VOIP and How It Affects Your Alarm System
What's the problem? You've dropped your land line, or you've just gotten digital VOIP phone service from an Internet VOIP provider, such as Time Warner Cable, and now your security system no longer works.Â
How did this happen? Why did my security system stop working just because I dropped my land line? First, a little history. Land line telephone systems are part of the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), the analog service with copper wiring that is the direct descendant of the original telephone system courtesy of Alexander Graham Bell.
A traditional telephone service using an analog POTS line is not the same thing as VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), the phone service provided by Time Warner Cable (and others) that uses your Internet connection. But how does this affect my security system? Security systems are designed to communicate over an analog POTS line. But, the telephone world is rapidly moving toward VOIP (voice over IP), a digital communications system. VOIP is often part of a 3-in-1 package deal from Time Warner Cable that typically includes cable TV and Internet. The problem with using VOIP for your security system is, unlike a traditional analog land-line (POTS) phone service, the VOIP system has to convert the analog alarm signals from the security panel into digital signals, and then sends them out across the Internet as data packets. Once in the Internet, the data packets are routed through the path with the least traffic. Because these data packets are separate, they may not arrive at Sonitrol’s Central Station at the same time, or in the same order they were sent in. To picture this, imagine that all the words in this paragraph were disassembled, and then reassembled in random order. If the words of each sentence were put back together randomly, the paragraph would make no sense, right? The data signals transmitted by your alarm panel are like the words in the paragraph. If the signals aren't received in the proper order by the equipment at Sonitrol, it could mean that something as urgent as a fire, burglary, or panic alarm would not be received at our Central Station. Consequently, with a VOIP system, Sonitrol cannot guarantee that your security system would be able to reliably communicate alarm signals to our Central Station. It might work some -- or even most of the time. But, for a security system, that's not good enough. It has to work virtually 100% of the time. So, how am I supposed to deal with this? There are a couple of options available that will enable you to use your existing security panel: Option #1 - Keep your existing POTS/Land line to the security panel active. This is generally the least expensive option. Rather than completely lose your business, the phone company (AT&T, BellSouth) often will agree to keep your POTS line active for a reduced monthly fee, often just $10 or $15. Give AT&T a call and ask them about this option. Option #2 - We have a device, called an Uplink Module, that will fix this issue. The Uplink Module is a primary wireless communicator that sends alarm data to Sonitrol's Central Station over the cellular network. An additional benefit is, because the device communicates wirelessly, the possibility of an intruder cutting your phone line is eliminated. The Uplink Module is a good and cost-effective solution.
