question about multiple envisalinks on one DSC panel (pc1864)

[crackers8199]

i've got a DSC power series PC1864 that i have had installed for 10+ years now and has been working well the entire time. in an effort to cut costs, though, i'm looking at potentially dropping our home phone line since we finally seem to have decent enough cell service in the neighborhood to allow for it. that leads me to look at my options for monitoring, one of which of course is internet and cellular together.

one pitfall i'm trying to avoid, though, is that i have our envisalink 3 connected to my home assistant install and a ton of automations built into using the status of the sensors on that panel. if i do professional monitoring, am i correct in understanding that i would have to allow access to the EVL to whatever company i use for monitoring (whether that's eyez-on or our current monitoring center, or even someone else entirely) and at the same time lose the ability to connect to it myself locally? if so, is there a way around that?

i had seen other threads that mention having multiple envisalinks installed, and i'm fine if that's what i need to do to get both professional monitoring via internet and also keep my current setup...i just want to make sure that it's not definitively one or the other. if that's the case, i'd have to go to cellular only and no internet monitoring...losing the ability to have the alarm sensors tied into home assistant is a non starter.

any advice anyone can give me is greatly appreciated in advance. thanks!

[GrandWizard]

No, that's not true.

If you use our professional monitoring over IP (and LTE), you don't lose anything. Its just another service we offer.

You would have to upgrade to an Envisalink 4 to use our Sidekick LTE backup BTW. The Enivsalink 3 doesn't support LTE backup.

[crackers8199]

right now i don't use the EVL for anything except integration with HA. i have an eyez-on account and occasionally look at it for self monitoring or running commands if HA is acting up on me, but other than that i don't do anything else with it. my current monitoring center said they can monitor the EVL3 if i give them the MAC address...does that sound right? the documentation about only allowing one TPI connection to the EVL is what had me concerned.

i'm fine with upgrading to the EVL4 if i need to, but i'm not even 100% decided yet on whether i want to stick with alarm relay or move to eyez-on. i like alarm relay in the fact that they're very local for me here in so cal. whether that's worth the $7 or so premium they'd charge for internet/cellular monitoring over eyez-on is a different question that i'd have to explore.

basically though, i want to make absolutely certain i'm not going to lose the ability to connect to the EVL from my HA install before i move forward. that is my absolute top priority. i would stick with phone line monitoring and pay the extra bill every month if there were no other option to keep HA connected to the EVL. it's that important.

[GrandWizard]

I was referring to Eyezon. I don't know about alarm relay.

To use your Envisalink with another company you will have to remove your account with Eyezon and then they will "take-over" your system with Connect2Go. That company would then have full control of your Envisalink.

I can 100% guarantee you that if you take up IP monitoring with Eyezon there will be no change to your system at all. Monitoring does not use the TPI port, it is completely separate.

[crackers8199]

would that not then mean the same thing is true for any monitoring though? or is there a question i can ask them concerning this?

[GrandWizard]

Yes, you would need to ask them.

[NovaLindgren]

I was referring to Eyezon. I don't know about alarm relay.

To use your Envisalink with another company you will have to remove your account with Eyezon and then they will "take-over" your system with Connect2Go. That company would then have full control of your Envisalink.

I can 100% guarantee you that if you take up IP monitoring with Eyezon there will be no change to your system at all. Monitoring does not use the TPI port, it is completely separate.

thank you for sharing the information, it's very useful