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Alarm System Problems

Started by AlanB, March 16, 2014, 12:15:39 PM

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AlanB

OK.  I know, I should not trust VOIP for my home alarm system.  So, no need to go there.

I have an ADT system, and I'm grandfathered into a rate that's much better than they offer now, so I've been trying to keep it. 

I had tested the alarm system several times with Google Voice, and it had worked OK.   I'm now with Anveo and I can't get it to work.  To be fair, I got a call from ADT before I switch to Anveo, so the problem may have started before the switch.  It could be a Obi202 firmware upgrade, or anything else.

I've gone into the Expert Configuration and set DTMFMethod = InBand for Anveo like I had with Google Voice. 

Does anyone have their alarm system working with Anveo?  Are there any specific settings you used?

bdwill

Been using Vonage with alarm for years without a problem. I just ported to Anveo and my alarm isn't connecting either (even after setting DTMF to InBand as well). I see the dialing attempts in the call log but uncertain why it's not working. I just set up an account with Callcentric and I'm going to give it a shot.

AlanB

Glad you found my post. Let me know how Callcentric works out. I almost tested it yesterday.

I'm thinking of ordering an adapter for my alarm system and switching to NextAlarm.

MurrayB

When I dropped Verizon POTS I installed a Telguard  TG-1 cellular communicator. The alarm panel is unplugged from the RJ-31 and plugged into the Telguard. There are no changes required to the panel. You need to do this in concert with or through your monitoring service. There is an additional charge for the Telguard service to be in between the alarm panel and the monitoring service. My communicator does an automatic test on the 14th of every month.

AlanB

I signed up with NextAlarm.   I'll be testing them for a few weeks before I drop ADT.    I'll add a separate post later with what hardware I had to buy to get it set up.

AlanB

So far, so good on my setup with NextAlarm.  All my tests have worked.

Here's what I purchased.
Alarm BroadBand Adapter: http://www.home-technology-store.com/home-security/NA-ABN3A.aspx
I also bought a pair of powerline apdaters: http://amzn.com/B00AWRUICG

The powerline adapters were because I don't have an ethernet port anywhere near my alarm system.  I almost went wifi, but it locks up alot.  So, I went with the powerLine adapters.


So, last night I call ADT to cancel, and they want to offer me cellular connection and keep my $23.99/mo rate.  Why is there always such a hassle before companies quit trying to get more out of you?  Cellular is better, but NextAlarm is cheaper and I've already bought the hardware.  Not sure what I'm going to do yet.

MurrayB

Sounds interesting. Please let us know how it goes.

AlanB

Quote from: MurrayB on May 02, 2014, 05:01:24 PM
Sounds interesting. Please let us know how it goes.
NextAlarm or ADT?

SteveInWA

#8
Quote from: AlanB on May 02, 2014, 02:03:11 PM
So far, so good on my setup with NextAlarm.  All my tests have worked.

Here's what I purchased.
Alarm BroadBand Adapter: http://www.home-technology-store.com/home-security/NA-ABN3A.aspx
I also bought a pair of powerline apdaters: http://amzn.com/B00AWRUICG

The powerline adapters were because I don't have an ethernet port anywhere near my alarm system.  I almost went wifi, but it locks up alot.  So, I went with the powerLine adapters.


So, last night I call ADT to cancel, and they want to offer me cellular connection and keep my $23.99/mo rate.  Why is there always such a hassle before companies quit trying to get more out of you?  Cellular is better, but NextAlarm is cheaper and I've already bought the hardware.  Not sure what I'm going to do yet.


Hi Alan:

Thanks for sharing your experience (admittedly veering off-topic for Obihai, but hey, that's the way this forum rolls :-)  )

So, I am also a long-time ADT customer, "grandfathered" into a lower-rate (which they keep inching up every year).  I keep a POTS line primarily for ADT, and for an emergency landline, but I have looked into NextAlarm and the cellular alternatives.  Cellular isn't a good option for me, due to signal coverage issues, but I think it's the best alternative to POTS for most people, from a maximum-reliability standpoint, and immunity to criminals cutting phone/broadband/power wires, etc.  I would never trust an internet connection via some wireless extender gizmos -- they aren't reliable enough.

The alarm industry's big players are notorious for having nearly-impossible to cancel contracts.  They auto-renew for a year or two on your renewal date, with no notice to you, and then demand that you pay off the entire duration of the contract to get out of it, unless you are lucky enough to keep track of the expiration date and cancel during the 30-day period prior to it.  Did you run into that when you talked to ADT?  I'd say, if they offer you the Telguard or equivalent solution, to go with it.

Otherwise, you'd need to break your contact with ADT, lock them out of killing/disabling your alarm panel, have the panel's password, and either reconfigure it yourself to use a new provider, or have the new provider configure it for you, to use NextAlarm or some other alternative monitoring center.  At least, that was my past experience with another <shall remain nameless> national alarm service provider before I moved to ADT.

So, yes, please do let us know what you decided.  Were you able to break your contract with ADT?

MurrayB

I think we all would be interested in how the Next Alarm system and hardware works out. Telguard is a good alternative if you have the cellular coverage.

AlanB

Quote from: SteveInWA on May 02, 2014, 07:17:36 PM
So, yes, please do let us know what you decided.  Were you able to break your contract with ADT?

Steve.  Yes, a little off topic, but getting an alarm system working through an Obi is related and of interest.

I don't have a contract with ADT.  Maybe I'm luckier than I realized.  I signed up through my insurance company over 12 years ago.  I think it was a two year commitment.  At the time my insurance discount was more than my ADT bill, although that's no longer the case (not because ADT went up much but the discount went down).  My ADT price has only increased once in 12 years.  So, I don't have the issue of breaking contract.

I also fortunately have the ADT installers code.  I was able to enter the system and play around.  I did that some before signing up for NextAlarm by having the system automatically call a different SP for outgoing call.

I haven't cancelled yet, so I can't promise that ADT won't try something, but since they currently can't really even communicate directly with my system, there's really no way they can (without some NSA type tatics).

For NextAlarm I first checked their website to see if my system was compatible, it was.  But, I decided to call NextAlarm to ask the question anyway, under the theory that if I couldn't get good help before I was a customer, I certainly wouldn't get it once I was a customer.  My call was answered very quickly (I don't recall exactly how long, I think it was about 15 seconds).  The representative was very helpful and verified that my system would work, asked whether I knew the installer code, and some other questions.  I verified that my smoke alarm which is part of the system would also work.

Setting up the NextAlarm account was easy.  You can do it before or after hooking up the ethernet adapter (it's not even required, you can have your system call NextAlarm, but of course I'm trying to avoid the whole VOIP thing for the alarm system).  I bought and hooked up the adapter first.  Following the instructions, I was able to verify that my alarm system could communicate with the NextAlarm system, so I then created my account.

NextAlarm wants the basic info such as name, address, passcode, alternate contacts, etc.  They also have me enter each zone, and an optional description of each zone.  I entered the description as it makes it more clear which alarm went off.  You also enter whether each zone should be police, fire, ambulance, etc.

NextAlarm also has you provide the local emergency number (not 911).  I simply called my local police department and asked them what emergency dispatch number and alarm service company should call.  I did that after I set up my account, but I emailed them the information and they added it to my profile.  Once my account was completely set up after a couple of days, I see where I  could have added that info myself.

I can easily put the system in test mode, just like with ADT, so I can test the system and verify that NextAlarm got the signals. 

If you alarm system supports it, they off the ability to arm/disarm remotely (mine does not support that).

Also, if you system is programmed to report every disarm, you can set up NextAlarm to notify you if it's not disarmed at a certain time.  This is for "latch key kids", so you know if they didn't arrive home by a certain time.  I did not set up this feature.

The other day, my power went out and I got an e-mail from NextAlarm stating that they had lost contact with my alarm system.  After the power came back on, I got another email stating that the connection was re-established.  My alarm system has a battery of course, so if I put my adapter, modem, and router on a UPS system, I could survive a power outage for a few hours or so.

I have not tested an actual emergency (ie system not in test mode), so of course I don't know how well they actually respond.

I also only paid for one month of monitoring.  They offer discounts to prepay more than one month.

I'll probably drop ADT like I originally planned because I do get sick and tired of all the e-mails and postcards wanting me to upgrade to the Pulse system.  I'm not a big fan of companies that I do business with spending tons on advertising on current customers.

SteveInWA

Alan, great information!  Thanks for the write-up.

I agree on the endless "upselling" ADT does.  The whole alarm industry is based on the "annuity revenue stream" concept, and whatever they can do to double a customer's monthly fee just doubles their annuity stream.

I've got the code for my panel, too (I "social engineered" the installer into it, along with the complete installer's guide, since I was programming in X-10 power-line modules at the time).  So, this is all good food for thought.

RobertThompson

Hello:

Steve at http://voip2go.net/adt.html has given me advice concerning my ADT alarm system over VoIP.

He said that it was OK to post his email address so, here it is: steve@voip2go.net

Steve specializes in alarms over VoIP.
Rob.

www.googlevoiceforcanadians.com

Everton

Trev, who sells OBi ATAs in Canada and VOIP Provider, stated some time ago that he has identified a set of OBi settings for sending reliable Alarm Signals via VOIP/OBi.  I think he is a registered user of this forum and actively participate on the dslreports Forum.

However, if you have a Ademco or DSC Alarm System, a better approach would be to use the $99.00 Envisalink 3 which is connected directly to your router and you get all the alerts you need for free, plus arming and disarming your system remotely via Mobile phone or PC.  You can get monitoring your Alarm relay for roughly $9.00 per month in the US or through Eyez-on Full Service Monitoring.  Using the EnvisaLink 3, the signals are sent almost instantly via the broadband service (no VOIP).

http://forum.eyez-on.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=207&sid=1d52c1758584449abcb59f0fe5418bde

http://www.eyezon.com/?page_id=176


ibotalk

At two addresses I had ADT and Monitronics via cellular and landline respectively.  They worked ok as far as I knew--- both systems provided little (no) feedback as to how things were working.  But they were both expensive.  So I switched to  Nextalarm via a wifi adaptor at one address and Alarmrelay via a powerline at the other.  They are both low cost  (about 1/4 to 1/3 of the original monthly cost).  They both have web sites that allow endless tweaking.  They both can be set up to send emails for routine and non-routine events (like alarm being set or disarmed).  Both send out routine daily (or more often) signals to testing the line - the result of which can be emailed.  Occaisionally, the internet goes offline--- I get emails and/or phone calls alerting me to this  --- within any specified time period. 

Offline internet is the reason often quoted not to use VOIP for alarm systems.  This makes little sense to me.  My internet/VOIP is down less that 1% of the time.  Burglars would have to have exquisite timing to take advantage of this.  Or cut my internet connection... or......  Implicit in this rationale not use VOIP is the idea that alarm systems can provide perfect protection.  That's silly.

I am very happy with both.  Lower cost, more feedback, better service (typically by phone), more control.......

AlanB

Thanks for the feedback ibotalk.

With the broadband adapter for Next Alarm, I'm not technically using VOIP anymore, just "the internet".

I think you've got me convinced to go with my original plan and dump ADT.

AlanB

An update.  Well, I ended up keeping ADT.  I started having a few internet connectivity issues. It was NOT a problem of NextAlarm, purely on my end.  However, I decided that having cellular alarm coverage was probably worth it.

NextAlarm was not a problem to cancel.  I e-mailed them and said to cancel. They promptly responded that service would end at end of current month.  They did end up billing me for another month, but it only took one-email and they refunded the charge.

Now I just need to put my alarm broadband adapter up for sale.

MurrayB

Please share the details of your cellular setup. I am sure a number of us would be interested in learning more from your journey.