ADT stops working when using Vonage

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My ADT security system can no longer call out after implementing Vonage. ADT stated I needed a digital to analog converter or packetizer. Anybody know what they are talking about, how to install, and where to buy? Thanks.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 04, 2005 Posts: 1

The ADT panel has 4 leads for the Telco attachment.
2 leads are to connect the incoming line and the other 2 leads are
to continue on to all of the other phones in the house.
The theory is that if a burglar were to take a phone off the hook,
this would prevent the system from dialing ADT so by putting the
ADT system between the street and the house, it can switch the
house phones off while dialing to prevent phones off the hook from interferring.
Mine had hot phone lines connected to both the "in" and the "out" and on top of that, they had the "in" and "out" leads reversed between the ADT ciruit board and the RJ45 junction box for the incoming line.
I disconnected the street thereby disabling all of the hot leads but I connected my Vonage to the leads that were the "in" on the junction box but connected to the "out" leads internally.
When my ADT system attempted to dial, it switched off the incoming hot leads and could not dial.
After I fixed this, I had already called Vonage Tech Support to have them change my packetization to 10 so I can't say for sure if it would have worked after fixing the wiring problem and before changing the packetization, but changing that setting was easy enough for the Vonage support guy to do and this setting is listed with all types of modem problems including TiVo and Brinks home security systems so you should probably have this setting changed anyway.
Good Luck !
:- )

Posts: 18

clifton wrote:

The ADT panel has 4 leads for the Telco attachment.
2 leads are to connect the incoming line and the other 2 leads are
to continue on to all of the other phones in the house.

This is probably why it wasn't working for me. I'll try your suggestion tomorrow and see it it works for me too.

BTW: When I called ADT for help earlier today, they would not give any support for Voip hookups. Instead, they were trying to sell me a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) device.

Posts: 2252

pjgolian wrote:

...they were trying to sell me a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) device.

Thats not such a bad thing. I have it in case my cables are cut (the system can not call out if it does not have dial tone). I had it before Vonage with POTS and still have it.

Posts: 18

Rewired this morning following your suggestion. I did not call to have my packetization set to 10.

I have performed multiple phone tests. All have been successful. I also set off my alarm and it dialed out correctly. ADT called me back. No problems.

Posts: 18

dconnor wrote:

pjgolian wrote:

...they were trying to sell me a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) device.

Thats not such a bad thing. I have it in case my cables are cut (the system can not call out if it does not have dial tone). I had it before Vonage with POTS and still have it.

I agree that it is nice to know that it is an option, but I am disappointed that they presented it as the only option.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 01, 2006 Posts: 1

That did the trick, just switch the 4 wires around on the
R1, T1, R and T
The Apex brain box has the 4 wires in the bottom left and
it showed gray, brown, red, green switched them so it was
red, green, gray and brown and it worked. ADT said that
a "Cell Guard" was needed with Vonage but like the rest
of you I see ADT is "ALL ABOUT THE MONEY"
Thanks to this Forum the alarm system was only down
for a half of a day, with ADT's help who knows how long
it would have taken.
Thanks again to all for the good info!

Mike

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 09, 2006 Posts: 5

I just called ADT tonight to have my system tested. They said it failed and also tried to sell me a cell backup for $199.00 + $4.00 extra for monitoring. My mental security alarm went off when they said that because they were trying to rob me at that point.

I do get a dial tone and no fault indicators on the panel. In the actual system there is the block labeled Ring, Tip, R1, T1. The wires connected to them are Red, Green, Gray, Brown respectively. I disconnected all of them and hooked up Red and Green to an RJ11 jack. I received a dial tone. Then I hooked up Gray and Brown to the RJ11 jack and received no dial tone. This was expected since these, in my findings, are the wires that are supposed to feed a dial tone to the rest of the house. Next I connected Red and Green back to Rin and Tip, connected a couple jumpers to R1 and T1, then connected the jumpers to RJ11 then to a phone. I received a dial tone. So when I yank out Red, the dial tone is gone. This indicated there it is working as desiged.

My question is this, why am I even getting a dial tone if the original phone wiring is in place? Shouldn't I only get a dial tone if a main land line is connected to Ring and Tip? All of the reading I have done points in the direction of the main line going to the ADT system via Ring and Tip and the ADT system then feeds the tone to the rest of the lines in the house through R1 and T1. It seems to me there is a wiring problem here and my system woudn't have worked, even with a land line if I am using the phone or a burglar picks up the phone.

So my theory is that it should work fine as long as I am not on the phone or if a burglar picks up the phone. That would explain the system test failing while I was on the line with ADT. To test the theory I will have to call ADT and have them set off the alarm remotely while I am not on the line.

The fix for this should be that I am going to have to run a line directly from the Vonage adapter to the Ring and Tip. At that pont R1 and T1 will feed that to the rest of the house. Now actually doing this, since my high speed line is at the other end of the house, is to isolate the line that runs from the room where the Vonage adpater to the outside wiring. I would then have to figure out which line runs to the ADT system. If I connect these together I should get a dial tone that ADT system can then distibute to the rest of the house. This should put Vonage in front of the ADT box so the line can be properly seized.

The drawback to this however is that all a burglar would have to do is disconnect either the power to the house or Vonage line all together. The power problem can be handled with getting a UPS which of course could be unplugged anyway as well. The only way around all of this is to hide the equipment very well in an attic or a locked closet somewhere. The are even problems with the land line scenario because all a burglar would have to do is cut the main phone line and then you have no protection except a loud as hell alarm that would go unnoticed since all of your neighbors are at work. I am starting to wonder if all of this work is even worth the effort.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 14, 2006 Posts: 3

the issue is the type of signaling between the alarm panel and the alarm monitoring company. To have this work using Voip you need to have an alarm panel use "contact ID". This is a DTMF format was will transmitted over the Voip line.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 09, 2006 Posts: 5

And how exactly do you get your panel to use contact ID?