Monitoring and IP BAT Broadband Alarm Transmitter

[batwater]

This is a cross post from the CQC forums.

I've found a monitoring option for $8.75 / month.

For Honeywell Vista® or the DSC PowerSeries alarm panels there is also a newish module called IP BAT Broadband Alarm Transmitter from this company that can eliminate the need for the phone line altogether and uses TCPIP to communicate all activities to the central station, much like NextAlarm but without the ATA VOIP adapter, this one plugs straight into your network, it also provides a web front end. (BAT service requires an additional fee of $5.95/month on top of standard monitoring) What is interesting to me is the IP monitoring vs the old method dial-up, they advertise near 0 latency. Monitoring that requires POTS (Vonage VOIP in my case) is the only reason I still have a phone line. Also, there is a iPhone, BlackBerry and Android "ipFob" client that gives you keypad control of your alarm system directly from your mobile phone.

Not signed up for either yet as I still have 3 months left on my current contract, reviews look good though, anyone else had any experience with alarmsystemstore.com ?

Thanks

-Ben

 

[ano]

This is a cross post from the CQC forums.

I've found a monitoring option for $8.75 / month.

For Honeywell Vista® or the DSC PowerSeries alarm panels there is also a newish module called IP BAT Broadband Alarm Transmitter from this company that can eliminate the need for the phone line altogether and uses TCPIP to communicate all activities to the central station, much like NextAlarm but without the ATA VOIP adapter, this one plugs straight into your network, it also provides a web front end. (BAT service requires an additional fee of $5.95/month on top of standard monitoring) What is interesting to me is the IP monitoring vs the old method dial-up, they advertise near 0 latency. Monitoring that requires POTS (Vonage VOIP in my case) is the only reason I still have a phone line. Also, there is a iPhone, BlackBerry and Android "ipFob" client that gives you keypad control of your alarm system directly from your mobile phone.

Not signed up for either yet as I still have 3 months left on my current contract, reviews look good though, anyone else had any experience with alarmsystemstore.com ?


Thanks

-Ben

I haven't used them, but they do have an A+ rating with the BBB, which is a good sign. I use NextAlarm with their ATA VoIP adapter and also have Vonage. I know that NextAlarm and Vonage both recommend you NOT connect the panel directly to your Vonage line, but I do use it with a FAX machine without any problems. The advantage of a separate ATA is that being on the phone doesn't prevent the alarm transmission.

The near 0 latency sounds nice, but in reality its only a few seconds. NextAlarm used to charge extra for IP monitoring, but they don't anymore.

 

[U85417052]

I use them once, you MUST carefully pay attention on their contract, there are many thing hidden they either won't tell you at front or play wording, and Andy will ensure you there is no pronounced guarantee for the security you need. BBB is just a non-profit organization that is kept in business by the payment of fees by the same companies that they rate for the public, as simple as a 'Fox guarding the hen house'.

 

[batwater]

I use them once, you MUST carefully pay attention on their contract, there are many thing hidden they either won't tell you at front or play wording, and Andy will ensure you there is no pronounced guarantee for the security you need. BBB is just a non-profit organization that is kept in business by the payment of fees by the same companies that they rate for the public, as simple as a 'Fox guarding the hen house'.

Thanks for the feedback and concern. I back tracked the central monitoring service that the company uses, one of the big 3 in the US, highly rated. No alarm monitoring company will provide an iron clad guarantee, if they did I would be suspicious of what they are selling...

At any rate, I ended up taking the plunge. My DSC panel is now set up with the IP BAT, slicker than a greased pig on a frozen snot pond (okay, ewe, maybe not.) Added bonus, with the Android ipFOB application (iPhone and BB available also) my wife and I can arm and disarm our panel from our phone on the fully functional virtual keypad as well as look at the event log. Communication between phone and panel is literally instant. I have it set up to also email and SMS us on certain types of events.

On Monday I will be cross connecting the broadband monitoring to the UL certified central monitoring station for the homeowners insurance discount. With the added flexibility and communication enhancements I still ended up saving $84 / year over what I was paying a local provider.

-Ben

 

[vm101bat]

One thing you want to make sure is that the company you buy the BAT from will support it if you have any issues. ipDataTel does not give support to the end user and I have heard of company's such as this one that tells the customer to call ipDataTel for support and they only give support to their dealers. So just something to keep in mind, not that it's hard to install but sometimes users have questions and it's nice to have someone who knows what there talking about.