Home security monitoring makes your property safer
A home security monitoring company charges a monthly fee to monitor any breach in security at a customers home. The monitoring is done by trained staff which uses sophisticated equipment to keep track of what is happening at a customers home.
The staff sits at a central monitoring station which is connected to a customers home by a telephone line. The staff monitors all security signals emanating from the control panel installed in a safe place in the customers home. When the control panel, which works like the brains of a home security system, receives a signal from a sensor or a magnetic switch of a break in it immediately alerts the central monitoring station. This it does by using an automated dialing system.
The central monitoring station, in turn, instantly calls the customers home. The caller first checks for the customers password. If the password is wrong or if the call is not answered the caller alerts the area police. The caller then locates the stand by numbers given by the customer and informs him of the alarm. The alarm, however, is switched off if the house owner provides the right password.
A central monitoring station is required to notify the authorities within 45 seconds, if an alarm goes off. This is a tricky job because a false alarm will unnecessarily send the police racing to a customers house, and disturb the neighbors. The employee therefore is required to take a measured decision before alerting the police.
Large security monitoring companies have their own central stations, while smaller ones often use the services of third-party home security monitoring companies. These monitoring centers comply with the high standards set by the non-profit, independent Underwriters Laboratory. That is why their charges also are higher.
Sometimes the alarm goes off because the house owner trips the security system by mistake. He can, of course, correct the mistake by entering the password and switching off the alarm. However, the time available to do so is only 30 to 45 seconds.
Several security companies insist on a cell phone backup to filter out false alarms. This is because the control panel will alert the central monitoring station if the regular phone line is not working. The security center will first call up the key holder to check. The authorities will only be notified if it is found that someone has tampered with the phone line.