There was a time when a cellular backup was installed in a commercial environment if you were concerned someone would cut the phone line and defeat the system or a residential home that was on a farm or remote location. You didn’t have to worry about neighborhoods with postage stamp yards where people were right on top of each other. What is happening to cell backups is they are becoming not just a backup, but the primary communication for the system. Everyone is getting rid of their analog phone lines because they are tired of paying $40 – $80 a month for old technology. Everyone is going to digital phone service or getting rid of their home phones completely.
The cellular backup that we use is designed by Honeywell to connect to the control panel. When the alarm goes off, the same information that would have traveled through the phone line goes through cellular towers and sends a signal from here, and comes back to our central station. It does all of this just as fast as if it would have traveled through the copper phone lines.
A cellular backup adds $16/mo. to your bill, but that’s the best $16 you will spend each month for insurance that if your phone line is cut, your system will still work, especially if you can eliminate a $50/mo. phone line bill because of it. This product is here to stay; we use 4G radios that work great and are lightning-fast. I can remember when cellular backups used to cost $400, but that has now reduced to only $200. It’s a great product; no one can cut the phone line and defeat your alarm system anymore.