How Does an Alarm Dialer Work?

Change of State

• According to the home security website AutoDialer-Alarm, an autodialer monitors a security system for a change of state; depending on the system capabilities, changes of state may include smoke detection, doors or windows opening, glass breaking or movement in a room. In some systems, the alarm central unit detects the change of state and triggers the auto-dialer.

Telephone Connection

• In a standard security system, the autodialer connects to an analog telephone line and uses standard dual-tone multi-frequency, DTMF, sounds, similar to those that a desktop telephone generates, to dial a pre-programmed list of phone numbers. Some autodialers simply dial the number and begin playing a message, but some can detect an answer and allow interaction with the user.

Considerations

• According to the home security website Top Home Security Info, autodialers do not contact monitoring centers. Instead, the devices dial a list of programmed numbers and deliver messages indicating the system status and any detected violations.