Security systems typically communicate with alarm monitoring centers using
a telephone connection. Security systems will check in with the alarm
monitoring center with a diagnostic signal at a predetermined
interval--typically once per day. When a security system is connected to
a Voice-over-IP service (using Broadband Internet), rather than a
standard telephone line, the opportunity exists to poll in real-time the
status of the connection, and alert the owner (or alert the alarm
monitoring center) that the customer's connection has been broken. The
present invention offers a system and technique for monitoring a security
system connected using a Voice-over-IP connection, in real time, and
alerting the owner of the security system, or the alarm-monitoring
center, when the connection is broken. This alert can be used, for
example, to issue a telephone call to the police, informing them of the
breach of line integrity and possible compromise of the premise.