Connecting an alarm using POTS to a Fibre 150 system

[tonydenson]

BT have recently installed Business Fibre 150 at a church where I look after the IT. We have an old alarm system which still uses a regular landline to call key holders when the alarm goes off. Do BT have any solution to bridge the POTS line to the fibre ?

[VickyK]

Hi @tonydenson ,

Thanks for reaching out to us. 

The best way to explore the options with this is to get you in touch with our sales team as they can discuss possible solutions and may need to check specifications with the alarm supplier.

If you'd like me to get you in touch please go to my profile and click send message so I can take some details and help arrange this for you.  

Thanks,

^VickyK

[tonydenson]

In the time it has taken to get a reply I have signed up with Voipfone as a second Voice internet service on the same fibre line and now have a working alarm autodialler. It took 2 minutes to get a working service from first signing onto their website and 24 hours to receive by courier the appropriate adapter from POTS to VOIP. The BT sales team told me it wasn't possible when I first asked them weeks ago, but apparently it is 🙂

[jac_95]

Just a word of warning, I would check the building/content insurance policy too to make sure that there's no specific clause for signaling method with the change to all IP.

To also note when there's a powercut unless you have a backup power supply to continue powering the broadband connection the alarm won't be able to signal to the ARC (monitoring centre) or send a message via the dialler.

The association that represents the security and fire alarm industry is calling to upgrade alarms to communicate over IP or have a backup mechanism such as using the mobile network.

https://www.bsia.co.uk/digital-voice

As for BT Business's Cloud Voice Express service at present only specific VoIP handsets are compatible that need to be registered with the system. The manufacturer of one of the VoIP handsets also makes a ATA adapter but not sure if you would be able to register that with the Cloud Voice Express system.

[tonydenson]

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@jac_95 wrote:

To also note when there's a powercut unless you have a backup power supply to continue powering the broadband connection the alarm won't be able to signal to the ARC (monitoring centre) or send a message via the dialler.

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As it happens I have a UPS on the router, but quite frankly not having had a power cut in living memory the chance of it happening simultaneously with a burglary is pretty slim ! Furthermore the same risk occurs if people forget to set the alarm (or thinks someone else will do it) and that happens quite often - far more often than power cuts.