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Telephone Line Alarm Monitoring Versus Cellular Alarm Monitoring

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Telephone Line Alarm Monitoring

Telephone line alarm monitoring basically means connecting your security system’s communicator to your existing telephone line and the alarm signals are sent to the central monitoring station using that phone line. Your telephone service could be the old standard telephone service (PSTN or POTS) or the newer VOIP or digital service offered by some cable companies.

Either method works well and uses some form of exterior wire or cable connection to your home or business, whether from the phone company or an internet provider.

Glossary of Alarm Related Terms
  • PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network
  • POTS: Plain Old Telephone Tystem
  • VOIP: Voice Over Internet Protocol

The pros of using phone line technology to monitor your security system is mostly cost. If you already have and need a phone line or digital phone service for your business then using this existing line to communicate will probably save you about $10 a month off your security monitoring cost.

Why cellular alarm monitoring is better than telephone line alarm monitoring:

The downside to using hardwired phone lines to send alarm signals to the central station is twofold:

  1. First, it is less secure than using a wireless cellular communicator. There are wires that a burglar can cut. Once that happens, you system won’t communicate with the central monitoring center. We recommend using cellular monitoring as your primary source for security monitoring. At the least, we recommend attaching a cellular backup communicator if you choose phone line monitoring as your primary communicator source.
  2. The second downside consideration is that using your phone line (PSTN) to communicate restricts the options you have available with today’s feature rich security systems. These features include interactive functions like remote access and control of your security system using any web based device. This can’t be done over your phone line. Another feature that uses cellular over phone line is live and recorded video streaming and remote access to view and control your video images from any web based device.

The decision to use phone line monitoring or cellular monitoring is personal and needs based. What level of security do you need, do you need video or remote access and control and how much do you want to spend a month on your security alarm monitoring.

The good news is that there are affordable solutions regardless which level of security you need.

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