Spent $200 on a cellular dialer backup and it paid off in one night

Been putting off adding cellular backup to my panel for like two years now... finally threw down around $200 for a LTE unit. That very next week a drunk driver hit a pole near the house and knocked out the landline for everyone on the block. Customer's alarm still reported in fine and they didn't even know the phone was dead. Any of you guys had a similar close call that made you finally pull the trigger on a backup?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_perez20d ago

Gotta disagree with you a bit here. $200 for a backup dialer seems steep when most newer panels already have cellular built in or can be upgraded for less than half that. Plus in my area, landlines are barely a thing anymore with everyone on VoIP or fiber, so a phone line failure doesn't even trigger the alarm most times. And honestly, how often does a drunk driver take out a pole? That's a one in a million scenario, not really a good reason to spend that kind of money. I'd rather put that cash toward a proper cellular upgrade or a monitoring plan that already includes LTE backup.

emma_burns9620d ago

I hear you on that, @miles_perez, but I guess I just see the value in having a hardwired backup that doesn't rely on the same network as everything else... Cellular's great until the tower gets jammed or goes down in a storm. That $200 is cheap peace of mind for a scenario that's rare but could leave you totally dark when you need the alarm most.