PhoneWatch launches fire and carbon monoxide alarms

Home security firm PhoneWatch has extended its smart monitoring service to include fire and carbon monoxide alarms.

The move comes as research conducted for PhoneWatch revealed 73 per cent of those surveyed were concerned about the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning, but less than half had installed an alarm. Meanwhile, only 14 per cent of those with smoke alarms carried out regular tests, despite fire ranking on the list of concerns for 80 per cent of those surveyed.

The service is part of PhoneWatch’s new range of products, which includes the smart security system that pairs motion sensors with cameras to protect your home. When the motion sensors are activated, the cameras capture images that are sent to the monitoring centre. The alarm can also be armed and disarmed via PhoneWatch’s smartphone app.

“It’s new technology deployed since we were taken over,” explained Eoin Dunne, chief executive of PhoneWatch. The smoke and carbon monoxide monitors are always on, and will send an alert to the monitoring centre if it detects a threat.

“If we detect anything – intrusion, fire, smoke – we will contact the emergency services,” Mr Dunne said.

Upgraded service

To avoid false alarms, the company also uses the cameras built into its sensors to verify the presence of a fire, for example. “If there isn’t verification, we will ring the householder. If there’s no response, then we would ring the emergency services.”

The upgraded service is available to all customers, but those who have the older systems would require an upgrade to add the new sensors to their monitoring service. That would cost €299, plus the monthly monitoring fee, instead of €699 for a new install of the system.

Some 85,000 customers signed up to the older systems. Originally owned by Eircom, PhoneWatch was set up in 1991. The telecoms firm sold the home monitoring business to Norwegian firm Sector Alarm Corporation in 2013 for an undisclosed sum, after it decided PhoneWatch was not a core part of its business.

PhoneWatch has been expanding its business in Ireland. In 2014, the company announced it would expand its operations here, adding 230 jobs, and began its search for a new HQ. It currently employs more than 200 people in Ireland.