Re: Phone Jack Locations?

[Frank Olson <Use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

shady wrote:
> I'm curious about what the experts around here have to say about having the
> phone jack either in or on the panel.  Or, I guess, not using one at all.
>
> I'm not sure if it's a UL requirement to have it easily available, but it
> seems like a huge hole in the system's integrity.
>
> For example, over Christmas we had a customer who had his phone line cut.
> Probably only the third time it's happened in almost 15 years for us.  I
> went there and expected to see damage to the demarc box outside.  But no,
> they cut the wire coming out of the jack instead (unplugging too easy?).
> Obviously it was someone familiar enough with the place to know where to
> find the (not so well hidden) panel.  But this seems to be a good case where
> the jack should have been in the panel instead.
>
> I've always been told that the jack should be outside so it can be unplugged
> by the customer if the panel is going psycho and keeps taking over the phone
> line for no reason.  I doubt 5% of our customers (residential or commercial)
> know about this, many don't even know where to find the panel.
>
>


RJ jacks should be installed so that the customer can easily disconnect
the system if the communicator/panel locks him out of his phone line.
That having been said, use a panel that provides supervision of the
telco jack.  If that's not possible (phone line monitoring isn't an
option in programming), you can use another pair of wires in the jack to
supervise the physical connection to the jack (if someone unplugs it, it
will put a zone in the panel into "trouble").  There are also line
monitor modules available with outputs you can tie into a spare zone on
the burg panel.  Some businesses are paricularly prone to "inside jobs"
where an employee may know enough to compromise the security system.
Using contacts with built-in end-of-lines, panels that monitor the
physical phone line, anti-masking PIR's, and an alternate means of
transmitting an alarm/supervisory signal to your CS (like cell backup)
will help alleviate a lot of your client's concerns in this respect.  I
often find that it's particularly helpful if the system is programmed to
transmit opening and closing signals along with zone bypass information.
  The customer can call the station and request status of the system as
well as when the opening/closing actually happened.