Alarm monitoring is quick and detailed communication between your home security system and the central station of your security provider. Your control panel registers an emergency event and sends a signal to the central monitoring station, where the appropriate authorities are notified and sent to your home.

The technical specifics may be slightly different for each security provider, but the basics of alarm monitoring is similar in any home security system. Your system control panel is the center of a network of sensors, which may include window or door sensors, motion detectors, tamper sensors on the telephone box, or specialized temperature, flood, and smoke detectors. When your system is armed and any of these sensors are triggered, a signal is sent to the monitoring station-typically via your telephone line, although some alarm monitoring systems also offer alternate or backup transmission options.

The first signal sent by your control panel will alert monitoring personnel at the central station, who will call to notify you and confirm whether it's a real emergency or a false trigger. If you don't respond, the alarm monitoring service contacts the proper agency to dispatch emergency personnel to your address. Some security systems offer additional features, such as immediate alarms, which don't depend upon a confirmation call or silent alarms that don't alert intruders and give them a chance to disable the system before the follow-up signal is sent.