Re: Phone Jack Locations?

[Frank Olson <Use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

shady wrote:
> "Frank Olson" wrote...
>
>>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.
>
>
> Frank,
>
> I believe you're in BC too (or at least someone around here is).  So between
> you and Bass, I guess it's a matter of it SHOULD be... or it MUST be...
> outside the panel.
>
> Phone jacks are one of the reasons I'm glad not to be using the Simon
> systems anymore.
>
> And in this Christmas case, there is phone line monitoring (DSC 1555), but
> not much use to it when it just sets off the siren and no one hears it.
> Although I added a cell backup today for them too.
>
>


The "debate" (if you want to call it that) about the RJ location has
been a topic that's frequently come up in the newsgroup.  I for one
won't install an RJ jack inside a can in a residential alarm
application.  Another frequent poster here advocates that it should be
and that the keys to the can be given to the home-owner.  I know many
such home-owners who've asked me why we don't lock the can, but secure
the lid with sheet metal screws instead.  First off, all our cans are
mounted in an out-of-the way location (never the front hall or laundry
room closet - that's just plain too obvious).  The main system is always
secured behind several "layers" of alarm detection from door/window
contacts, glass breaks to PIR's.  Putting the RJ jack *inside* the can
just doesn't make sense to me.  Mounting the can near a place where the
jack could be viewed as a "convenient place to plug in an extension
phone for use while working in the basement" (or whatever) probably
isn't the best location for it either (I've seen cans mounted in
crawspaces and it makes troubleshooting the system a major pain).

All my customers know the reason for the RJ jack.  They never touch it.
  I think that if you explain it's purpose properly, your customer will
understand that it's *not* a "phone extension" but an integral part of
their security system and should only be accessed in an emergency (in
the event the panel's been compromised by lightning or a voltage surge
that may wind up frying the communicator).  Putting it inside a locked
can is the equivalent of not installing it at all IMO.  I know of too
many customers that have lost their key to the can over the years (it's
not something that they think is important enough to put on their
keychain and I would discourage them from doing *that* anyway).  Some of
my customers are elderly.  I can't imagine 68 year-old Mrs. "Smith"
taking a screw driver to the box in an attempt to pry it open so she can
unplug the RJ jack to use the phone.

You've recognized that your customer's security can be easily
compromised by a single "snip" at the side of the house.  Use this in a
newsletter to the rest of your customers.  Give them the option of
hardening their telephone line through upgraded physical protection and
offer them the cell backup option as well.  Our contracts actually
require our customer to sign off acknowledging that they *don't* want
the cell back-up option and that they fully understand that any system
employing a digital communicator can be compromised through the loss of
the telephone line (for any reason).  This last little tidbit is
something Jack Stevens posted some time ago.  *That's* one of the
reasons I so enjoy this Newsgroup (and what really keeps me coming back).