PRTG is one of the most widely used network monitoring tools in the world. Thousands of sensors, dozens of devices, a constant stream of metrics. But what happens when a sensor crosses a critical threshold at night?
It sends an email. Maybe an SMS. If your phone is on silent, nobody finds out until morning.
Can PRTG Make Phone Calls?
No — not by default.
Paessler states this clearly in their own documentation: PRTG has no built-in phone call capability. The supported notification channels are:
- SMS
- Push notification (mobile app)
- HTTP Action (webhook)
Voice calls are not on that list. But HTTP Action is exactly where the solution begins.
What Is HTTP Action and Why Does It Matter?
PRTG HTTP Action allows PRTG to send an HTTP POST request to an external service when a sensor triggers an alarm. That request can be pointed at any service. Alertalk receives it and calls the numbers you have defined.
How it works: PRTG Sensor Alarm → HTTP Action → Alertalk API → Phone Call
The alarm message is read out using AI-powered TTS. You hear which sensor triggered, the device name, and the current status — all before you touch a keyboard. If you do not answer, it calls again. It keeps going until the issue is resolved or you pick up.
PRTG Notification Channel Comparison
| Channel | Night Reliability | PRTG Support |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Built-in | |
| SMS | Medium | Built-in |
| Push Notification | Medium | App required |
| Voice Phone Call | High | Via HTTP Action |
Push notifications work — but if your phone is on silent or the app is closed in the background, you will still miss it. Voice calls are not affected by any of that.
Which PRTG Alarms Need Voice Notification?
Not every sensor needs a phone call. But there are situations where managing alerts over email or SMS carries real risk:
- Critical network device unreachable (router, switch, firewall)
- Internet connection down
- Server down
- Disk usage critical threshold exceeded
- Service not responding
These are incidents that require a response within minutes. The on-call person needs to know immediately.
Why Email and SMS Are Not Enough
In a monitoring environment, dozens or hundreds of notifications can arrive in a single day. At that volume, alert fatigue becomes unavoidable — teams start ignoring notifications, and critical ones get lost in the noise.
SMS is slightly better but still not reliable enough. A single vibration, silent mode, carrier delays. A single vibration at 3:00 AM might go completely unnoticed.
Voice calls are different. The phone rings. If you do not answer, it rings again. It does not stop until you pick up.
Who Is This For?
System administrators, NOC teams and MSP companies benefit most from this setup. It makes a particular difference for teams without a dedicated night shift or those running a small on-call rotation.
Enterprise teams solve this gap with tools like iLert or Derdack — but these require complex setup, escalation policy management and significant cost. Alertalk delivers the same core functionality in a much simpler and more affordable way.
Setting Up Alertalk with PRTG
The setup on the PRTG side is a single HTTP Action notification template. For the step-by-step guide with screenshots:
PRTG Integration Documentation
The guide covers:
- Creating a webhook key in Alertalk
- Defining a Notification Template in PRTG
- Configuring the HTTP Action
- Sending a test notification and verifying