Important Information Regarding CMS Alarm Notifcations
Posted By Michael GorisHi DIYers! We have some important information that is applicable for anyone with central station monitoring service from Alarm Grid. Our alarm monitoring partner, Criticom Monitoring Services (CMS), has announced some important changes regarding their text and email notifications.
Starting December 1st, 2019, all text message notifications and automated notifications from Criticom will come from the short code 60281. We recommend marking this number with your phone service provider so that it is not blocked as part of anti-spam measures. Additionally, all automated email notifications from Criticom will come from noreply@myalarms.com. You should mark this email so that any incoming messages do not end up in your spam folder.
Additionally, CMS has alerted us that blocked calls to customers have been reported. This is due to anti-spam measures put into place by phone companies. As an Alarm Grid customer, it is crucial that you are able to receive incoming phones calls from CMS at all times. Failure to answer these calls may result in unnecessary emergency dispatch. We have actually discussed this subject at length before in a previous blog post.
We recommend saving ALL contact numbers for CMS in your contacts list. It is also recommended that you contact your phone carrier directly and ask them to allow incoming calls from these numbers. We also understand that some customers may have downloaded third party apps that will detect and block incoming toll-free and/or believed "spam" numbers. If you have one of these apps, you should delete it, or adjust its settings so that CMS phone numbers are not blocked.
As a reference, the five (5) phone numbers listed below are associated with Criticom Monitoring Services, and they should not be blocked or ignored under any circumstance:
- Longwood, FL: (800) 432-1429
- Manasquan, NJ: (800) 631-2299
- Cypress, CA: (714) 373-7000; (800) 468-4640; (800) 482-9800
Keep in mind that you may not always receive incoming phone calls from the same CMS phone number. In the event that one monitoring center is temporarily taken offline for any reason, any incoming alarms will be automatically re-routed to a different monitoring center. This redundancy helps ensure that customers always get the help they need when alarm events occur. For that reason, make sure to save all five (5) of the CMS phone numbers listed above.
You may also want to sign-up for text notifications from CMS. Text messages sent from CMS are sent from the CMS secure short code that should not be blocked under any circumstance. Remember, this short code will be 60281 starting December 1st, 2019. This number should be saved as a contact in your phone so that you can quickly recognize any incoming message as being associated with your security system and/or monitoring service.
If you want to learn more about our monitoring plans that include central station service, we recommend checking out our alarm monitoring page. If you have any questions, you should email us at support@alarmgrid.com. Remember that our team responds to emails during our regular support hours of 9am to 8pm ET M-F. We look forward to hearing from you and answering any questions you have about monitoring service.