When talking about home alarm and security systems, monitoring refers to who is alerted when the alarm is triggered.
For a self-monitored system, the users themselves – plus, often optionally, a small number of close contacts – are the ones alerted to a potential break-in or other such situation.
With fully monitored systems, like Verisure, the user is still told, but so too is a professional response service. This means call operators can contact the customer and also, crucially, contact both the emergency services and a private security guard if required.
Keep reading for a deeper look into how self-monitored and fully monitored home alarm systems work, to help you decide which is best for your property.
How a self-monitored home alarm system works
Most off-the-shelf, DIY home alarm and security systems are self-monitored. When they are triggered – by detecting motion, a door or window opening, or via a water or smoke sensor, for example – they alert the user. These alerts tend to arrive as a smartphone notification, while some systems also send a text message and/or email to you and your pre-defined emergency contacts, such as your partner, family or neighbour.
Although less common, some self-monitored alarm systems can alert you via a phone call. But this is automated, with a computerised voice used to say what triggered the alarm, as well as where and when. Some self-monitored systems let you call the emergency services from within their own app – but, ultimately, if you and your emergency contacts fail to respond to the notification, text, email or automated call, the emergency services will not be involved.
How a fully monitored home alarm system works
Fully monitored alarm systems like Verisure (also known as alarms with professional monitoring) function in the same way as outlined above, with app notifications, messages and emails sent automatically to the user when the alarm is triggered. But they then go a step further, as the alarm trigger is also sent to a response centre staffed by security experts who are ready to help.
These operators can make contact with you within a minute of the alarm being triggered. They can communicate with you through the alarm system itself, as well as phoning you and your emergency contact, then escalate their response if appropriate, even calling the emergency services and dispatching a private security guard to the scene. The system cannot and does not automatically call the emergency services. The call is only placed once an operator has checked the situation and deemed it necessary.
The operators first check in to see what’s happened. If it’s a false alarm, you simply state your codeword and the operator stands down, turning your alarm off and ending the event. If you don’t respond or don’t say your codeword, the operator can use your alarm system, including its sensors, cameras and microphones, to understand what’s going on.
If a live situation, such as a burglary, is identified, the operator can call the emergency services on your behalf and dispatch a private security guard, who will also attend the scene if deemed necessary.
The crucial difference between this and a self-monitored system is that the emergency services will be called, even if you are unavailable. You could be asleep, away from home, or on the other side of the world with your phone switched off – and a fully-monitored system will respond to the alarm, check what’s happened and call the emergency services if required.
In the case of Verisure, response centre operators can even activate the company’s ZeroVision system, which deploys a cloud of non-toxic smoke to force an intruder out.
