Nextalarm Free trial?

[felixrosbergen]

Hi All,

I thought nextalarm has a promotion or service where you get some time free of charge to configure you system and that during this time they don't dispatch the the website and SMS/email features work. I am not seeing this on their website at the moment...is it still available?

Also I use vonnage VOIP which came with a Linksys VOIP router/modem. Nextalarm sais i have to buy theirs which appears to be the exact same unit.... Does this really not work over VOIP or is it just sketchy?

The situation is that I will most likely get a normal AT&T landline at the new house where the alarm will be installed, but for now when i'm testing and configuring in my temporary place i want to use the Vonnage line to dial out....will this work? I've heard from other that don't have an issue with their alarm and VOIP. Like i said it's only for the testing phase, once installed i would ofcourse never rely on something questionable for the security of my home and family.

I guess i can lie on the application and say i have a landline and if i have to i will sign up for the $11.95 non dispatch monitoring for the first month to test.

Anybody know any promotion codes that get me a discount?

 

[WayneW]

NextAlarm used to have a non-dispatch 3-emails-a-day-limit notification service, but they don't have that anymore. They still offer 2 months free with signup. I don't use their dispatch service yet (I used the unlimited email notification plan), but I believe that you can have your system in "test mode" (ie no police dispatches) for as long as you desire while testing. some monitoring companies only let you stay in test mode for an hour or two.

I use Vonage and the Vonage-provided-Linksys-router works fine with my NextAlarm/ElkM1 and so do lots of other people, but YMMV. Try it and see... you can always add their ABN later if needed. The ABN does add some features, like silent dial-in monitoring with an Elk for you to listen in to your house and makes you immune from Vonage outages. When I signed up, I told the web form that I had VOIP only, so it wanted me to buy an ABN, but I just opened a help ticket and they authorized me anyway, but there might have been some CYA disclaimer involved.

Rather than add a landline solely for security, you may wish to consider cell backup... not as versatile, but arguably "better" (ie harder to block cell communication than it is cut a landline)

 

[felixrosbergen]

Thanks Wayne,

Guess I'll just sign up and hope for the first months free or just pay for it....

I also see the benefits of the cellular service...but don't want to pay for the equipment related to it at the moment...i may switch later...

 

[WayneW]

I also see the benefits of the cellular service...but don't want to pay for the equipment related to it at the moment...i may switch later...

Keep any eye on eBay for the hardware as there have been some good deals in the past and cell monitoring with NextAlarm is only about $7/month.

 

[felixrosbergen]

Cell monitoring is cheaper than via the landline? Thats interesting..

I'm likely to stick with a landline so i can have a fax running on this as well (yes....somepeople still use these old fashioned devices unfortunately)...

 

[AceCannon]

Cell monitoring is cheaper than via the landline? Thats interesting..

I'm likely to stick with a landline so i can have a fax running on this as well (yes....somepeople still use these old fashioned devices unfortunately)...

If I am not mistaken, the cell monitoring is $7 or so on top of what you pay for regular POTS monitoring. But with outfits like Nextalarm, it may still be cheaper than regular monitoring from the big guys like ADT.

I plan on POTS monitoring at first (we also have fax), but I think IP monitoring may be easily do-able (I like the idea of an SMS txt msg when someone gets home or leaves/arms the system), and we will add cellular monitoring at some point after we move in.

 

[briankelly63]

Thanks Wayne,

Guess I'll just sign up and hope for the first months free or just pay for it....

I also see the benefits of the cellular service...but don't want to pay for the equipment related to it at the moment...i may switch later...

I think you'll be very happy with Nextalarm... if you take advantage of all the features and use the ABN (especially for remote management) you'll find that there is nothing like it...