If you’ve read our blog at all, you know that we’ve long recommended people install a monitored burglar alarm to secure any home. Doing so creates multi-layered security in the case of a life safety or burglary-related emergency. For starters, an activation creates a siren response to alert anyone at home to the danger. Moreover, this response often scares away any intruders. Additionally, our monitoring service also ensures that our central station responds to your alarm as well, and even creates a police or fire department dispatch if desired. However, as you will soon see, not all forms of alarm monitoring are created equal. Today, we will detail the most effective and popular form of monitoring we offer. In this post, we will share some unique Alarm.com security benefits that you can experience in your own home!
First, we’ll explain the Alarm.com cellular dialer and monitoring service. This will help you understand what gives it a “leg up” in the business of alarm monitoring. From there, we’ll explain the unique benefits offered by this form of monitoring. Specifically, we’ll detail the advantages of interactive monitoring. Then we’ll show you how Alarm.com’s Z-Wave capabilities can create more overall home security. Finally, we’ll share some unique Alarm.com security devices for some trule unique and effective alarm monitoring! Now, let’s dive in with a close look at the Alarm.com cellular dialer.
Why Do We Install Alarm.com Dialers?
In order to monitor a security system, we must create a connection between an alarm and our central station. Traditionally, this involves using a property’s existing phone line to create this communication. Unfortunately, this does not provide the most consistent and reliable form of monitoring. After all, phone lines can go down due to bad weather. Furthermore, burglars often cut their victims’ phone lines before attempting a burglary in order to disrupt alarm monitoring. For these reasons, we tend to turn to more modern monitoring methods, with one in particular standing out above the others!
If you rely on your property’s old-fashioned phone lines for monitoring, you will not experience the most consistent or reliable monitoring available.
As a solution to these issues, we recommend installing our Alarm.com-powered cellular dialer for alarm monitoring. This device creates a consistent, cell network-based communication path between your alarm and our central station. In turn, this keeps your alarm monitored without depending on your phone lines at all. Therefore, any phone outages you experience will no longer affect your alarm’s monitoring. In fact, many of our customers cancel their phone service after we install this dialer! The ability to experience more effective monitoring while saving money obviously interests many of our customers. As an added bonus, these customers also get the unique Alarm.com security benefits described below. Let’s start with an overview of our interactive security offering!
The Benefits of Interactive Security
Over the last decade or so, interactive security monitoring has taken over as our most popular monitoring offering. We can provide customers with this option due to the nature of Alarm.com’s cellular dialer, which creates a direct link between our customers and their alarm systems. For starters, this connection allows users to control their security system remotely. Forget to set the alarm on the way to work? Simply grab your phone and use the Alarm.com app to take care of it. You’ll never again have to sit around and wonder whether you forgot to activate your security system.
Interactive cell monitoring also generates customizable notifications for different security events. For example, instances such as low batteries or sensor trouble signals can create instant alerts. Moreover, you can also receive notice when anyone arms or disarms your security system. As an added layer of security, you can also receive alerts if someone fails to arm or disarm the alarm by a certain time! For example, you may expect one of your kids to come home and disarm the alarm by 3pm on weekdays. If this does not happen, you will now know immediately. This allows you to check on the situation and stay informed. These features obviously add a tremendous amount of security. Let’s now see how smart home security fits within our unique Alarm.com security benefits.
The Power of Z-Wave-Based Security
Over the past several years, smart security solutions have risen sharply in popularity. The smart security devices described in this section allow you to use a smartphone app to control them and receive important alerts as well. Smart devices require a connection to a network in order to create smartphone functionality. You can use your home’s existing wifi capabilities to make this happen. However, many people prefer smart home products that communicate on an independent mesh network. Our Alarm.com dialer actually comes equipped with a hub that operates on the popular and secure “Z-Wave” smart home network. This allows our Alarm.com customers to control the devices described here using their Alarm.com app.
For example, smart keypad locks can help you track access to your home, and even control your locks remotely as well. Moreover, they also let you add and delete codes from anywhere at anytime. For example, if you need a contractor to stop by while you are away, you can pick up your phone and add a temporary code to grant access. A few hours later, simply pick up your phone and delete the code!
The Wellcam creates alerts to keep you informed of any unusual activity in the home of a loved one.
Some smart appliances can greatly help with energy costs as well. For instance, smart thermostats give you control and insights over your property’s environment at all times. Moreover, they also allow you to create temperature schedules to keep the temperature nice and low in your absense while also keeping things comfortable from the moment you get home. Finally, these appliances even send you alerts if your temperature falls outside of your chosen parameters! This means that you will receive instant alerts to extreme hot or cold temperatures at your home or business. As you can see, smart home appliances add quite a bit of security while also giving you the type of user experience you’d expect from your wifi-powered appliances.
Lesser Known Alarm.com Smart Security Devices
In the previous section, we discussed smart devices that you can get from a variety of manufacturers. In addition to these, we also offer exclusive Alarm.com smart security products as well! For example, the Alarm.com Wellcam represents the latest and greatest in both security and smart home equipment aimed at homes with elderly residents. The Wellcam includes a high-definition, 180-degree camera that allows anyone with the proper credentials to look into a home at any time. This allows family members to check in on any area of a home where this device is installed. As an added feature, users can set up motion-based alerts that get sent live to your phone. These alerts can capture events such as residents of a home or caregivers entering and leaving the house.
Alarm.com also recently unveiled their Connected Car device to add an impressive piece to their smart home-based security offerings. This device simply plugs into a car’s OBD-II port, and provides an impressive array of data to help secure your car. For example, this device will display your car’s location at any time. Furthermore, you can also track vehicle drive time and receive real-time alerts based on vehicle speed. Finally, you can also set up alerts for an array of other potentially-unexpected events. Specifically, alerts based on sudden bursts of accelaration or decelaration can alert you to potential emergencies or accidents. Moreover, receiving an alert that your car has moved without the engine starting can tip you off to the fact that your car is getting towed! This unique level of security makes the connected car plug-in one of our most powerful security offerings yet.
Putting the Unique Alarm.com Security Benefits to Work for You
We hope that this post helps you understand the unique Alarm.com security benefits that we can provide! Moreover, we encourage you to contact us with any questions the material presented here may raise for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquiries. Additionally, we also invite you to have us stop out for a free security audit. We’ve long provided complimentary security walkthroughs and equipment quotes for both new and existing customers alike. While on site, we can make suggestions to address your existing security concerns. Furthermore, we can give you our assessment of your greatest security threats based on our observations of your property and our experience providing customers just like you with the security they desire! Together, we can create a complete security plan to keep your home, your valuables, and your family as safe and secure as possible.