24 Hour Alarm Monitoring

Endeavour Locksmiths and Electronic Security can connect your alarm system to a trusted, reliable, and technically advanced 24 ­hour alarm monitoring station.

While alarm monitoring for businesses is absolutely essential, the owners of home security systems must decide whether 24 hour a day monitoring is warranted. Many individual factors go into making that decision including the additional cost of monitoring and patrol response, the crime profile of the area in which one lives, the nature and value of ‘things’ in the home and the likely patrol response times during the hours that the home is vacant..The basic cost of 24/7 alarm monitoring is a little over a dollar per day with some system response checking phone calls being made periodically. In the event of an alarm condition, the alarm controller’s built-­in communicator will call the alarm monitoring station. An officer on duty will examine the information automatically provided by the alarm system to determine where in the building the alarm occurred and whether it is likely to be a genuine intrusion. Sometimes, for example, a very strong gust of wind might cause a window vibration sensor to activate once or a spider crawling over a motion sensor might cause a single false alarm. Multiple alarms or ‘hits’ over a short period of time are a reasonable sign that unauthorized access has occurred.

What the alarm monitoring station does next depends on written instructions you have provided to them. They might be authorised to just log and otherwise ignore these so-­called ‘single hits’ which are probably false alarms or you may want yourself or some other responsible person advised of them by a phone call. In the event of a probable break-­in they will try to contact people on your advice list in the priority order you have provided until they make contact and get instructions about a patrol unit response. If they cannot make contact a patrol unit will be sent as soon as possible and this will automatically incur a charge. It is very important to keep your contact list and instructions up to date. The cost of a patrol unit response is approximately $75.00.

In the event that a silent armed-­robbery alarm is received at the alarm monitoring station, the police will be immediately advised and will generally attend at the premises without delay

ALARM MONITORING OPTIONS

1. Dialler Communications (No Back-­up)

• The dialler built into the alarm system communicates over a standard telephone line.
• This is a low-cost, easily installed option.
• This is commonly used for residential and small business clients.
• If the telephone line is cut or becomes unserviceable alarm signals cannot be sent to the monitoring station.
• Apart from actual intruder alarm signals that go to the alarm monitoring station for action, the alarm system also sends periodic test signals, typically once per week for low-risk domestic systems and once per day for high-risk domestic and business customers. The test-call rate can be set as required.
• Standard call charges apply to all signals sent to the alarm monitoring station and will be included in the bill from your telecommunications provider.
• In the event that a test signal is not received at the monitoring station at the designated interval or if the alarm system sends a fault report we receive notification by email from the control room. We contact the client immediately if the alarm system is used for duress or medical alert purposes or as soon as possible in other circumstances. We review all alarm events and fault reports each day to ensure that problems do not escalate and compromise client security.

2. Dialler Communications (with GSM Back-­up)

• GSM back-up involves using a mobile communications capability to cope with the standard telephone landline being cut or becoming unserviceable. In this way the alarm system maintains its capability to send signals to the monitoring station.
• Under normal conditions the alarm system communicates over the telephone landline.
• The alarm system monitors its landline connectivity and automatically switches to GSM if connectivity is lost.
• GSM back-up requires good mobile coverage on either the Telstra or Optus networks.
• The system requires a SIM card to operate and this must be provided under a post-pay plan for which the client is responsible – pre-paid SIMs are not suitable. Clients can provide their own SIM card or we can set-up a new plan.
• Standard landline and/or mobile call charges apply to signals sent to the alarm monitoring station and will be included in the bill from your telecommunications provider.

3. GPRS Communications (with Dialler Back-­up)

• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) operates on the digital mobile network and ensures constant communications between a client’s alarm system and the monitoring station.
• GPRS is the most secure way of providing alarm monitoring and is primarily used for high-risk commercial alarm systems in Melbourne . It achieves security by ‘system polling’ which involves the alarm system ‘talking’ to the monitoring centre control room at a rate which can be set to between 60 seconds and 1 hour, normally every 90 seconds. In this way the control room has constant knowledge that the alarm system is on-line and functioning properly.
• Back-up to the GPRS system can be provided via the alarm system dialler communicating on the telephone landline or on GSM.
• GPRS may not be available in all areas.
• The daily cost of a GPRS system is higher than dialler-based systems but no call costs are incurred unless the back-up service is activated