Re: Paying customer wakes up to CF alarm every morning

["R.H.Campbell" <rh.campbell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You ask some good questions; I will give you my opinion below.....

"Jen...tel" <poleclimber@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1129837199.013313.62040@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

> Would disconnecting the beeping of the failure to communicate (what he
> said it was) mean not being able to warn him he had no phone service?

RHC: Yes, but so what ! He fully knows that because he chose to go with VoIP
for his phone service. Unfortunately for him (and for us as alarm dealers),
VoIP doesn't work reliably enough for security services (when it even can be
made to work) . Seems to me, he doesn't need his alarm panel to tell him he
has no conventional phone service !!

> Is that some type of violation of standards or rules for a monitored
> alarm?

RHC: No, not that I know of, at least nothing of a formal nature. Perhaps
they have internal company rules in that regard.

 When I asked my company if they could turn off the test callin,
> I get off work at 11pm and used the phone overnight for stuff and kept
> getting cut off, they said they could not as it was required by the
> contract they and I signed.

RHC: I don't know how your alarmco specifically handles this sort of thing,
but the test signal is considered a "must do" by any alarm company. It is
for the customer's protection because you simply can't rely on customers to
test their systems properly. So I expect, being a part of their service, not
having it in place could well violate their contract in that they would not
be providing an internally acceptable level for service to their client.
However, that said, the time to report in can be any time of the day or
night. Usually companies make it at a given time between 1 am and 5 am,
simply because the client is less likely to be bothered by having his phone
call terminated by the panel in mid conversation at that time of the early
morning.

 They also said that to turn it off would
> violate standards cause the alarm must warn me when I don't have phone
> service and the test is the daily requirement to do it.

RHC: The daily test does indeed warn of a possible loss of phone line. But
it can also mean any of the following....the telephone company , or the
customer himself, has been fooling with the phone line and screwed things
up.....the customer has installed DSL service without a proper filtering
arrangement....someone doing renovations has disconnected the AC to the
panel and the battery has run flat (dead panel..).....the telco phone line
happened to be temporarily dead at the time when the panel was due to check
in........there are lots of reasons !!

They offered to
> change the time of the test but not completely turn off the test or
> make it so I wouldn't know if the test failed.  their only other option
> for me to not have the daily callin or buzzing if it failed was to
> cancel.   I'm just wondering if that makes sense?  if not, tell me why?

RHC: Not really ! It seems pretty strange that any company would chance
losing a client over something as simple to correct as this. Most panels
have the option to disable the trouble beeping, so it ONLY shows as a
trouble light or indication on the keypads. They would still know the panel
hasn't checked in from their end; however, the client wouldn't be endlessly
bothered by the incessant beeping from the keypad....

R.H.Campbell
Home Security Metal Products
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
www.homemetal.com
>