Phonewatch alarm with no subscription

kkelly77

A friend of mine has purchased a house recently. The house has an Eircom Phonewatch alarm system.

Can the Phonewatch alarms be used just as a house alarm with no monitoring or monthly subscription? Thanks.

Garrett81

kkelly77 wrote: »

A friend of mine has purchased a house recently. The house has an Eircom Phonewatch alarm system.

Can the Phonewatch alarms be used just as a house alarm with no monitoring or monthly subscription? Thanks.

No mate , you would have to pay, I got stung only recently. I got it installed a year ago and paid €400, but was told after a year I could opt out. But they never told me that when I would opt out they deactivated the system, and also told me that the €400 only covered the installation. Sneaky mofos !!

Garrett81

kkelly77 wrote: »

A friend of mine has purchased a house recently. The house has an Eircom Phonewatch alarm system.

Can the Phonewatch alarms be used just as a house alarm with no monitoring or monthly subscription? Thanks.

No mate , you would have to pay, I got stung only recently. I got it installed a year ago and paid €400, but was told after a year I could opt out. But they never told me that when I would opt out they deactivated the system, and also told me that the €400 only covered the installation. Sneaky mofos !!

kkelly77

Garrett81 wrote: »

No mate , you would have to pay, I got stung only recently. I got it installed a year ago and paid €400, but was told after a year I could opt out. But they never told me that when I would opt out they deactivated the system, and also told me that the €400 only covered the installation. Sneaky mofos !!

At least it's installed I suppose, the only cost would be the monitoring.

Still a sneaky business model though.

Cerco

kkelly77 wrote: »

A friend of mine has purchased a house recently. The house has an Eircom Phonewatch alarm system.

Can the Phonewatch alarms be used just as a house alarm with no monitoring or monthly subscription? Thanks.

Depends on the type installed. If it is one of the older models then you can use it unmonitored or monitored by an alternative system provider.
If you provide more details on the system then some of the professionals on here can guide you.

I understand the newer systems are restricted to Phonewatch only..

There are quite a few threads here regarding Phonewatch alarms.

kkelly77

Cerco wrote: »

Depends on the type installed. If it is one of the older models then you can use it unmonitored or monitored by an alternative system provider.
If you provide more details on the system then some of the professionals on here can guide you.

I understand the newer systems are restricted to Phonewatch only..

There are quite a few threads here regarding Phonewatch alarms.

Photo details attached. 2007 install date. Version 3.

Mr. G

kkelly77 wrote: »

Photo details attached. 2007 install date. Version 3.

That system is not one of their newer models and can have monitoring disabled and used. Have a look through this forum and you'll find instructions.

Most alarm installers could also take this over, reprogramme it and monitor it also if needed.

kub

kkelly77 wrote: »

Photo details attached. 2007 install date. Version 3.

The good news is you have a GE Simon panel, yes any reputable installer can connect this to any other monitoring station, set it up for self notification or just switch off polling faults.

kkelly77

kub wrote: »

The good news is you have a GE Simon panel, yes any reputable installer can connect this to any other monitoring station, set it up for self notification or just switch off polling faults.

I think the homeowner just wants to use it as a stand alone alarm if possible.

El Legion

I moved into a house 2 years ago as a tenant and it had phonewatch installed. Not sure if the owner who was renting it out for the first time had it monitored.

In anycase I was using it as a standalone alarm with no cost. After a few weeks I paid upfront for a yearly monitoring, phonewatch came out and Put a new black box on front of house snd added a GSM module to the alarm ( think it was an old version ( i can post pic if need)

After the first year was up i did not renew, they sent a few letters about signing up again etc. i rang them up and they said they were going to come out and get the equipment. I said fine, im skint and i am a tenent.

They never contacted me again, i have been using it for last year as a stand alone alarm with no cost.

I am moving out in a few weeks to a new house i have bought, i have went with HKC in new house with all in all I am happy with.

kkelly77

El Legion wrote: »

I moved into a house 2 years ago as a tenant and it had phonewatch installed. Not sure if the owner who was renting it out for the first time had it monitored.

In anycase I was using it as a standalone alarm with no cost. After a few weeks I paid upfront for a yearly monitoring, phonewatch came out and Put a new black box on front of house snd added a GSM module to the alarm ( think it was an old version ( i can post pic if need)

After the first year was up i did not renew, they sent a few letters about signing up again etc. i rang them up and they said they were going to come out and get the equipment. I said fine, im skint and i am a tenent.

They never contacted me again, i have been using it for last year as a stand alone alarm with no cost.

I am moving out in a few weeks to a new house i have bought, i have went with HKC in new house with all in all I am happy with.

Do you have to make any changes to use it as a stand alone alarm?

altor

kkelly77 wrote: »

Do you have to make any changes to use it as a stand alone alarm?

That system can work as a standalone alarm the way it is.
If you get communication errors you would need the monitoring station phone numbers deleted from engineer mode.