What is Phone Line Monitoring?

In this video, Jorge talks about phone line monitoring and how it works. A panel that uses phone line monitoring will dial out to a central station when an alarm event occurs. The phone number for the central station will be programmed into the panel, and the signal will be sent across a phone line.

Phone lines have been used with alarm systems for a very long time. Before WIFI and cellular technology became prevalent, phone lines represented the leading method for a security system to send outbound signals. But today, phone lines are less commonly used. The most common reason for a user to have a phone line set up for monitoring is because they have an existing alarm system that hasn't been upgraded. While this will continue to work in most cases, there are many reasons why a user would not want to use phone line monitoring.

First, a building has to have active telephone service in order for phone line monitoring to be used. These days, a large percentage of households have dropped phone service, and they rely exclusively on cell phones for communication. Adding phone service just to get an alarm system is not very practical, and it is largely unnecessary. Second, phone service is a relatively slow form of communication. This means it will take longer for the central station to respond to emergencies when using phone line monitoring. Third, phone lines are unreliable. Every time a signal is sent out across a phone line, it is possible that it will not reach its intended destination. Fourth, a potential intruder can physically cut a phone line so that the system cannot dial out. Fifth, a system that uses a phone line cannot be used with any interactive service platforms, such as Total Connect 2.0 or Alarm.com, for remote access and control.

Instead of a phone line, it is much better to use a cellular or IP connection with an alarm system. And if a system does have a phone dialer, they can usually upgrade it to use cellular communication by using a universal cellular communicator like a Telguard TG-1 Express. This module will take over the system's dialer and have it actually connect with a cellular network.

http://alrm.gd/get-monitored