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Traditional phone lines vs cellular for your alarm system

May 25, 2016

In order to get the most of out of your alarm system, you would want to have central station monitoring of the system. This allows for signals from your system to be sent to an operator 24/7. Communication from alarm panels to the central station was historically done over traditional phone lines. However, phone lines are changing.

The analog POTS phone lines of the past are being phased out. POTS stands for "plain old telephone service". For some of us old timers, these were/are the phone lines that always work, even when the power was out.

Today phone lines are morphing into lines that require power to work. These are VOIP (voice over IP) or digital lines. Cable companies (like Charter) offer these lines as a cost savings alternative to POTS lines.

The problems we face for alarm systems is two-fold. Digital lines or VOIP can be unstable for most alarm communication --- they work sometimes, and not other times. And if the power is out, there is no phone line. So the alarm cannot communicate to the central station.

Today we are installing CELLULAR COMMUNICATORS on all new systems in order to get around these problems. We are also adding these communicators to older systems, which is allowing clients to phase out the expensive analog POTS lines.

A smart approach is to use two forms of communication for the alarm system. Many systems utilize a digital phone line and a cellular communicator. Some will have an internet communicator and then couple that with either cellular or a phone line.

The thing to remember when considering any communication method, is that there is no perfect method. The traditional phone lines have problems from time to time, and cellular service or internet can experience outages as well.

Communication in general has changed drastically in the last 10 years. Changing or upgrading your alarm's communication method should be considered in order to stay current and viable as technology is moving along at a rapid rate. Don't get left behind. Visit Came Security Alarms for more information.


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