Central Station Jargon

Occasionally we find ourselves talking to a customer about their alarm monitoring and using the jargon that only we understand in the industry.  I have to catch myself sometimes.  "What's an RP list?," a customer asks.  Oh, I'm sorry, I mean an emergency contact list.  What's an E301 and E608?  Well, that's the central station's way of telling you that your panel had a power outage and now it's sending an abnormal test signal.  Here are answers to some of our customers' most frequent questions.

Q: I just received a call for a phone line trouble, in the middle of the night.  Do I have to take those? 

A: No.  We can tell the central station to only call on trouble signals between 8AM and 5PM.

Q: What are some of the most important signals that require my response?

A: Any ALARM, of course.  In the winter time in Iowa and other cold areas, it's also important to listen for "Low Air" supervisory signals.  If this goes unattended, it could mean frozen pipes and thousands of dollars of water damage.

Q: Do I have to sign a long-term contract for alarm monitoring?

A: Not with us.  Most other monitoring services require at least a 2-year and up to a 10-year commitment.

If you have any other monitoring or central station questions, please call us and ask.