Update Your Monitoring Center Response Time Support Article With Missing Details (like, how long it takes for them to call you...)

Hi Worthing,

We did already respond to these questions in a separate thread, but we will also answer here.

As you know, there is a grace period after each alarm wherein a user can disarm the system to cancel the alarm event and the dispatch sequence. This is an important feature for preventing false dispatch. We deliberately do not publicize the exact time, to avoid giving would-be-intruders a target. However, that number is based on more than a decade of false alarm data from our customers, so we can strike a balance between giving you time to react, and sending help ASAP. It is also important to emphasize that the grace period applies only to intruder type (entry, motion, and glassbreak) alarms. Fire, environmental, and panic alarms do not have a grace period.

The “2 minute” figure that you mention refers to the Alarm Texts feature, which runs in parallel to the phone call sequence. After an alarm event is received, an SMS text message is sent to your phone immediately, and you have those 2 minutes to respond. So the phone call would happen at the same time that the Alarm Texts timer is still going on. And if you respond to the SMS, that will bypass the grace period and the phone call to your primary contacts, potentially getting police dispatch to your location even faster.