First the positive. VOIP and cable phones are a lot less expensive to the home owner. That said there are some downside risks. When your phone runs through your cable provider or your internet you are at their mercy. If they run line tests, or constrict the band width for whatever reason the alarm signal may not be able to get sent out from your house to the central station.  True Story: One of my customers called me very upset that every night at 3am his alarm beeped and woke him up. After a quick review we realized the control panel was not seeing the phone line and was alerting him (just like it is supposed to do). We informed him to check with the cable company about activity on the phone lines. It turned out the provided started to run some kind of diagnostic test where they took down the phone line for a period of time. He quickly told them to leave his phone only and the problem went away

Have you ever lost power? Had the internet go down? I know the answer to both of these questions is yes, and next nextime this happens your phone service will go with it. I recommend a UPS (back up power supply) to your modem, so if the power ever goes out you will still have the phone service. With the “old” phones, ma bell provided power to the phones from a central location outside of your home which is why you always had a dial tone in a black out.  Also the provider controls the band width (capacity of data flow) and if they don’t leave enough for the alarm signal it is possible that our signal will not get out.  Although I think the VOIP/ cable phones are generally okay, these are some of the risks and why we recommed a back up radio.

As of Feb 22, 2010 it is now mandatory that every home in the State of New York, has a CO Detector installed. Named Amanda’s Law, after a 16 year girl who unfortuantely died last year of CO inhalation, it stipulates that every single and two family dwelling need to have a CO detector installed. It was spearheaded by Amanda’s parents in an effort to educate others about the dangers of CO. CO is referred to as the silent killer as the gas is odorless and can not be detecting by an individual. Check with your Alarm Company for availability or purchase your own from your local hardware store.

Remote Viewing is the ability to see your camera system over the internet. When you are at work or away on vacation you can look in at your home from any internet connection. The DVR is connect to your router and your high speed interent will then send the data out so you can view it.

A back radio is a device that is used to send a second signal to the central station. They have become increasingly popular as more home owners are moving to VOIP and cable based phone systems. The radio uses cellular technology to communicate and therefore can not have a phone line cut by an intruder.

A wireless key fob is a hand held device that can be programmed to turn the alarm on, off, or send a signal to the central station such as a panic alarm. These devices are normally used to make it a little more convenient for the homeowner.

The short answer is no it is not covered, a monitoring contract covers monitoring your alarm signals. If you need a problem to be corrected and it is necessary to send a service man it is common practice to receive a charge of approximately $100.