Monitoring home security

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sunnyd
Posts:1
Joined:Tue Jan 12, 2010 6:30 pm
Monitoring home security

Post by sunnyd » Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:36 am

I have Brink Home security monitoring my home and I wanted to disconnect my land line and use my ooma phone system. I was told by Brinks that they could not monitor my home without them installing some kind of equipment on my computer, which would cost around $300.00. There should be a way to monitor my home with the Ooma system. :idea: Ooma needs to look into a way that home owners can have there home monitor with the ooma phone.

Thanks
sunnyd

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bw1
Posts:1781
Joined:Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:06 am
Location:MI

Re: Monitoring home security

Post by bw1 » Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:41 am

Some users have been able to use Ooma with their alarm systems.
Search the forum for alarm.

joeed2
Posts:101
Joined:Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:52 pm

Re: Monitoring home security

Post by joeed2 » Wed Jan 13, 2010 11:58 am

Any alarm system that relies on wires to communicate with the central station is a waste of money. Regardless of whether it is a physical phone line, cable internet line, or power company power line. Someone that wants to break in your house will simply cut all those wires on the way in.

The only way to go is with a cellular feature and battery backup. Brinks sells some kind of module to add to your system that calls the central station over cellular, and has a battery backup. That way, cut phone wires, cut cable internet, cut power lines, or power outages will not effect your alarm system.

Call Brinks and ask about that, I'm surprised they didn't offer the cellular option when you called them the first time. Rather than spending $300 to get it to work with the computer/voip/Ooma, it would be better to put that money toward cellular monitoring.

murphy
Posts:7554
Joined:Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:49 pm
Location:Pennsylvania

Re: Monitoring home security

Post by murphy » Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:48 pm

joeed2 wrote:Any alarm system that relies on wires to communicate with the central station is a waste of money. Regardless of whether it is a physical phone line, cable internet line, or power company power line. Someone that wants to break in your house will simply cut all those wires on the way in.
My alarm phone line is deep underground. First you have to find where it is and then you have to dig down to get to it. It's not going to happen unless they brought a back hoe along.
Customer since January 2009
Telo with 2 Handsets, a Linx, and a Safety Phone
Telo2 with 2 Handsets and a Linx

joeed2
Posts:101
Joined:Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:52 pm

Re: Monitoring home security

Post by joeed2 » Wed Jan 13, 2010 1:17 pm

Mine is underground also, but it comes above ground right along the outside wall, then into the house.

Is it 100% underground, and comes up into the interior of your home. Most people with underground phone lines have at some point a conduit that runs up from the ground, into a box mounted on the outside wall, then into the home. That is the place where they rip it off the outside wall.

murphy
Posts:7554
Joined:Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:49 pm
Location:Pennsylvania

Re: Monitoring home security

Post by murphy » Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:42 pm

joeed2 wrote:Mine is underground also, but it comes above ground right along the outside wall, then into the house.

Is it 100% underground, and comes up into the interior of your home. Most people with underground phone lines have at some point a conduit that runs up from the ground, into a box mounted on the outside wall, then into the home. That is the place where they rip it off the outside wall.
It came up the outside wall about two feet and then went through the wall when I moved in.
When I got an alarm system I changed It to go through the basement wall underground at it's buried depth.
My Network Interface Box is in my basement so there is nothing outside.
Customer since January 2009
Telo with 2 Handsets, a Linx, and a Safety Phone
Telo2 with 2 Handsets and a Linx

joeed2
Posts:101
Joined:Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:52 pm

Re: Monitoring home security

Post by joeed2 » Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:31 pm

Nice. I had to do the same kind of thing for my cable TV and internet. Run it underground deep in Schedule 80 PVC, then under and into my garage. Everything is deep underground and unexposed. Mainly because landscaping people kept cutting the cable with shovels and tools. Then it would take 2 or 3 days to get the cable company to come out and fix it.

Yoda
Posts:7
Joined:Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:09 am

Re: Monitoring home security

Post by Yoda » Thu Feb 04, 2010 5:01 pm

Home alarms work fine with Ooma (My ADT system has worked fine since I changed configuration as follows). At your alarm panel (typically located in your master bedroom closet); simply reverse the incomming and outgoing connections for the incomming phone line.

It should be as follows:
  • Modem or router to ooma device
    Ooma phone line out to alarm pane phone in
    Alarm Panel phone line out to house phones.
Doing it in this order will enable the system to still dial out even if one of your phones happens to be taken off hook by the intruder.

However if your power is cut, or your ISP is on the fritz; then of course your system won't be able to dial out until it comes back up.

I suggest a simple UPS backup power system be instaled to the modem, router and ooma device as a preventitive backup for such sistuations.

joeed2
Posts:101
Joined:Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:52 pm

Re: Monitoring home security

Post by joeed2 » Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:05 pm

I believe most alarm systems use RJ31 jacks, and regular POTS telephone jacks are RJ-11. How did you "plug and play" an installation between these two types of jacks? Most people have to rewire the alarm panel to handle the different jacks.

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DTMF
Posts:285
Joined:Sat Jan 23, 2010 5:55 pm

Re: Monitoring home security

Post by DTMF » Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:33 am

My alarm system provider, Hawk Security, couldn't get the alarm to connect to the reporting system through the Ooma. Instead, they connected a $99 adapter that makes the connection via the Internet. Now my monitoring charge is $3/month higher. That's still a tiny fraction of what I was paying AT&T for the POTS line that was connected to it before I switched to Ooma. ;)
Ooma customer since November 2009.
Formerly employed at another VoIP company.
My opinions are my own.

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