A number of companies are now offering do-it-yourself security monitoring solutions for your home and/or business.
These systems allow you to self-monitor your alarm via SMS updates to your phone.
If the alarm is triggered, instead of a human responding to an dealing with the alert, an automated response is set to your phone.
It is then up-to the individual to choose the best course of action.
Although these alternatives may seem cheaper and more convenient than traditional security services, you should definitely weight up the real-world pros and cons of utilising such a security system.
Importantly, human-monitored systems provide the benefit of a licensed security officer being able to quickly and effectively alert the respective emergency response authority depending on the kind of event (ie: police, ambulance, fire brigade).
A self-monitored solution doesn't provide this benefit.
Another key deficiency is the SMS protocol itself.
The Small Message Service (or SMS) is not designed to deliver time-critical messages.
This means there may be long delays before the alarm message is actually received.
As well as this concern, your phone may not be in an operational state when the alarm message is sent.
If you phone is flat, out of range or experiencing service problems, you may not receive the alert message until hours (or even days) after the event.
Another specific point to consider is that a mobile alarm system cannot provide detailed alert information - for example, which sensor at which part of the house has been triggered.
A human-monitored security solution, on the other hand, can analyse which alarms are being triggered to provide a better understanding of whether or not the alerts are congruent with a home-invasion event.
After taking these few points into consideration you should understand the risks associated with self monitored home security and business security solutions.
These systems allow you to self-monitor your alarm via SMS updates to your phone.
If the alarm is triggered, instead of a human responding to an dealing with the alert, an automated response is set to your phone.
It is then up-to the individual to choose the best course of action.
Although these alternatives may seem cheaper and more convenient than traditional security services, you should definitely weight up the real-world pros and cons of utilising such a security system.
Importantly, human-monitored systems provide the benefit of a licensed security officer being able to quickly and effectively alert the respective emergency response authority depending on the kind of event (ie: police, ambulance, fire brigade).
A self-monitored solution doesn't provide this benefit.
Another key deficiency is the SMS protocol itself.
The Small Message Service (or SMS) is not designed to deliver time-critical messages.
This means there may be long delays before the alarm message is actually received.
As well as this concern, your phone may not be in an operational state when the alarm message is sent.
If you phone is flat, out of range or experiencing service problems, you may not receive the alert message until hours (or even days) after the event.
Another specific point to consider is that a mobile alarm system cannot provide detailed alert information - for example, which sensor at which part of the house has been triggered.
A human-monitored security solution, on the other hand, can analyse which alarms are being triggered to provide a better understanding of whether or not the alerts are congruent with a home-invasion event.
After taking these few points into consideration you should understand the risks associated with self monitored home security and business security solutions.