Elk-compatible GSM for DIY'er?

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DIYitAll

Member
Let me begin, if I may, by saying up-front that I fully realize how much self-monitoring is frowned upon. Unfortunately, in my city, the CS doesn't call the police for a burglar alarm - they send out a security guard, who takes roughly 15-20 minutes to arrive. Then that guard may not get out of their vehicle to investigate, but merely sit in the street to see if they can view trouble. That kind of service is not for me. (This is the result of too many falses and a poor economy.)

I'm curious to know if there is a cellular dialer available that doesn't fall under the control and regulations of the security industry?

In other words, pretty much all of what I've found must be used via a CS service.
 
Rather than self-monitoring, you could always use another CS... http://www.alarmrelay.com/

What exactly is it that you want to do with the cellular dialer?
 
Here's what I'd do.

- Get an M1XEP for your elk if you don't already have one
- Sign up for a cellular data service that provides a USB modem. If you already have something like AT&T or Verizon for your mobile phone adding one only costs $20/month. Or if you're in range of Clear's 4g Wimax Service its like $30/month for a basic service standalone
- Get a Cradlepoint adapter that takes that cellular modem from USB to Ethernet (if you choose clear skip this step as they have modems with ethernet built in)
- "Self monitor" with a combination of your elk sending your push messages to a smart phone and a great app like eK M1 for iPhone or the android equivilent

Be sure you buy a backup battery to power it all during a power failure.

I do all of the above except with a time warner modem because honestly my internet here goes out less than my power, but I have several at&t and verizon datacards at work. Each cost just $20 to tack onto an existing shared data account and used/low-end cradlepoint devices are cheap and allow easy, nearly plug-and-play adapting of these modems to work with ethernet only devices like the M1XEP.

My setup is great because the second the alarm goes off I receive a push message to my iPhone (having the M1XEP email att's email to text service - delay is only seconds) and I may then open up the eK M1 app to get details on what is going on, or open my my security camera app (separate) and see if everything is OK visually. If something is not, I can place a 911 call even if not home indicating I have visual verification that someone is in the home. This should (in theory, your area may vary) get you a faster police response..plus you're in the know right away.


So I would self monitor through IP, and just pump the IP over cellular if you want a truly standalone system.
 
chedemefedeme said:
My setup is great because the second the alarm goes off I receive a push message to my iPhone (having the M1XEP email att's email to text service - delay is only seconds) and I may then open up the eK M1 app to get details on what is going on, or open my my security camera app (separate) and see if everything is OK visually. If something is not, I can place a 911 call even if not home indicating I have visual verification that someone is in the home. This should (in theory, your area may vary) get you a faster police response..plus you're in the know right away.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is what I picture for my setup, I just haven't made the leap from 'old skool' cellular to a smartphone yet. Hopefully I can get more details about your setup at some point soon.

drvnbysound said:
Rather than self-monitoring, you could always use another CS...
Click to expand...

The problem's not actually with the CS, but the police department's policy in this city. They won't acknowledge it until there's a secondary/visual verification. Then, according to their own website, they may or may not respond, depending how busy they are at the time. Nice, huh? You can see the story in my profile.
 
Can you get their definition of secondary verification?

You might be able to set something up with the CS (or another one) that says only roll if TWO zones are tripped, i.e. an entry door and then some motion that proves they got further into the house than just the door.

One alarmed zone could still notify YOU but not the police. Two would notify both of you.
 
chrisexv6 said:
One alarmed zone could still notify YOU but not the police. Two would notify both of you.
Click to expand...

Right, that would be the ideal situation. I cancelled my ADT monitoring and pulled the Brinks panel, installed the M1. So I'd be looking at something like drvn mentioned. It's worth inquiring with the other CS's. Interestingly, I've yet to play with my Elk to see if it will notify me of two zone violations at once. I bet not, since it calls me within 6 seconds of any zone violation, and by the time a motion is triggered, the Elk's on it's merry way making the first call.
 
USP makes a standalone voice dialer, however this would be a case for a product like a HAI C3 just to pass the M1's voice dial out.

Most CS's have adopted ECV to help reduce falses, however you might want to look into 2 way voice (AAV) for your system in conjunction with an appropriate monitoring service.

The reason being is many of these municipalities that have adopted a "no-roll on unverified" will actually consider an AAV event as a verified alarm. I would ask the powers that be regarding this in your case.

Integrating AAV on the M1 is pretty easy and straightforward.
 
DIYitAll said:
Yes, this is what I picture for my setup, I just haven't made the leap from 'old skool' cellular to a smartphone yet. Hopefully I can get more details about your setup at some point soon.
Click to expand...

No problem providing more details. What do you want to know? What is your level of networking knowledge?
 
chedemefedeme said:
...What is your level of networking knowledge?
Click to expand...

Well, put it this way...I had to google "Cradlepoint" and "push messages" after your reply, above :D At this point, though, I'm really stoked just to have the Elk calling me with custom messages! If it's cool, maybe we can PM when I get to that point. I don't want to purchase anything that is unnecessary and won't serve my needs.

I'm still trying to wrap up my family room remodel at the moment so I can hopefully get a re-fi with these crazy low rates.
 
No problem. I'm glad to help. Unless anything you need to discuss is very private we should keep it in this thread. In this community there are lots of folks who benefit from getting to watch and read and jump into the conversation as ideas and problems are tackled.
 
If you are going to get the cell phone monthly charge, why not invest in a Cradlepoint and have full Internet access?  You can do a lot more with it in the long run I would think.
 
Yes, all of the above.  I'm still researching CCTV - I'm leaning towards ip, but man there's a lot of reading to do out there. 
 
I almost wish CCTV had it's own sub-forum, but I guess things would get cloudy, and it may not have the same visibility that it gets here in the Home Security forum.
 
I'll probably have to resurrect this thread when I get to that point...it'll be a marriage of several aspects on my system.
 
Thanks guys!    
 
 
 
 
BraveSirRobbin said:
If you are going to get the cell phone monthly charge, why not invest in a Cradlepoint and have full Internet access?  You can do a lot more with it in the long run I would think.
Click to expand...
Precisely my point. IP cellular monitoring does everything traditional cellular monitoring does, plus much more!
 
DIYitAll said:
Yes, all of the above.  I'm still researching CCTV - I'm leaning towards ip, but man there's a lot of reading to do out there.
Click to expand...
And (for occasional viewing, lest you run your data bill too high) you could use the usbmodem+cradlepoint setup described above to even have your cameras visible from afar during a power or landline failure.
 
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