# Alternatives to Eircom Phonewatch



## test123 (10 Jul 2013)

We have moved to a new house that currently has Eircom Phonewatch installed, but is currently not activated.

They have quoted us €25 pm for activating & having a monitored alarm with them.

Are there any cheaper alternatives out there, could we use the existing eircom alarm system & set it up with some other provider so that it sounds an alarm and texts us if there is a likely break in?

Thanks in advance


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## emeralds (10 Jul 2013)

We have just ended a 3 year free monitoring deal with Phonewatch. They were asking €25 per month for monitoring and maintenance (2 visits per year). I asked for - and was given, eventually - a monitoring only price which is €16.25 per month. No maintenance visits so if anything goes wrong we will pay a call out charge. However, for the final year of the free deal I signed up to their Service Plus system (€150 for the year). Last month I had a full system check and had all the batteries replaced. The engineer reckoned that would be sufficient for 3 to 4 years.


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## MrEarl (11 Jul 2013)

emeralds said:


> ... I asked for - and was given, eventually - a monitoring only price which is €16.25 per month. No maintenance visits so if anything goes wrong we will pay a call out charge.....




Hello,

Like Emeralds, I also pressed them and after suggesting I was going to look for alternatives (I think I recall ADT offering a monitored alarm service) they also provided me with the same deal as above.

We've been on this deal for about 2-3 years now, no problems.  At one point we needed to call an engineer out to get a battery in a sensor replaced, so did them all at that stage - think they were costing something like €5 per battery, can't recall the call out charge but no doubt in my mind, paying for 2 "check ups" a year is crazy stuff and clearly, where Eircom Phonewatch make some of their profit !

Just put pressure on them to reduce the cost (and please let us all know how you get on, whether you get a discount or move elsewhere, so others can learn from this thread in the future)


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## Bill Struth (15 Jul 2013)

test123 said:


> We have moved to a new house that currently has Eircom Phonewatch installed, but is currently not activated.
> 
> They have quoted us €25 pm for activating & having a monitored alarm with them.
> 
> ...


You could have the alarm programmed so that it texts you instead of contacting a monitoring company if it goes off.

You could download the manual for the alarm and try re-programming it yourself, or you could get an alarm expert to do it for you. 

I re-programmed mine myself, and now no more monthly bill from eircom.

edit: I got great help from this company on re-programming the alarm:http://www.altor.ie/


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