Security News

Dear Customer:

If you have gotten or are considering having Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or other digital phone services such as a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) installed on your phone line, Scott Alarm Systems, Inc. wants to make you aware of the issues the alarm industry is currently having with these services.

ISSUES CREATED BY VoIP and DIGITAL PHONE SERVICE (DSL)

Power Loss: Your premises, rather than a telephone company central office, will power communications. If you lose electrical power, the security system will not send a signal to the Monitoring Center.

Line Cut Feature Disabled: If your system has a line-cut feature, it may NOT sound an alarm if the communication line on the outside of your premises is cut.

Reliability: On average, the Internet and DSL experience more service outages than regular phone lines. Your system cannot communicate signals to the Monitoring Center during these outages.

Downloading Options Lost: We may lose the ability to download software changes to the alarm system, and a chargeable service appointment may need to be scheduled instead.

Alarm Signal Reliability Diminished: Alarm signals may be more susceptible to loss or distortion when sent over the Internet.

Technical Changes: Even though you the customer or we the alarm company successfully tests the system's ability to send signals, subsequent technical changes by the phone service provider can cause the alarm system to lose communication.

If you have gotten these services we will need to come out and install specialized filters developed for your alarm system to accommodate communications. You will not be able to use a standard issue DSL filter, because it will not fit in the RJ31X jack that the alarm system connects to your phone line with. We will also ask that you sign an addendum to your original agreement stating that you were made aware of the issues listed above. Please call our office today if you need one of these filters.