How to test Manual Panic, Fire or Emergency Alarm

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1

I have a POTS line at home I keep around only outbound calls to 911. I don’t even know what the phone number is, I have ringer off due to spam/robocalls.

I’m considering dropping it and relying on Manual Panic, Fire or Emergency 2-way voice on my GC3 panel for emergencies.

Before I do this, how can I test 2-way voice on Manual Panic, Fire or Emergency Alarm functions?

Is it as simple as going into System Manager -> Test my System -> Place Account in Test Mode ? Will anyone answer to test 2-way voice?

2

If seeking to test Two-Way voice, this would be a bit different. The above method will place your account on test mode, but 2-way calls wont be initiated.

If using central station monitoring through Surety, you will want to call Central Station (855-348-0367) operators directly and request that you wish to test two way voice functionality, specifically. Tell them you wish to place the system on Two-Way Voice Test Mode. This will allow you to then activate an alarm locally and go through the two way voice process without the possibility of dispatch if things go awry.

Central station monitoring procedure can be found here as well .

3

So I finally got around to testing… I called Central Station and told them I wanted to do a Two-Way Voice Test.

I pressed Panic first… and there was a crazy loud alarm that went off, It asked for my code so I entered it in. No one ever talked to me via the panel.

So then I tried Emergency - same thing, absurdly loud alarm… entered code, no one contacted me.

What is difference between Panic/Emergency? I just want to make sure these features work should my kids ever require them.

4

Regarding 2-Way Voice, it looks like it is not active on this account.

Looking back it appears that the relevant account was upgraded to Gold (now Surety Home) a couple months ago, and two emails sent by Surety customer service at that time requested confirmation whether 2-Way should be enabled (it is not by default). It doesn’t look like a reply was received so by default 2-way is inactive.

I’m guessing you wish to enable it, but to verify and enable please confirm in reply and I will get that taken care of for you! Let us know if you would like us to place it in 2-Way Test mode for you as well so you can test.

Regarding Panic/Emergency, Panic is a burglary panic alarm resulting in immediate police dispatch. “Emergency” is a medical alarm resulting in 2-Way contact then EMS dispatch.

5

So what should happen when Emergency is pressed?

Last night, it had that horrid alarm blaring. Now that I have 2-way voice active, will that alarm still occur or will I be connected with someone?

Thanks!

6

Application of 2-Way Voice will not affect local sirens, other than the siren will cut out when the 2-Way Connection is made. A siren will still initially go off. The medical emergency button cannot be made silent, only disabled, through programming.

7

I called central station - representative did test with me while on phone.

Panic/Emergency seemed to do same thing (for the test) - both set off the siren and called the central station. In each instance siren rang for ~20 seconds until it was interrupted by 2-way communication. But seems to work now - thanks!