Monitored alarm via VOIP?

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shelford

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#165975 26-Feb-2015 14:13

We are having UFB (hopefully) installed in the next few weeks, I rang and organised it today. My concern is we have an alarm which rings our cellphones when it goes off and we have been told this is likely to be affected if we switch to UFB.

I've seen a little bit on changing the monitored alarm to VOIP or IP. I'm not 100% sure on what this all means so would someone be able to break it down for me and advise me on what the best way to go would be if the alarm is affected by the UFB install and which option would be the cheapest.

Thanks

Jase2985

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#1247115 26-Feb-2015 14:20

something like this may be what you are lookign for

ALARMSERVER AS 200

sbiddle

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#1247136 26-Feb-2015 14:50

An alarm just dialing out to a phone will work fine over VoIP. You will however need to rewire your new connection so the alarm can be integrated with it in the usual grabber fashion.

A monitored alarm that uses an alarm protocol such as ContactID should not be relied on to work over VoIP as at best it'll be 98% reliable. You need to buy an adapter such as the one above to convert it to IP.

stuzz

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#1247139 26-Feb-2015 14:55

Hi.

I work for an alarm monitoring company. A very common question we are getting these days.
It depends on how your alarm is communicating to your cell now. If via std copper phone line, then it probably won't after connecting to UFB.

Depending on the age and type of your alarm system, then there are numerous options for moving forward. Most major brands will offer solutions to be able to report via text and/or app. I Currently use the Paradox app.

There would be a cost for the communicator and you would have to supply a sim card with data plan.

GDMTECH

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#1248685 1-Mar-2015 08:48

If you want the alarm to just call your cellphone, it will probably work fine over your VOIP connection, providing that the alarm system is actually still connected to your new setup. If you use any function on your phone to acknowledge the alarms message, to stop it calling repeatedly, then that may not work correctly, but it's worth trying.
If using a monitoring station, then, yes you would have to add an ethernet or GPRS module to the alarm to have the signals decoded correctly and reliably. Depending on the brand of alarm, there are some pretty good native add-on modules to enhance the functionality.

nakedmolerat

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#1248733 1-Mar-2015 10:22

Have a look at AlarmNZ for add on IP module with GSM backup

https://alarmnz.com

shelford

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#1249618 2-Mar-2015 16:10

Thanks for the replies. I think I have a bit of research to do. We did try to get UFB last year and the guy who scoped the job said we could keep the copper line meaning the alarm would still call our cellphones. I'll see what happens when they come again.

Thanks again!

Mighty Ape

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Loggan85

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#1263770 20-Mar-2015 03:24

I would like to suggest Contact ID as it was also mentioned above. There is a VoIP software (http://voip-sip-sdk.com/) that can be used to send alerts to the Central Station. (Central Station is a common term used to refer to a company that provides services to monitor burglar, fire and residential alarm systems.) It allows you to communicate with the Central Station over VoIP by using your own application. It means that this VoIP software enables you to receive Contact ID alerts coming from your alert system when there is an alarm in case of emergency. It is also possible to send out any alarm as if that would been sent by an alarm system. All this is possible with your preferred application through your VoIP network.

It would be too extensive to describe this solution here in more details, so if you are interested in this solution, here you can learn more: http://voip-sip-sdk.com/p_577-send-and-receive-contact-id-alerts-over-voip-with-csharp-application-voip.html

webwat

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#1279741 9-Apr-2015 15:29

shelford: Thanks for the replies. I think I have a bit of research to do. We did try to get UFB last year and the guy who scoped the job said we could keep the copper line meaning the alarm would still call our cellphones. I'll see what happens when they come again.

Thanks again!

You can definitely still keep the copper line, but your internet provider may not want to use it and even if they do the wiring may not be connected correctly which doesn't help when the line gets moved over. The Chorus guy is not required to get your alarm connected. Most internet providers do not use the Chorus line, so your provider should discuss with you whether they are going to connect the VoIP phone output of their router/gateway to your existing phones.

Time to find a new industry!