Most security systems will give you the option of self-monitoring or professional monitoring, and you should know your options and the associated costs before you sign a contract. Even self-monitoring systems sometimes charge a small monthly or annual fee. Professional monitoring is more expensive and is usually billed monthly, but you get 24/7 monitoring — the extra cost could be worth the peace of mind you receive.
The next question is how the system communicates with the monitoring station. Older systems used the home telephone line. The old copper-based telephone network was quite reliable and nearly always worked, even during power failures. The major weakness was that it was often easy for a burglar to find the telephone line running into a home and cut it, disabling the phone and the alarm. Today, many homes use a cable television or internet connection for telephone service. Many others simply use their cell phones and don’t have any kind of landline. This complicates matters a little. Except for older systems that still use the copper-based telephone network, there are two primary ways a system communicates with the monitoring station: a cellular communications network or your home’s Wi-Fi system, which relies on your internet connection.