Dick

Agreed, but the trust is being tested as technology moves on and largely away from what installers have been used to for many years. There is now another 'breed' in the mix of security and these guys are, on occasions, failing at the first hurdle to make the hardware secure via inadequate software programming. Companies using independent certified security experts to give their equipment a seal of approval should be the only way forward now if trust is to be maintained.

All things being equal yes, but this has to be different from now on in. It is only the beginning too where security is concerned if we go down the route of the ever popular automated equipment.

It has to be the manufacturer for allowing such inferior equipment to be released. Everyone else down the line has worked on trust.

Bag and cat spring to mind though. Things might and should change. As an end user I'd be livid with the findings too. Having said that, I'm not an end user of said equipment and I'm not surprised with what CG has released.

I have had no problem at all with a Pyronix V2 GSM dialler. It was that or the Menvier SD3 offered to me by my installer.

You can't get any cheaper than 3.6p a text that is charged for use only and not on a rolling contract basis that you pay for regardless of use. Also, as far as alerts are concerned, no airtime provider shuts down a sim within a day or week through no use so why the unnecessary tests if you 'test' it yourself by using it several times a day or even a couple of times a month say? Your top up is directly dependant on use too.

I think the expiry you refer to is the fact you put £10 on the sim and if you don't use it within the 30 days you lose the money not the use of the sim. You can still get PAYG sims and top up what you like (in £5 increments) but you don't need to keep topping it up until it has gone. Where security is concerned an automatic top up is worth having where the airtime provider will automatically add funds when your balance reaches a set minimum. I use Tesco Mobile who use 02 which has by far the best reception where I am. I have my balance set to top up £10 automatically when the amount drops to £10. A £10 top up actually costs £9 set up this way so texts work out even cheaper than the standard 4p a text. I use my automation several times a day and of course calls to the dialler are free should I wish to go that route. If I never used my dialler it is programmed to do a test text at least once a month to keep the sim active. This is easily managed online too so really isn't a fuss.

Tried it, too many false alarms from the herons landing thinking it was dinner time.

I don't think you've gone far enough, Phil. What about external PIRs connected to your CCTV that email you on an event allowing you to view it on your phone and if needs be trigger your siren via your phone before they even get near your Vipers, let alone indoors? Then there are several guards on post....

My installation has been fine too with every bit of equipment in the loft where it was professionally installed. I do remotely monitor and get a fair range of temperature fluctuations, as to be expected, but nothing has been affected in years, batteries included. I couldn't justify the amount of room necessary to house it elsewhere unless it was a sound proofed dedicated room.

It's extremely popular with women at parties too, Carl, especially when recited word for word.

There either is or isn't reinforcement but if there isn't you'd have thought it was an insurance stipulation at the very least. Who knows? I suppose with the farce that followed it is largely irrelevant and they shouldn't have been able to get that far in the first place.

Talking of the Hatton Garden heist, how was that concrete allowed in the first place without reinforcements when it was 'guarding' extreme valuables?

As like many threads, SWB, they can go off on a tangent and could be material to start several other threads.Exactly, the response element will always be the weak link regardless of the signalling. .

I'm certainly not saying a GSM dialler is the best way, James, far from it. I'm merely playing devils' advocate by saying no system is without potential flaws.

The next bit can't possibly be, well it could be but I've yet to see a robot turning up at a premises.

Signalling, yes, acting on that signalling isn't quite as technologically advanced though.

Indeed but I'd be interested to know how many ARC's have got it wrong or if it went wrong further along the chain. The point is, nothing is fail safe.

Quite agree and that is where using the sim for more than just notifications, i.e. automation, helps to recognise any problem sooner.Anything is prone to failure with some things more than others. Let's face it, if the Police fail to respond to an RTC report where 2 people were sadly left to die there are weaknesses all round, at times.

In my case though, it is only a month if I can't be bothered to swap the sim from another provider which takes minutes. Or in some cases a multi- network sim might be used and the issue with Vodafone isn't even a problem in the first place.

You separate a dialler from a GSM 'dialler' which is understandable. To me, as a user, my GSM unit is a dialler and I'd not thought it as any other having not experienced a PTSN dialler. I do get all the different messages via text for faults, tamper etc and any power issues are usually flagged up as well via email courtesy of my DM informing me a camera has gone down.

So you're saying nothing is actually as guaranteed as maybe thought or just a particular communication method?

Rephrased a lot better. Just to add my system is way too complicated for me to have programmed it all. My installer had worked on it for months on and off expanding it to outbuildings and increasing the amount of this and that. The dialler was largely fun to see how many things we could automate and now I wouldn't be without it. As long as I have access to a phone I can operate all things necessary to come and go.

As an installer I can see your predicament and agree with the fact there can really only be one option if you were asked. That said, I'm not sure I'd trust a monitoring station to be on the ball, having heard a few stories.