Home burglar alarm - wireless, text

[Huge]

Because the monitoring company called me.

[Michael Chare]

Then what did you do, (or say to them)

[Huge]

It doesn't matter. They have instructions on what to do and they followed them. The call was a courtesy.

As it happened, it was a single activation of a PIR and they sent a patrolman to check what was going on. They think it may have a "large fly", and we subsequently found a dead hornet in that room. They reset the alarm and left. Had it been a double activation they would have called the police and met them there. (Perhaps it's causing confusion that I haven't mentioned that they are keyholders, also.)

The whole point of this exercise is that we don't need to be available for more-or-less the right thing to happen. On one occasion, we were in Malta and we had an activation. They sent a patrolman who found that a lightning strike had activated the panel and damaged it so he couldn't reset it. They called the alarm company who sent an engineer, who replaced and reset the panel, they locked up and left. All without input from us.

[Michael Chare]

That is interesting thank you. I did have a PIR fire whilst we were away, there was no obvious reason so I did wonder if something like a large fly had been the problem.

Sometime ago I went to investigate a nearby alarm which was ringing, only to find that the house had been broken into. I called the police who did come, and then pretty much told me not to waste their time.

[James Harris]

Cool! I see they say that GiffGaff credit carries over. I didn't know that but it would be handy (as long as the alarm system could be set up to send a text every few months to keep the SIM card active). Best other I had seen was £4 a month.

[alan_m]

Basic GiffGaff PAYG SIMs do not lose credit but you have to use them at least once every 180 days to keep the SIM registered. The card in my alarm has been programmed to send "I'm still here" text message approx twice a month.

Not relevant to a GiffGaff SIM in an alarm, but on top of the basic PAYG you can add optional monthly packages that give X amount of voice/text/data for an additional fixed fee. These packages do run out after 30 days. When they run out you can buy an additional package or just revert to the normal PAYG credit left on your SIM. You can opt in/out of these fixed voice/text/data at will - they are not required for a SIM in an alarm.

The status of the SIM and the PAYG credit on it can be monitored on-line. You can top up credit on-line (being aware that you do NOT need to opt in to their Goody/Data bag packages which they are pushing on the top-up web pages)

[charles]

I was told many years ago by a police scene of crime officer. "Burglar Alarms alarm burglars" A silent alarm might work if you can guarantee a fast responce, but frightening them off might be better. I have a particularly loud alarm at the bottom of the stairs.

[Bob Eager]

I always understood that an internal sounder was good if it made it uncomfortable for the average scroat to stay in the house.

We have a four core sound bomb, and that is pretty unbearable.

[dennis]

How well do 99p ear plugs work against it?

[Max Demian]

A continuous 17KHz tone should put off the younger scrotes.