendly options available it seems.

What other Central Station's are people using? Up until this week I thought Nextalarm was the best deal in town as far as service and price for a DIY install.

 

[dscline]

Up until this week I thought Nextalarm was the best deal in town as far as service and price for a DIY install.

This is a bit off-topic, but I've been using Nextalarm for years (probably around 4), and my opinion of them has changed drastically in the past year. Of course, I should have seen it coming - they came on here way back then claiming they were working on becoming compatible with the M1XEP, then nothing. Now they've switched to another central station, and I can no longer get to to human directly. When I call, I get a telephone prompt to enter the primary number on my account (since I'm often calling from my cell, which isn't). Between that delay and general problems I've had getting through to them, I've had police dispatched for false alarms because I couldn't get through in time. Yet at other times, I've had a false alarm and called, and they say they have no record of an alarm. Then a bit later they call because they finally get it. I just don't trust them any more to think that they add any security beyond just letting the panel call me instead of them.

Anyway, that's why I'm so anxious to get the info on internet monitoring, because I can't wait to ditch Nextalarm, but I want to switch to someone that will support the M1XEP.

 

[Digger]

Ok I was a wise guy and set and tripped the alarm and ...... nothing. No phone call, no text message, no police, and nothing in the activity log. I put it in test mode and armed/disarmed several times and tripped another alarm and nothing in the log.

Its useless.........

Back to the topic I wonder who will ever pick up XEP monitoring. I dont mind paying for an ABN or the HAI unit but the XEP would be the most efficient.

So is anyone using another Central Station?

 

[Mike]

On the topic of NextAlarm, I'll note the following:

I had switched from verizon to cablevision and that (as I found in the end) had caused some changes in the way I setup the networking, which broke the NextAlarm connection. I had submitted a tech support request via the site and explained the issue. They recommended a few things but recommended I call during the day to troubleshoot with them. This was hard for me at the time and I wound up figuring out he issue and then also switched back. I didn't get to test their telephone support but the tech support requests were responsive. I had neglected to test the system for a little while which was how I found the issue initially (nothing like triggering the alarm and getting nothing back). Fortunately all was resolved.

I had another situation where I knocked a fire alarm (System sensor) off its mount and triggered a fire trouble. I thought I would get a call but did not. I sent a request about it (and I saw their system saw it), they clarified the part that it was fire trouble, not alarm and I was not set to have them act under that situation.

I also had a wireless sensor that was going, they would call once that message went out (invariably at 1AM). A live person would call and note a low battery condition was found on a particular sensor. I managed to have some old batteries as well so I went through this a few times before ordering new batteries. There was one time it seemed they called as soon as the keypad beeped.

They also can send email alerts on certain events, which was useful. (see my other post regarding the 1137 flash memory error, as I got an email from next alarm reporting my co2 detector was down, but the elk said it was a flash memory issue).

Just my experiences.

 

[Digger]

Nothing has changed on my end in well over 2 years now (same modem, router, internet provider etc). I did measure and monitor the voltage out of the ABN and I see it drop out occasionally for a while so it appears the ABN is not working correctly.

What has me P.O. is that they REFUSE to even sell me a replacement ABN until their staff walks me through troubleshooting. I work at the very least 8 AM to 6pm and can not be home to troubleshoot before I go on vacation. To not even sell me a replacement after I explained the situation is UNACCEPTABLE. They had NOTHING to lose but a customer and they chose to lose the customer.

Can you tell I am mad LOL.

 

[Mike]

That is really strange, I didn't catch that the first time I read the post that they wouldn't sell a replacement. To do a free replacement I could see asking for a multi year commitment, a discounted price, or the like, but to not allow a replacement to be sold is very strange (and does not seem to make any sense).

Imagine if Gillette refused to sell razors to their community of loyal razor blade customers?

I hope it gets resolved and winds up being something silly (like a bad rep).

 

[Digger]

That is really strange, I didn't catch that the first time I read the post that they wouldn't sell a replacement. To do a free replacement I could see asking for a multi year commitment, a discounted price, or the like, but to not allow a replacement to be sold is very strange (and does not seem to make any sense).

Imagine if Gillette refused to sell razors to their community of loyal razor blade customers?

I hope it gets resolved and winds up being something silly (like a bad rep).

Actually in the first post I had not offerred yet to pay since the Nextalarm website says it is warranty on the ABN as long as you are a Nextalarm customer (but I had offerred to pay for the overnight shipping). Out of desperation I offerred to pay for the ABN itself but apparently it is not a money issue but a "policy" issue.

As of this morning Nextalarm Engineering has NOT contacted me. Until they do I am stuck. By the time the contact me and realize the ABN is in fact dying it will be to late to send me a replacement before I leave for vacation. Actually in a few hours it will be to late.

They had nothing to lose if I paid for it. Even if I missed something and the ABN is good (I cant see what else it can be) I could stick it on the shelf as a backup. I work for an alarm mfg. and will start calling some Central Stations we have relations with and ask if they can monitor over TCP/IP for me right away. I can grab an interface here from work that will not support full data but will tell me if I have an alarm etc. Since I have VOIP I can not use dialup for reporting.

 

[signal15]

You might want to check out Sentry Systems:

http://www.sentrysystemsinc.com/

A couple of years ago, they were planning on getting set up with IP. I had them in the past using POTS and an AES wireless mesh, and they were awesome. Very responsive, great customer service. The only thing is, I doubt they are as cheap as NextAlarm. Maybe it's different if you own your own system, but I was paying like $35 a month on contract for a system that they installed for free. While it was expensive, it was a very very good service.

They do pretty much ALL of the commercial monitoring here in the Minneapolis area, and do a large amount of residential also.

 

[Digger]

I called NExtalarm this morning asking when Engineering was going to contact me. They put me on hold and then came on line and said Engineering approved replacing the ABN and they would send me on overnight (no charge). No testing no nothing its ok to replace it. So what was that all about yesterday?

Then an hour later I get an email from a ticket I sent yesterday saying that they wont replace it.

So I dont know where I stand.

 

[apostolakisl]

If they end up making you buy a bunch of stuff I would seriously look at going cellular. There is just about no way that it is going to go down. No router crashes, no ISP outage, no weird unexplained IP snafu., no power failure (HAI has built in battery). I signed up with the alarm monitoring that SH advertises (Watchlight) and have been with them for a few months and have been very happy. They call every time anything happens, alarm, power failure, program mode entered, etc. and do so within 60 seconds of condition. I am using the HAI on my home phone as well and with the high power antenna it has, I have never had a call drop.