I've had this long time question about the turn in the evolution of back-up radios.
The question is .......... what ever happened to redundancy?
I have a real problem with the fact that nobody (installers and manufacture rs) has any problem with the lack of redundancy reporting of back-communica tion devices in the "newer" equipment now available.
How can it be alright to have a device (radio/cellular) installed on an ala rm installation that is supposedly sold to the client that has a higher con cern for the integrity of communication ..... a device that could possibly sit there for the next 5 years or longer (if there is no telephone failure followed by an alarm condition) and never be tested to send an alarm signal to central station?
I just don't get it ... why no one has a problem with this.
Am I missing something? Doesn't it seem more resonable to have a wireless d evice that sends an alarm code at the same time as the land line communicat or? Is it just something that the manufacturers and wireless service provid ers have promoted to cut down on the tower traffic in spite of the fact tha t it doesn't actually qualify to serve the true essance of a back up commun ication device? Rather favoring benifits to them over the greater good of p roviding better insurance to the customer.
Does anyone else have a problem with this? Anyone know of a wireless full d ata transmission device that will provide redundancy reporting? I don't kno w about other panels but Napco has a dual reporting feature. Most panels ha ve backup reporting. It would seem to me that there should be some way to t ake advantage of this to be able to provide full data reporting. Or ..... s ome way for the wireless communication device to "listen in during land lin e reporting and send a simultanious radio transmission. On Napco panels I c an program it to not wait for hand shake. I don't know about other panels.
I know,.... I know, ....they send in their daily/weekly supervisory signal ... I don't know about you, but to me ... that's NOT and alarm signal and isn't proof enough for me that it will really send an alarm signal when the time comes. And I know that there are non-full data radios that will send redundant signals. I just think that full data radios should send them also .
But, ... even with other panels lacking all of the above capability, I thin k I have a kind of klugy way to provide redundancy on these "non redundant" full data devices, but I'll wait for replies to this post before I pass it by everyone.