EyezOn Forum

I just switched my Alarm Monitoring from landline to EnvisAlarm monitoring and am very please with the ease of signup and communication provided by both EyezOn and the Central Monitoring Station. Special thanks to Frances at EyezOn.

I have had the EyezOn EVL4 for over two years and used it as self monitoring parallel to paid landline monitoring. During that time, the EVL4 has been very reliable so I decided to drop the landline and switch solely to EnvisAlarm. I realize it is probably not as reliable as cellular, but I have had landline monitoring for over 15 years with very few issues and I expect EnvisAlarm to be equally as good.

We've had EnvisAlarm for a year. In fact it just auto-renewed a couple days ago or so. It's worked flawlessly. The monitoring company has been very pleasant with which to work.

I ameliorated any concerns about our alarm monitoring/reporting being dependent upon our Internet connection by adding a 2nd Internet connection using an LTE modem with our existing wireless provider and an Internet router configured to do automatic fail-over to the backup connection if the primary goes down.

Crikey,

So with the LTE modem, do you just add it to your plan as another phone? How exactly are you charged?

Thanks

GMc wrote:Crikey,

So with the LTE modem, do you just add it to your plan as another phone? How exactly are you charged?

Thanks

Yes, it was added to our existing plan as another line. We're with T-Mobile, but I used to administer the Verizon Wireless plan at work and wireless hotspots worked the same way. They get phone number, but it's generally used only for accounting purposes. (Tho I can send/receive text messages with our LTE modem, which is kind of amusing.)

It just shows up on the bill as another line.

We lucked-out. Just as I was getting ready to get the LTE modem a line, TMO was running a "free additional line for qualifying plans" deal over the weekend. Our existing plan qualified. That additional line is costing us only about $4/mo. And, for some reason, it qualified for a free bump to 6GB/mo.

More about it in EnvisAlarm monitoring if Internet line cut. Particularly the last two posts.

While we were satisfied with EnvisAlam when we had it for a year I was always concerned about using internet as sole connection to the Central Station. I considered trying to put together a LTE solution but I was not convinced of the solution would be reliable.

I went with AlarmRelay with a IPDatatel WiFi/cellular CBAT. It connects either via hard wire or WiFi to router and has a Verizon CDMA cellular connection as backup. In addition it has a great virtual keypad. With the virtual keypad you can do everything you can do from your home keypad, i.e. Arm, disarm, add user codes, program the alarm just as if you are using the home keypad. The UI is very nice. All this for 8.95/mo plus $8/mo for the cellular/internet backup. Hardware was $179.

So monthly cost is $4/mo more than trying to put together a home made solution using your own modem and your own LTE hardware.

Here's a screen snapshot of my virtual keypad.



Here you can see display with a door open



Here you can see I went into programming mode via virtual keypad.

Another option is my app, DscServer https://sites.google.com/site/mppsuite/ ... /dscserver. Run it on a low end android PAYG phone from any service provider you like. T-Mobile has a PAYG plan for $3/mnth and PAYG phones for $10-$30 at walmart/bestbuy. Set the app up to SMS you with any problems - alarms, loss of wifi, loss of power, loss of connection to the envisalink. Full keypad for local and remote access, self monitoring and local automation (e.g. use the alarm motion detectors to trigger lights), IFTTT, Google Home, Alexa, plus self managed personal web page for status and control. You own and operate it, no other fees. Makes a great addon for eyezon. DSC only.

Thanks for all the responses. Lots of good information.