Monthly Broadband Alternatives for Security System

My mum has dementia and has recently (literally) ripped out the City Wide Alarm. We only had the alarm installed for the door sensor as she has sadly started to wander and leave the front door open :-(

So, I'm looking at some less intrusive alternatives. Before this we had a two week trial of Just Checking - which was great but it costs £90 a month which is far more than I can afford.

The problem I'm having is that everything requires broadband/wi fi - which of course my 80-year-old doesn't have. It seems daft to be paying £18 a month for what will only be used to monitor a door.(though will do that if need be - it's a lot less than £90 a month) for what will be very limited use.

Basically, I am wanted to install something like the Nest/Hive Door Sensor so I know if my mum has gone wandering and also if the door is left open. So, does anyone know roughly how many GB of data it would take to have something like that on (i.e. monitoring 24/7) and secondly, is there an alternative (but it has to be reliable for obvious reasons) to having to buy in a broadband package - as this is the only thing it would be used for.

Thanks in advance for any advice or recommendations

What do you wnat the device to do ? Some alarms/Gsm units can send you a text if the door is opened by either a standard phone line or pay as you go sim

Basically exactly what you have said. So, a text alert or something I can check online to see if the door has been opened or left open.

You say a PAYG SIM but my mum doesn't even have a computer. The Just Checking thing didn't need a router in the house but I was able to login to their site and see if the door was left open etc.

If you know of systems that can just link esp to the normal landline or can just be accessed by my phone on the web, could you let me know what they are and I can look them up, please? Am wanting to get something in place asap for obvious safety reasons.

Thanks for your help so far

monkeygirl

Basically exactly what you have said. So, a text alert or something I can check online to see if the door has been opened or left open.

 

You say a PAYG SIM but my mum doesn't even have a computer. The Just Checking thing didn't need a router in the house but I was able to login to their site and see if the door was left open etc.

 

If you know of systems that can just link esp to the normal landline or can just be accessed by my phone on the web, could you let me know what they are and I can look them up, please? Am wanting to get something in place asap for obvious safety reasons.

 

Thanks for your help so far

 

monkeygirl

Without an internet connection, or some form of SIM for Mobile Broadband, there's no way to 'log in' remotely and have a look...

You can't "just link to the landline" there needs to be an internet connection...

How about this sort of thing?

http://www.quicksafe.co.uk/battery-powered-alarms-c31/express-gsm-gsm-door-alarm-p80

Having had a quick look at the manual, you need to activate the lock via the keychain magnet whcih I assume you would do on leaving the property and it might be best if your mum was somewhere else whilst it is fitted. It would also appear that you would have to buy a sim card to install to the device for it to make sms alerts - cheapest option would be to use GiffGaff as a topup is £10 for 3 months with calls and texts to other GiffGaff numbers being free.

I found the manual very technically challenging to read!

http://www.quicksafe.co.uk/downloads/1414502212alpha-polus-manual.pdf