cjoseph82
join:2006-07-30
Wilmington, DE
| [ViaTalk] Does it work with an ADT home alarm?
I've been trying for the longest time to get my parents onto VoIP. At first, my mother was hung up on the phones not working if the cable went out. I didn't see the big deal, as everyone in their house has a cell phone. I was telling her about ViaTalk's 199/2 deal the other day, and she seemed shocked and said she wanted to jump on. She called ADT to ask if the alarm would work with VoIP, and get this, they told her it would only work with a "Comcast phone." Can anyone with ViaTalk and ADT comment? |
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v35_pilot
Whoops, there goes another AMU
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY
 ·ViaTalk
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
1 edit | I am a ten year customer of ADT and just recently became a ViaTalk customer. I called ADT before making the jump and was told by them that the only two options I had (besides dumping ADT) were to a) keep a dial-tone only line coming in the house, or b) buy some cellular adapter sold by ADT and then pay an additional $5/month monitoring fee to ADT.
Currently, I chose option (a) and kept a Verizon POTS line to the house with dial-tone only service (at about $15/month) for the alarm system because ADT National quoted the cellular device at about $250!! 
I may call my local ADT sales office, though, to see if I can work out a deal for the device in return for another year commitment. |
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buckeyered
Premium
join:2005-05-07
Hamilton, OH
·VoicePulse
·QuantumVoice
·Callcentric
·ViaTalk
| reply to cjoseph82
It might work it might not, in may work one day and not the next. This is not with VT but any voip, I wouldn't chance it nor would I want to worry about whether or not it's going to work when I need it. Either keep the landline or dump ADT and go with next alarm.com and have a lot more features for under nine bucks a month. I changed my parents over to nextalarm and they are very happy with them (they tend to accidentally set off the alarm a lot next alarm was very nice to them)
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'I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French division behind me.' - General George Patton |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
·VOIPo
 ·Metrocast Communic..
 ·AT&T DSL Service
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| Personally, and this is just my opinion.
VOIP is fun and all, and we save money there. But when you deal with your personal security, fire monitoring, etc splurge and make sure there are no issues. Keep the POTS line.
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Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org/index.htm |
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buckeyered
Premium
join:2005-05-07
Hamilton, OH
·VoicePulse
·QuantumVoice
·Callcentric
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| reply to cjoseph82
I should have added that nextalrm does not use a phone line (unless you want to go that route you can) but uses your internet connection (adapter plugs into your router)
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'I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French division behind me.' - General George Patton |
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NY Tel
Always 180 Degrees Out-of-Phase
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY | Some of the adapters do not recognize dial pulses (rotary dialers) and a lot of the alarm communicators still use rotary dial pulsing.
Simply incompatible.... |
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Voice of Reason
@85.195.x.x
| reply to ptrowski
ptrowski wrote, "VOIP is fun and all, and we save money there. But when you deal with your personal security, fire monitoring, etc splurge and make sure there are no issues. Keep the POTS line." Well, that's one opinion, and for some people it may be a perfectly valid one. However....
Usually when people consider VoIP, it's because they don't have millions of dollars in the bank (if they did, they wouldn't be worrying about saving a few bucks a month on residential phone service). The vast majority of us don't have unlimited funds. Some of us don't have alarm systems at all.
My theory is that absolutely NOTHING is going to make you or your family 100% safe. Even your gold plated alarm system with dedicated PSTN line is not going to help you in the event of asteroid strike, tidal wave, category 5 hurricane, strong tornado, magnitude 9.5 earthquake, etc. etc. We all decide on degrees of acceptable risk. Maybe we don't buy the most crash-resistant automobile because we really can't justify spending the extra $50,000 (or just don't have that much to spend).
So my question is, how often does your broadband go down (that includes outages caused by power outages, etc.) and what are the chances that such an outage will happen at the exact time that someone tries to break in, or a fire occurs?
And then balance that against the reliability of the PSTN line - yes, it may stay up during a power outage, but will it survive a strong windstorm? Will it be the one cable that a burglar (or someone intent on harming your family in a different manner) will cut, thinking that cuts you off from all communications?
And also consider whether there's usually a working cell phone available whenever someone is home.
For some people, the small amount of extra reliability gained by having a PSTN line isn't worth it. That's particularly true if the PSTN line is prone to outages. And remember, you may not notice every single PSTN outage (if it happens while you're not trying to use the phone, you may never know it happened) the way you would a broadband outage or a cable outage (people really tend to notice when the cable goes out for half an hour, particularly if it happens during prime time).
For other people, who perhaps have more disposable income and think that if they spend enough money they can buy perfect security, their choice may be to retain a PSTN line.
I just don't think some folks ought to be too preachy, especially people whose deity is a flying spaghetti monster.  |
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buckeyered
Premium
join:2005-05-07
Hamilton, OH
·VoicePulse
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| reply to cjoseph82
most bad guys know to cut the phone lines going into the house before they break in, it's a easy thing to do as most phone lines enter the house within easy reach, they can cut mine all they want since it's not used with nextalarm.
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'I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French division behind me.' - General George Patton |
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ptrowski
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join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
·VOIPo
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| reply to Voice of Reason
Hey now, don't knock the FSM until you've tried it. 
Just an opinion, and I uderstand why others would want it to work. I don't have a POTS line in my house, and the wife and I are considering an alarm that also has the fire monitor etc. For that reason I would prefer to have a POTS line hooked up to the house. I just think it is one less "weaker" chain in the link to have to worry about.
I have an 85 lb burlger alarm right now...His name is Sam the Dalmation.
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Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org/index.htm |
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montano
join:2001-04-29
Central Cali | reply to cjoseph82
A nice steak would keep Sam busy while I 'barrowed' your household goods  |
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ptrowski
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join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
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| said by montano  :A nice steak would keep Sam busy while I 'barrowed' your household goods I actually had a friend test that theory before...Was a no go. Maybe he is not as dumb as I thought he was...
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"A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org/index.htm |
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voiplover
Premium
join:2004-05-28
Portsmouth, NH | reply to montano
Comcast spent millions making their digital phone alarm friendly and should work well.
Other options:
Alarmpath
AES
Nextalarm
Alarmlink
CRN |
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SteveLV702
Premium
join:2004-04-22
Henderson, NV | reply to cjoseph82
I use the ADT Cellguard it came FREE with my Alarm System. |
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KLH
join:2001-09-24
Vincennes, IN
| Just an option for those of you who want/need a pots line. In my area, getting a basic pots + internet is cheaper (taxes/fees included) then it is with getting internet through cable.
So if you're thinking about getting a pots line anway for your alarm, you might as well see what it would cost to get DSL also, and see how much that bill together would be vs your cable internet bill. It may be a couple dollars more, but you are also getting your security system working. |
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SteveLV702
Premium
join:2004-04-22
Henderson, NV | reply to cjoseph82
ya but if your in say like my area you are getting
DSL = 3Mbps Down / 768Kbps Up
as if you have cable you get 5 times that you get
Cable = 15Mbps Down / 2Mbps Up
So I would never leave my Cable for DSL.... |
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voiplover
Premium
join:2004-05-28
Portsmouth, NH
·callwithus
·Axvoice
2 edits | reply to SteveLV702
"Safewatch® CellGuard® Backup
Give your home an extra layer of protection by getting your alarm system connected via a cellular network - just in case your regular telephone service is interrupted by a thunderstorm or other natural disaster. This feature requires an additional monthly charge. "
Nothing from ADT is FREE!
About ~$100.00+ extra per year. $500/yr for monitoring. 
Edit: $480/yr |
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SteveLV702
Premium
join:2004-04-22
Henderson, NV
| reply to cjoseph82
voiplover read my post again I never said it was free of monthly charges I just said the equipement was free with my existing system... As when I placed the order for the system I told them I didnt have a landline and would need cellguard and they through it in for free.. I have cellguard and fire alarm and still paying $39.99 which is the same amount I paid at my old house when I didnt have cellguard or fire alarm.. So ya there maybe a $5/month extra charge but for some odd reason they are not charging me it.. Second would you rather pay $5 for the cell guard or pay $15-$50/mo for a Landline Phone that you dont even need you only have it for your Alarm System.. I would choose the $5 CellGuard cause hey it even works when a landline would be out because of a storm. |
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voiplover
Premium
join:2004-05-28
Portsmouth, NH | XeSolutions, You are right, and I agree. |
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v35_pilot
Whoops, there goes another AMU
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Fayetteville, NY
·ViaTalk
·Verizon FIOS
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| reply to SteveLV702
said by SteveLV702 :voiplover read my post again I never said it was free of monthly charges I just said the equipement was free with my existing system... As when I placed the order for the system I told them I didnt have a landline and would need cellguard and they through it in for free.. You got a great deal. When I called ADT again today to ask what they charged to add Cell Guard to an existing customer's package, the rather uninterested sounding rep told me $260 for the equipment/installation AND an additional $12/month on top of the monitoring fee! Sheet.
Considering that I am paying about $16/month to Verizon for the dial-tone only line exclusively for the ADT system, there is practically no break-even by choosing the ADT solution. |
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SteveLV702
Premium
join:2004-04-22
Henderson, NV | reply to cjoseph82
But see I was purchasing a New System and not adding on to an existing system... |
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