OBI200 with alarm system -- PROBLEMS!

[stealth94rt]

I"m having issues with my alarm system - GE CADDX, with OBI200 and Google Voice, alarm box is checked in the OBI configuration.

My alarm is dialing and trying to send messages to the Monitoring Center but the transmission is not clear or incomplete, so the Monitoring Center doesn't know what code(s) the panel is sending and, therefore, they don't respond (i.e., call to see if everything is OK). I can see the call attempts and messages in my Monitoring Center online interface.

I put a support ticket into OBI/Polycom on Friday, but they haven't responded to that yet. Not sure what to try.

This was all working perfect before when I was on Time Warner / Spectrum VOIP phone service. There was no Google Voice or OBI200 at that time - the panel was plugged to a phone jack and that was plugged into the Spectrum cable modem phone port.

Any advise on this is appreciated.

[SteveInWA]

My advice:

Don't use that function.  It's not at all reliable, and there isn't going to be any improvement made.

Alarm companies are moving off of POTS lines for central station communications, since more and more people are abandoning their landlines.  It's obsolete.  The current solution is to use a direct IP gateway box, and/or a cellular radio communicator.

[RFC3261]

and/or a cellular radio communicator.

While alarm companies have been using standard cell data services for some time, more and more cell providers are offering (really low cost) "IoT" service offerings which handle the low bandwidth demands of something like an alarm circuit, making the transition a no-brainer for many alarm companies (lower cost == higher profit!).  Those IoT service offerings are cheap enough to put multiple sensors out on the field on a farm (and put a few on cows to track where they graze (yeah, until someone mentioned it, I never thought about instrumenting cows either, but in retrospect, it is obviously beneficial)).

[SteveInWA]

and/or a cellular radio communicator.

While alarm companies have been using standard cell data services for some time, more and more cell providers are offering (really low cost) "IoT" service offerings which handle the low bandwidth demands of something like an alarm circuit, making the transition a no-brainer for many alarm companies (lower cost == higher profit!).  Those IoT service offerings are cheap enough to put multiple sensors out on the field on a farm (and put a few on cows to track where they graze (yeah, until someone mentioned it, I never thought about instrumenting cows either, but in retrospect, it is obviously beneficial)).

Well, all I can comment on is my experience with ADT, which uses Honeywell Ademco alarm circuit boards/panels.  ADT (and many other alarm companies) are very conservative in terms of adopting the latest hardware.  They tend to stick with what works, until a compelling new thing comes along that is worth adopting.  The cellular communicator ADT installed for me, is a standalone radio (made by some other supplier).  It has a high-gain rubber-ducky antenna, and it uses 3G/4G service with a SIM.  It also has a built in, dedicated backup battery and a tamper switch, so it is pretty immune to power cuts.  This is actually the backup method.  Their primary method is an IP gateway.