I had smoke detector in finished basement go off inexplicably while home, which triggered alarm.
Fire Dept was contacted immediately and came out, then later the alarm monitoring company called.
I thought I had setup account a couple years back so they had to contact me first before sending out fire department, and monitoring company said I had - but that they couldn’t reach me on 2-way voice. It simply said it couldn’t connect to my panel on their end.
How come my 2gig GC3 panel had enough connectivity to send alarm notification out, but not to allow inbound 2-way voice? I have Verizon LTE modem and Broadband backup.
I tried getting monitoring company to test 2-way voice again with me on the phone but they wouldn’t.
Also, what should I do if I’m at home again during a false alarm? Its always a scramble to go grab the step stool to reach up and disconnect the detector before alarm signal sent out.
How come my 2gig GC3 panel had enough connectivity to send alarm notification out, but not to allow inbound 2-way voice? I have Verizon LTE modem and Broadband backup.
Two-Way is over cellular but I am showing 3/6 bars at the moment which should be adequate for connection. I see that the call connected successfully but the operator was unable to hear anyone on your end.
I thought I had setup account a couple years back so they had to contact me first before sending out fire department, and monitoring company said I had - but that they couldn’t reach me on 2-way voice
Two-Way Voice is active on your account and would be the first means of communication during an alarm event. Default procedure for a Fire Alarm with Two-Way Voice active is as follows:
Call Two-Way, if no answer
Call Location, if no answer or no Location,
Dispatch Fire,
Call Remaining Contact List
I tried getting monitoring company to test 2-way voice again with me on the phone but they wouldn’t.
They are supposed to. I am having a representative look into this because that’s how you test Two-Way Voice. Typically, you would just call monitoring operators and tell them you want to test Two-Way Voice. Operators will walk you through the process.
Also, what should I do if I’m at home again during a false alarm? Its always a scramble to go grab the step stool to reach up and disconnect the detector before alarm signal sent out.
You can add a Location number to the call order. While this is supposed to be for landlines any number can be put into that field.
This number would be called in all events where the premise number is contacted. Due to the nature of fire, we don’t recommend a cell being listed as a premise number, but if necessary one can be put in that field. Numbers are updated in the Professional Monitoring tab in the System Manager feature of your Surety account.
Default Monitoring procedures can be found here:
We can also create special instructions to have a cell phone reached out to prior to dispatch for Fire Alarm events only. Just send us a Private Message with the name and number and we can add this to the account.