Joan Engebretson (3.5.07)
Leading alarm installing companies - ADT and Brinks Security Systems - have started making arrangements with VoIP providers to solve incompatibility issues.
Leading alarm installing companies - ADT and Brinks Security Systems - have started making arrangements with VoIP providers to solve incompatibility issues.
Current alarm systems do not work with VoIP services, forcing customers to choose one or the other. This is more evidence that companies and legislation are working to meet the demand for diverse broadband services.
About 25 million alarm systems have been installed nationwide, according to Gordon Hope, general manager of Alarmnet, a unit of security manufacturer Honeywell. Comcast, which uses VoIP for the Digital Voice service that the company offers over its cable network infrastructure, estimates that 25% of Digital Voice customers have alarm systems. Potential incompatibilities between VoIP and alarm systems are fourfold.
Issues that need addressing are: the results of a power outage, home wiring often needs updating, customer service conflicts, and network stability.
To date, ADT’s and Brinks’s acceptance of VoIP seems to be the exception, rather than the rule within the alarm industry. The NBFAA it still seeking a legislative solution, and John Chwat, NBFAA director of government relations, expects to get several provisions written into any telecom bill proposed this year. Some of these provisions—including a requirement that VoIP providers contact customers’ alarm companies if VOIP is installed--simply codify what many providers already are already doing. But another requirement—to provide 24-hour battery backup—could add substantially to the cost of VoIP service. Today, even VoIP providers that offer battery backup typically only provide it for a few hours.
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