I have an alarm system and it needs a phone line....I want to pull my landline

[Joe Bob]

I have a nice place, when building one of a few additions 10 years ago, some little bastard snuck in while I was asleep upstairs. So I installed an alarm system.

I have guns (CA licensed Investigator), computers, toys, CHILDREN and such....so the alarm is an added layer of security. The expense is somewhat offset by my discount on home owner's insurance PLUS it gets a fire deparment response with the added wired in smoke detectors.

The Beyotch is....it needs a landline to communicate with the monitoring people. At 30/month for monitioring AND 39/month the phone.....which I don't use.....my cell is the only thing I use.

My question is...has anyone found a way to use a cell or internet for the call/communication on an activationl to the monitor station? The cell companies and the alarm company are of NO help.

I don't use DSL, we are in a small market so VONAGE or the other internet based phone companies are also out.... I DO have a high speed internet cable.....

[steve911]

Mike--
I can't answer your question about home alarms and cell service, but you should be able to get the $39/month landline expense down substantially.

We have a 2nd line which is (mainly) fax only. Costs us $14/month. Our main landline, with call waiting, etc. is $26/month. Both through SBC.

We're in the Bay Area just east of SF.

[slakjaw]

A unit like this one (http://www.basshome.com/category_278_mnf_45.htm)

This will give your alarm system dial tone and all that (analog) except the calls go out like a cell phone. But you will pay for one of them!

if you do something over your High Speed connection. You have to be aware of power outages.

Kyle

[EdT82SC]

Does your cable company offer phone service? They are usually pretty cheap, but no service when the power is out.

[krichard]

When I had my alarm connected last month they offered to hook the unit up to a dedicated cell phone. It cost an additional $9/month to do this. This way you don't have to have a phone line at your house. ADT is the company I went through.

[mikester]

I love to see people get rid of their land lines...

Means when there is an emergency I'll have a better chance of getting to 911 than they will on their cell network.

Don't give up your land line. Cable networks for phone service do not provide true 911 (I'm not spouting the SBC commercial I used to work for them and know a significant number of engineers who still do).

Cell phones aren't reliable in emergencies, at least not like a land line.

[Joe Bob]

Yeah....like the owner with the 9mm, .40, .357 and the alley sweeper need to be ignored.

[red-beard]

Mike, we just got rid of our land lines for Digital Cable phones for the house. Our Alarm company wouldn't work with those. Soooo, we switched to the Alarm system working with our cable company. Call them and see if they offer monitored service. For us, it was $10/month vs $35!

My Cable bill is now $199/month, but it includes phone, 100% cable (I mean everything), high speed internet and Alarm system monitoring.

Side note: if you have High Speed Cable, why won't Vonage work for ya?

[Joe Bob]

We are in a small market....both Vonage and Cox Cable will get to us eventually but don't offer anything in our market yet....we have traffic jams now but we're still not big enuff to profit off of....

I'm just tired of getting the hose job on my landline and not using it. Used to be working for the gubmint meant 10% less pay and great benefits....

NOW it's the same crappy pay and crappy benefits. I gotta look at the expenses and cut the fat and waste.

[red-beard]

The problem is taxes haven't been raised fast enough to cover all of the bloated new hires, so your pay and benefits have to be cut. Welcome to the new world order...

[Joe Bob]

we have actually shrunk from 100 plus in 1989 to 35 ish now.....most of the young uns are now old farts looking at retirement....

[campbellcj]

Have you already dumped ALL optional 'features' on the land line? Maybe you can get the cost down a bit more? We use ours very minimally but because cell signals suck here, and also for outbound 911 and incoming faxes, disconnecting is not realistic for us yet. Even if I had (or could get) cable data or phone service, I have an innate hatred and distrust of the cable operators due to past experiences and am very unlikely to trust them with something as important as emergency services.

[Joe Bob]

My house has decent cell coverage and the cable has been robust for the last year....of course the minute I change it out it will all go bust....%^B