Due to various factors, there are certain devices that are either prohibited or not supported on the platform. The list below is meant solely as an example and is not to be considered a complete list of devices.
Prohibited Devices
The following devices may not be used on the network. Should they be found on our network we will immediately terminate all services related to the account.
- Health and Safety devices
- Medical monitoring devices
- Fire Alarms
- Elevators
- Emergency response monitoring
Limited Support Devices
The following devices will be supported on a best-effort basis only.
- Unsupported ATAs used for faxing
- Credit card terminals
- Burglar alarms
- ATMs
- Postage machines
Questions and Concerns
Most of these items would be best served by a POTS line. In cases where a POTS line is unavailable, the service provider can usually provide a cellular modem. Please direct any questions or concerns to your service provider. Your service provider reserves the right to modify this list as we deem necessary.
However, using any VOIP service and Alarm Systems can pose problems because an alarm system is designed to send its signals over an analog phone line. To transmit emergency signals properly using VOIP, the signal must be converted to digital, then converted again to analog. It is during this conversion that problems develop. Usually, the signals arrive at the central monitoring station with errors (dues to latency, jitter or packet loss), or not at all.
Knowing this, some alarm companies have taken steps to try to make their transmissions more reliable. These include sending the same data up to 8 times to maximize the chances that it is transmitted successfully.
Additionally, for modern alarm systems, there are two formats used for transmitting information from an alarm system to the central monitoring station: SIA and Contact ID. It has been said that the SIA format works more successfully with VOIP than the Contact ID format. Contact ID pre-dates SIA and is, therefore, more widespread in use. SIA stands for Security Industry Association and is the newer universal standard for alarm communication. Therefore, alarm companies will often ensure that customer premise equipment is SIA compatible if they know that VoIP will be used.
As a result, it is highly advisable to consult with the alarm company before providing any type of alarm service over VoIP.
Remember, no system is perfect. It’s imperative to thoroughly test the alarm system over the new VOIP system repeating the test many times to achieve a statistical significance ascertaining expected reliability (reliability = successful transmissions ÷ total transmissions).