A fixed station monitor reports by telephone and there can be either real time or a once a day report depending on how much the monitoring agency is willing to pay.

Lower cost voice recognition monitors don't require anything but a telephone and the client is called at random times during the day to see if they answer the phone (call forwarding is turned off). Their supervisor is notified if they don't answer.

GPS monitors means the GPS coordinates of the client are frequently updated and either reported by radio or recorded in a portable recording device which is then connected to a telephone and downloaded once a day.  

Tattletale monitors are an appropriate jail alternative for some nonviolent offenders on pretrial release or serving an alternate sentence. They are not appropriate for violent offenders or  repeat offenders.

Our jail uses GPS monitors so that persons who work outside the county can be placed on work release. This provides a way to check that they don't make side trips in going to and from work and that they stay at work all day. Community based correction also uses monitors for supervision of probationers, parolees and sometimes for persons on supervised pretrial release. They have had GPS monitors for a number of years but they seldom used them because they are very expensive and clients have been known to cut them off and throw them away. In my opinion the GPS monitor salespersons are much better than their immature product.