Vonage and ADT alarms

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 03, 2005 Posts: 2

I have my ADT alarm system, and my DISH network receivers working with Vonage. I have the Wireless Linksys Router / Vonage adapter.

The only thing I did with my ADT system, was swap the Tip and Ring connections for the line side and headset side of the connections inside the alarm box. I called ADT and did a full test, i.e. set off my alarm, and see what signals they received, and they all worked.

I told a coworker to do the same, and they also have their alarm system working.

Granted, the optimum solution is to do what was described in these forums to put the alarm system between the Vonage adapter and the rest of the house to ensure that it will seize the line, but the probability that I will be on the phone when the alarm goes off is neglible.

My DISH receivers also do not have a problem with my Vonage adapter.

So far I am happy with the service, and have only experienced one disconnect so far.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 21, 2005 Posts: 1

You mentioned that what you did, "was swap the Tip and Ring connections for the line side and headset side of the connections inside the alarm box." How can I identify which are the tip and ring connectors? By the line side, do you mean the incoming line? Thanks.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 03, 2005 Posts: 1

Hia all,

I also am having problems with the Alarm and my PAP2 w/ Vonage.
I think my problem might be different. It would be helpful if someone with a similar config could shed some light.
I have the network in this order;
Road runner cable modem
Netgear router
Linksys PAP2 phone device using Vonage

Phone line;
PAP2 Connects to , wall jack, common circuit line 1 in the house. I reconnected my wires on the alarm Ring, Tip to be on active phone line 1. I tested the lines going into Ring, Tip as being active using a phone. (I don't care about line seizure at the moment. I can fix that later.)

I didn't have this problem with the alarm when I had an active LAN line.

I GET A YELLOW LIGHT ON ALARM, it says communication trouble. I know it sees the active line because it beeps when the phone line is disconnected from the Alarm.

I have all the service codes and manuals to access those levels of the alarm.

(I will call tonight and ask them to lower the packet to 10 as described in previous posts to see if that fixes things. But I doubt it will)
I will also connect the PAP2 device phone output 1 directly to the Alarm. I don't think this will solve it either.

Thanks,

Wilson Bradley

WilsonB@pobox.nospam.com

Remove .nospam

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 16, 2005 Posts: 1

BE AWARE

I worked for ADT for 2 years as an over the phone tech. They won't help you with Voip unless you get Cellguard, point blank, period, that's it. Cellguard ****, too. It's not worth the money. Your connection will be lost constantly with what we call a "Z5 Comm Break" and you'll get a call every day (I've seen it happen). You'll rip your hair out. If you do get Voip and don't tell ADT and they find out about it and you have a break in, ADT will not pay your deductible. Now, (I realize this is a Vonage Site) when Voip first came out, Time Warner could do it *perfect*. They set everything up to work 100%. Only problems are that you *need* a battery backup on your Voip because if the power goes out, nobody gets a signal. Your internet goes down, nobody gets a signal. I realize that Vonage is cheaper, but in my mind (remember, I *used* to work for ADT, hate 'em now which is why I'm telling you this) landlines are still the way to go until ADT gets their act together.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 30, 2005 Posts: 1

I did the same as someone above suggested, I changed my ADT ring and tip wiring myself and had Vonage change my packet size to 10.

I called ADT Sunday and did an alarm test, everything worked fine. I checked my Vonage account online afterwards and also saw where my ADT dialed out.

Thanks to all for the info in this thread!

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 27, 2006 Posts: 7

In order to protect your alarm signal you should do what many have been doing and that is purchase a cell back up unit. There are many more problems than can occur with the transmission of your signal using Voip rather than a traditional land line, however, both have to address the concern of having the phone line cut. A cell back up unit transmits wirelessly and can thoroughly protect your home. For more information please contact me directly.

Jason Munro
ADT Security Services
jmunro@adt.ca

Posts: 20 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 10, 2005 Posts: 20

Can someone please tell me what swapping the ring a tip line does and why it would improve the connection to Vonage ??

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 06, 2006 Posts: 2

Onazuka wrote:

Can someone please tell me what swapping the ring a tip line does and why it would improve the connection to Vonage ??

The term "tip and ring" goes back to the old days of switchboard operators manually plugging in connections on a big board to connect callers with each other. The plugs looked like 1/4" mono headphone jacks. Looking closely at one of these, you'll see the connections are made at the "tip" and the other below the "ring".

In todays simple terms, tip and ring refer to the 2 main wires your voice rides on. In other words, the red and green wires (the 2 in the center positions of the jack).

Standard analog phones will work just fine if you get them backwards, but data devices like modems typically have problems connecting at any decent speed when you get the polarity reversed. They will still grab dial tone, dial, detect carrier, etc... but they won't be able to handshake at any great speed (this is true even for standard POTS lines).

It's probably getting backward due to the fact that you're plugging your Vonage device into your existing wall jack via a standard phone cord. The ends of a standard phone cord are wired in mirror image from each other which causes a polarity reversal when you use it to tie in your Vonage device to the house wiring.

You can either try swapping the phone wires at the security box, or better yet, cut the end off a phone cord and attach a new one upside-down from the previous. Then use the modified cord to patch Vonage to your wall jack and voila, your polarity is corrected throughout the house. (you'll need a crimp tool and a new RJ-11 module)

Posts: 20 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 10, 2005 Posts: 20

Yes, I know how phone lines work since I have installed them before. That's why I asked why switching these would improve anything because I don't see how. You are saying that it would help in the event that the person's house wiring was wrong in the first place. So we should really be giving guidance in how the jack should be properly wired and what proper cables to use rather than telling people to switch the ring and tip. Otherwise were just telling people to switch stuff that may be wrong and cause problems later.

There is a simple, cheap device you can get at Radio Shack that you can plug in and it will tell you if everything is wired correctly. A green light is good. A red light means the wired need to be swapped.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 02, 2006 Posts: 2

rsh01 wrote:

regarding ADT alarms, I just switched over to Vonage and I'm having a slight problem with my ADT system. The system can dial out just fine in the event of an alarm, but my panel intermittently displays an error code #94, which is triggered when the ADT system detect loss of a phone line. Has anyone experienced this and found a way to resolve this?

Error 94 is comm fale this will happan when internet is down of power is off your alarm will not dial out then you need to call about a cell back up unit.