Protecting What Matters Most — How Monitored Alarms Work

Monitored Alarms Explained

A building holds some of our most precious treasures, whether that’s a home with our family inside or a business with our hopes and dreams. However, some of our most valued assets may be in danger or experience times of tragedy, typically when it’s least expected. Whether it be fire or burglary, danger can take on many forms. That’s why it is vital to every home and business owner to cloak their buildings with 24/7 alarm monitoring where our watchful eye is always there at a moment’s notice.

How It Works

Every reputable security company will offer 24/7 alarm monitoring for your security system. Alarm monitoring is the quick and detailed commu­ni­cation between your alarm system and a security provider’s central station. Once our alarm control panel identifies an emergency event, it will send a signal to the central monitoring station, notify the appro­priate author­ities, and send them to your home or business. Techni­cally speaking, each reputable security provider differs slightly, but the basic principles remain the same.

But how does the system commu­nicate with the central station? The control panel installed by your security provider is part of your security network. All your sensors, such as door open/​close alerts, smoke detectors, glass break sensors, or heat detectors, all operate on this network.

Let’s say that your smoke detector is triggered. Your control panel will send an alert to the monitoring personnel at the central station. This alert includes your account identi­fi­cation, contact infor­mation, your address, as well as the location of the triggered device. Our experi­enced staff will call you to notify you, then confirm whether it’s a real emergency or a false alarm. If you don’t respond, the monitoring station will contact the proper author­ities to assist immedi­ately, so there’s no delay in getting help. Some security companies offer customiza­tions such as silent alarms that won’t alert the intruders, thus preventing them from having a chance to disable the system before the follow-up signal is sent to the monitoring station.

Many systems have a 2‑way voice capability. If your system has this capability, the command station will contact you through your panel and check your status. You can then tell the dispatcher directly that your alarm was set off by accident. Simply provide your central station password for identity verifi­cation. One downfall to this is if the situation is real, then an intruder can be alerted to author­ities being in-route. If you do not have monitoring with a 2‑way voice, a phone call will be made to the account holder most of the time. If the account holder doesn’t pick up or doesn’t have the correct password, then the proper author­ities will be dispatched, and emergency contacts will be notified, so there is always a way to notify you’re in distress, even if an intruder is standing right there.

Choosing Your Passcode

Choosing a passcode to your security system is extremely important. Did you know the most common codes to unlock a phone are ​“0000” and ​“1234?” Even in 2020, this still occurs. Research of four-digit personal identi­fi­cation numbers (PINs) proves that ​“1234” accounts for more than 10% of all PINs. Combine ​“1111” and ​“0000,” and you’ve accounted for 18.6% of all PINs. Therefore, it is vital to your security to use a unique passcode on all devices, including your security system. How should you go about making your alarm passcode? Here are some pointers:

What if you need to share your passcode with someone?

There are some instances in which you may need to share your passcode. For example, giving your passcode to a guest, a sitter, a household employee, or a neighbor are all valid reasons. However, after you have shared your passcode with someone (especially someone who isn’t a trusted or recurring guest/​friend), you should change your passcode.