We've a had security system at our business and home sence 1988. The main
panel is no longer in production and it takes a $100 service call to
reprogram. Plus, now the monitoring company must have been outsourced to
India. These people are BAD. The same company has 90+% of the business in
our county. The county sheriff has served notice that they will begin
fining $400 per false alarm.

Anyway, I was reading Smarthome catalog last night and they have a security
panel that will call your cell phone. Does anyone use this idea? I need a
system that would report 16 different zones with stuff from fire to cooler
temp to which door opened. I'd also need the unit to call two cell numbers.
(In case I'm out of range etc.)

I'm sure I can find a better vendor than Smarthome, I just need to hear if
anyone is using this "call your cell" with success. I don't want to be penny
wise and pound foolish on my security system.

Karl

I'm not sure of the name ( Home Monitor ?? ) but there is a security system
available through Graybar and others that is programmable to call several
phone numbers in rotation. It seems like the one I had 15 years ago had 4
zones plus 1 fire zone. It would call your number or any other number in
its program and deliver a voice message. I don't remember the number of
zones, but as you are probably aware, zones can be grouped together to
condense the total number. Another nice feature of that system is that you
could call it from any phone and open a mic on the premises for 15 seconds
or so. I would imagine the current model has many other features including
temperature alarms, which lid is up on which toilet seat, etc.

Bob Swinney

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT to reply wrote
in message ink.net...
We've a had security system at our business and home sence 1988. The main
panel is no longer in production and it takes a $100 service call to
reprogram. Plus, now the monitoring company must have been outsourced to
India. These people are BAD. The same company has 90+% of the business in
our county. The county sheriff has served notice that they will begin
fining $400 per false alarm.

Anyway, I was reading Smarthome catalog last night and they have a
security panel that will call your cell phone. Does anyone use this idea?
I need a system that would report 16 different zones with stuff from fire
to cooler temp to which door opened. I'd also need the unit to call two
cell numbers. (In case I'm out of range etc.)

I'm sure I can find a better vendor than Smarthome, I just need to hear if
anyone is using this "call your cell" with success. I don't want to be
penny wise and pound foolish on my security system.

Karl

I have a DSC system that includes 8 zones and is expandable and offers
a number of modules. I did buy mine from Smarthome (a decision I'd
reconsider, not bad, just a bit less responsive than I'd expected).
The DSC system has been really rugged.

Just remember (I worked my way through college as an alarm installer)
that false alarms come from two areas--poor operation by people and bad
installations). You have to be detailed about the installation of
the new system to avoid things that will cause maintenance problems in
the future.

Finally I like local alarms with a loud bell/siren. I'm happy to scare
off the intruder/burglar rather than having him/her rooting around
until the authorities get there. The cell phone system might be the
best of all worlds.

Now if you need a holdup alarm then a silent alarm with a good
operations center is needed. Remember you can get an operations center
anywhere to handle your system as they are only a phone call away.

Karl Townsend wrote:
We've a had security system at our business and home sence 1988. The main
panel is no longer in production and it takes a $100 service call to
reprogram. Plus, now the monitoring company must have been outsourced to
India. These people are BAD. The same company has 90+% of the business in
our county. The county sheriff has served notice that they will begin
fining $400 per false alarm.

Anyway, I was reading Smarthome catalog last night and they have a security
panel that will call your cell phone. Does anyone use this idea? I need a
system that would report 16 different zones with stuff from fire to cooler
temp to which door opened. I'd also need the unit to call two cell numbers.
(In case I'm out of range etc.)

I'm sure I can find a better vendor than Smarthome, I just need to hear if
anyone is using this "call your cell" with success. I don't want to be penny
wise and pound foolish on my security system.

I had a security system set up to call my pager for a few years. It
would display a code for the condition that triggered it. The police
force in the town I lived in were extremely slow and unreliable. I
worked about 5 minutes from home, so response was good. The system
worked well and in general, I liked it.

The biggest problems were related to travelling. If I was travelling, it
would be hard to respond myself or possibly even call the police myself
if I was away from a phone. A cell phone would ease that issue.

The other problem was when I did get broken into, I got to check the
house and it was not fun. The police showed up half an hour later.

If false alarms are a problem, they should be fixable. As Howard said,
train everybody involved who uses the system or fix the installation
problems.

Bob

In article ,
MetalHead wrote:

I had a security system set up to call my pager for a few years. It
would display a code for the condition that triggered it. The police
force in the town I lived in were extremely slow and unreliable. I
worked about 5 minutes from home, so response was good. The system
worked well and in general, I liked it.

I have had such a pager system for over 15 years, and it is better than
any system commercially availiable. Your own brain is the filter to
sort out 'false alarms' so you can use unreliable sensors for additional
info without worry. Very useful trying out new stuff, only you know
what's happening.

--
Free men own guns, slaves don't
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