[Asterisk-Users] Alarmreciver

[Bob McDowell]

At the risk of being redundant, VoIP and Alarm is known not to mix well.
Some of the tones used by an alarm system do not behave in the same way
as conventional DTMF.  This will vary greatly based on the actual alarm
format used (and there are at least thirty different formats.)  I don't
know the specifics, and there are few who do due to the proprietary
nature of the industry.  While I've never used the alarmreceiver
application, I have used some of the best industry equipment available.
Again, we just can't get VoIP to be reliable enough for alarm
transmission.  I really, really wish we could.

I blame compression, as we have the exact same kinds of problems with
digital cell service...

Now, rather than just being a nay-sayer, let me refer you to the Bosch
C900V2 device.  It takes a signal from just about any panel and converts
it into IP to be received by a Bosch receiver.  It's a good fit for
nearly everyone.  Also, there's a good chance your alarm panel has an IP
module.  Call your installer and ask them what your options are.  If
they won't help you, go to www.ul.com (in the US at least) and start
looking up listed Central Stations in your area.  Call them and ask if
they support your panel over IP.

You can probably get monitoring from a UL-listed Central Station for a
price you'll be willing to pay.  There's a lot of competition out there.
This money gets you 24-hour, redundant coverage, which is in my opinion
worth it's weight in gold.

If you need any alarm industry guidance, please feel free to contact me
off-list.  I could probably even refer you to a good CS if you'd like.

Please don't misunderstand, I don't mean to detract from the
alarmreciever application.  There are some really interesting
applications to be had, e.g.:

1) Your alarm panel calls asterisk, which notes the alarm zone and
connects your cell phone to the nearest intercom device.
2) 'Who are you, and what do you want?'
3) You could then have the capability to cancel the alarm before the
panel dials your central station.

This would save on false alarm calls and could speed up response
greatly.  Also, if you failed to answer your cell, the CS would dispatch
as normal.
 

Bob McDowell

________________________________

From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Andrew
Nowrot
Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 2:34 AM
To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Alarmreciver


Hi,

Did anyone try to set up alarmreceiver application over IP network?
Which ATA can I use? I tried to set up it with Linksys PAP-2 but with no
luck. Maybe I did something wrong with alarmreceiver.conf (I tried
diverse settings, but nothing worked). 
Sometimes alarmreceiver is able to get some events but sometimes not. I
think Linksys PAP-2 has a problem with recognizing digits in appropriate
way.

Cheers

Andrew