Alarm Monitoring

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TL;DR: Buying a phone line seems to be more expensive than having the alarm monitored through the internet somehow. Alarm Relay seems like the cheapest option for Internet Monitoring.

Using a Phone Line

AT&T charges $35 a month for a phone line and Time Warner charges $39.95.

We would also use a local service like DFW Alarm or Smith Thompson which costs $13-17 a month.

Total: Approximately $50 a month and $600 for a year.

Using The Internet

Next Alarm

Can send e-mail based on alarm events.

Yearly Total: $315.40 (for a year of monitoring and the module)

Monthly Service Cost: $17.95 (module is $100 initially)

Alarm Relay

Alarm Relay says they do not support VOIP monitoring through the OOMA, and they say we will need to buy the internet monitoring module for $144.

Yearly Total: 251.44 (for a year of service and the $144 module)

Monthly Service Cost: $8.95

Using Cellular

Requires $120 cellular communicator which would be specific to our current alarm system. We may be switching alarm systems soon, so buying expensive alarm specific equipment may be a bad idea.

Prepaid service will cost around $100 per year.

The monitoring service will cost $142.40 per year with Alarm Relay.

Total: ~$360+ depending on the prepaid phone service cost