What to do › Security or burglar alarm

A security or burglar alarm on a copper line

Many alarm panels report to the monitoring center over the phone line. Most can switch to a cellular or internet communicator.

First: is the line on copper?

Ask your phone company: “Is this line on copper or on fiber?” They can see it on the account.
A corded phone that kept working through a power outage, with no battery backup, usually runs over copper.
If the phone line plugs into a Verizon Fios box (an optical network terminal) on a wall or in the basement, the line already runs over fiber, and a copper notice may not apply to it.
Lines from a cable company or a mobile company don't run over Verizon's copper.

The plan

Call your alarm company
Tell them the phone line may be on copper, and give them the date in Verizon's notice for your office.
Ask for a test after the change
Ask the alarm company to send a test signal to the monitoring center and confirm it arrived.
If your insurer asked for a monitored alarm
Send the insurer the alarm company's note that monitoring still works.

Each office's page shows the date in Verizon's notice. Verizon says it may ask customers to move “well before” that date, so it pays to start early.

What to ask

Does our panel report over the phone line?
Can it take a cellular communicator, or report over the internet?
Will the monthly monitoring price change?

After the change

The monitoring center confirms a test signal.
Arm and disarm the alarm once to make sure the keypad still works normally.

From MeiSIM USA

MeiSIM USA doesn't sell alarm communicators or monitoring.

In New Jersey?

Check whether Verizon has filed a notice for the office that serves your line, and get an email if it changes.

Check a New Jersey number

The other plans

Verizon's New Jersey copper retirement notice names the alternatives itself: “VoIP service from Verizon or a cable company, or fixed or mobile wireless service from multiple providers including Verizon Wireless.”