My Home Alarm System

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 06, 2008 Posts: 4

My home alarm system has to be attached to the phone line. Vonage has went down three days in a row which sets my alarm system off. My neighbors are ready to kill me. Someone is suppose to come out tomorrow. It's getting frustrating.

Posts: 174 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jun 12, 2006 Posts: 174

I am sure it is frustrating for both you and your neighbors. First, Vonage is specifically NOT recommended for use with traditional phone line based alarm systems, they say so themselves (http://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=501&category=124&nav=102). That said, there is a seperate part of this site dedicated to things like alarms that you connect to your phone, so you should take a look at the "Fax, Tivo, and Alarms" community here and see if you find any tips or help!

Good luck!!

Posts: 94 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Sep 15, 2006 Posts: 94

Yes, you are going to have problems using Vonage with an alarm. The way Vonage (or any other VOIP) compresses communication means that your alarm will not always make it through -- not something you want in an alarm.

Two alternatives are nextalarm.com and alarm.com. The former uses broadband, and the latter uses a cell phone. We have had the latter for 2 years or so now, and can highly recommend it.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 06, 2008 Posts: 4

for posting back. i think we are going to have to let vonage go. we already have our system installed and the first 3 months paid for.

Posts: 4750 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4750

I agree with the other posters. However, I'd also have a talk with the alarm company. Having problems getting a system to call in successfully with Vonage is not unusual. Having a phone failure cause the alarm to go off is, on the other hand, definitely abnormal. There may be a switch that the alarm company can set to prevent that.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 06, 2008 Posts: 4

being a first time home owner, i set the alarm off by accident enough, i dont need any help. lol.

Posts: 4750 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4750

Just so. Been there. Very Happy

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 03, 2007 Posts: 6

I have my alarm system on my Vonage line and it works fine. The wife and daughter have set it off a couple of times recently and the alarm always got through. I suggest you talk to your alarm company and have them set your system for a reporting scheme that works with Vonage. Most alarms have different type of reporting schemes that can be selected depending on the monitoring facility. Curious, why would your alarm be set to sound off an audible alarm because the Vonage has an issue? Most alarms I have seen only display a trouble light or code when the phone line has an issue. Some alarm look for dial tone, while others just check for battery. Vonage will loose dial tone when the internet is down, but battery remains off the ATA.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 05, 2007 Posts: 9

I don't know what type of system you have but what I did was have the alarm co come out and setup a wireless (Cell) box. Instead of using a phone line it uses the cell towers to call in. I find that the respond time is even quicker because it doest have to "Call out" it just sends the signal out.

The bad part of course is that you need to be able to get good reception from the tower and also the unit they use can only tell that a fire or bugular alarm has been tripped but cannot tell you what zone was tripped.

Chris

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 03, 2007 Posts: 6

I have a DSC panel. I like the ability of the alarm co to tell me what zone is alarmed. It allows me to make a decision if the police need to be called or a neighbor. I also did not like the additional cost of the cell service.