History of alarms

The first alarm was built in the 1850s. It was a basic electric contact made when a door was opened. Obviously, we have come a long way, but in the 1890s there was a very good use of tape dialers, thanks to the inventions of the time, and advent of the telephone. Once the alarm was triggered, an automated message was distributed to the police or fire stations. It wasn't until later, when the computer had entered the picture, that more sophisticated security systems were available. Systems could now detect what kind of alert and by what type of intrusion or emergency, through the monitoring centers. Computers also made it possible to cover an entire network of accounts across the U.S. with a single monitoring location. 

Tape dialers are still used to this day at essentially little to no cost, however, most of the calls are false alarms resulting in fines. That's just one of the many reasons for monitoring centers, they are the third party verifying the reports going to the police, fire, and emergency medical professionals. Having a monitoring company reduces overall costs and headache while increasing reliability, which is crucial for security systems. Reliability and accuracy of reports are paramount in the industry, that’s why it’s good to stick with reliable monitoring companies and ones that have numerous monitoring locations for added security.