Security Alarms and VOIP
 

Just a heads up for those of you who are considering getting a VOIP phone, and have or may get a home alarm.

Apparently, your home alarm may not work reliably (if at all) with VOIP.

There are currently three problems with using alarms over VOIP

1. A lot of VOIP systems block 999 calls.
2. VOIP requires a continuous electrical supply. If something has happened that sets the alarm off, that something may also disable mains power. Landlines use power provided by the network.
3. VOIP is highly compressed. This compression is usually achieved by removing tones beyond the range of human hearing, such as a lot of the tones used by modems, including those used in security systems.

All from: http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/11523

Re: Security Alarms and VOIP
 

Voip can work with some systems, basically voip cannot transmit data over 56k speeds hence the reason why sky boxes do not work over voip!

There are plenty of voip providers who allow access to the 999 service. But as stated you need a dedicated power supply to run the equipment.

Re: Security Alarms and VOIP
 

Actually, it did sort of say that in the article. It highlighted Vonage as a particular problem though.