Paying customer wakes up to CF alarm every morning

That's the daily test signal that is not getting through...which also means that any alarm signal will not get through either...Vonage, VoIP bad.

Since the test signals aren't getting through, which also means the alarm signals also aren't you essentially are a local system...why not cancel service and just go local till you move? Have them de-program the system to a local (no monitoring).

Other than that...it's normal for it to beep on comm fail - on second thought,,,,well maybe not, on *some* panels the warning beep can be disabled - they may be concerned abt a liablilty issue so they might not disable it even if it can be.

If you're in that situation where you absolutely have to keep the service (under contract), then have them program the test time for some time in the afternoon, instead of in the morning. That way your "CF" signal will start up when everyone's awake... Unless of course you're like my son who sleeps until sometime after 1430 because he works shifts...

I have been told by my Central Station that SIA is the only format that will work VOIP. They have tested 4/2 and CID and thay will not work 100% of the time. It has something to do with the compression uesd with some VOIP providers. Also if it is a local CENTRAL STATION you must dial a area code also.

Any FSK, BFSK, or SLDC format will work with VoIP. 4/2, and CID use 4th and

5th column DTMF (Touch Tones) to transmit signals. TCP/IP and UDP work the fastest. Most Manufactures offer TCP/IP routers that will work with existing control panels. Your present alarm company may not have a clue...but they do exist, and are easy to install.

Thats not been my experience, if anything SIA is the least likely to work. I've seen Contact ID and 4/2 work...sometimes

My guess is your Central station had an account where SIA did work and assume it was the best

Yes, even DSC has a unit as I understand it. However, the issue with most customers seems to be more related to the cost of the equipment versus the $20 monthly they save by giving up their landline....(yes, yes, I know....don't say it.....you're preaching to the converted....).

I've been been giving alarm company feedback to an Ottawa development company that now has a new TCP/IP unit available for hands on examination, and that promises to make TCP/IP connections both more reliable and inexpensive enough that they will have a definate residential application. I get to see the device "hands on" this week coming.

They also have a website...www.lobenninc.com....

I'd be interested in any feedback from the group before I go to see this equipment; ie: questions you feel would be applicable to ask that are not directly answered on the website.

I expect this sort of application will circumvent the VoIP issue as opposed to solving it..

RHC

Well you are right RH. The cost is what's circumventing the progress. But, you have to remember, this comes from years (10+) of idiots giving away the industry for free. It's been self inflicted. It's one of the main reasons I personally got out of residential installs 11 years ago. The question is not will the cost come down, it's how do you recover from the 10's of thousands of idiots that managed to penetrate the residential market. Good luck. I see it as a waste of good business resources, on a nickel and dime effort. Most dealers think the digital communicator is working well, why change. Why change they say? Faster communication for one. The ability to use low cost audio/video verification for two. And most importantly, at least commercially, 10X the RMR. Plus a considerable decrease in communications costs at the CS end. If I told you there was an opportunity to make the same RMR on 50 accounts, as 500 would you be interested? I know it can be done, because I'm doing it. The problem is, most people (dealers) are happy with their free system give-always. What a shame.

Everyone- thank you for your replies. While most of this stuff is a bit over my head, the idea of having them change the daily call is something I will pursue. I am paying for the service plan so even if they need to come out to make that change I will not need to pay anything. And heck, since they are out here anyway, why not a 4th shot at trying to get it to work :) Yes- I am still under contract which is why I am not cancelling and then starting new service at the new place. Plus since going for the Vonage thing was my cost-savings decision despite warnings from Brinks, I am not entirely opposed to paying for a few months knowing it is not working (although I have "asked" for a credit), I just want that frickin beeping to stop :) Also, I want to take advantage of the move program which only applies to current customers. Not sure how much that will save me since I will need a bunch of new fear for the new house.... I knew VOIP had the potential for problems but it was a personal decision that I made in an attempt to save a lot of money per month and balance the probability 1) I would have legitimate alarm event (which has not happened since installed two years ago, and 2) the connection would happen to fail at that exact moment. I know, a gamble but lesson learned...new house will have dedicated line.

SUMMARY- From what I could undertand of these posts, there is no easy fix for me to stop the daily call in. Several months ago someone told me they thought there was something like hitting CANCEL 15 times which would disable that but they were not sure. BTW since I know people post question like these for less honorable reasons... I am NOT trying to cheat the alarm company... in case anyone is wondering. I have had Brinks for several years, paid a lot to get every feature they have installed in my home (3) motion, (1) heat, (3) smoke, (4) door, (1) glass break, (1) line cut, (1) LatchKey (paging), (2) remotes, (1) "panic" button (wife works out of house) and more I am sure I have forgotten. In the new house I will be doing this all over again, and continuing to pay be $35/month. I an just frustrated that knowing what I paid and installed, and continue to pay every month under contract (more than a year left), why they won't help me just disable the call back. I am sure someone will reply that I am wrong, but I just don't believe this can not be done.

Beeping making me crazy!!! :) And my two Shih Tzi's too!

Beep Beep Beep in Chicago, Brett

One last question, based on the communication formats which may work over VOIP...

Should I be pushing more on Brinks, or my VOIP provider Vonage? They have pointed fingers in the past but I think it ended up in Vonages court as they would need to configure their router to communicate a certain way for this. Maybe onea more last ditch effort to see if this can be fixed to get my CF to stop until I move. Which company is more likely going to need to make the changes necessary? And again, if any of you know a short term solution to get it turned off entirely SHORT TERM (not just change the time it happens), I only need a couple months before we move. Thanks all

One last question, based on the communication formats which may work over VOIP...

Should I be pushing more on Brinks, or my VOIP provider Vonage? They have pointed fingers in the past but I think it ended up in Vonages court as they would need to configure their router to communicate a certain way for this. Maybe onea more last ditch effort to see if this can be fixed to get my CF to stop until I move. Which company is more likely going to need to make the changes necessary? And again, if any of you know a short term solution to get it turned off entirely SHORT TERM (not just change the time it happens), I only need a couple months before we move. Thanks all

"on *some* panels the warning beep can be disabled - they may be concerned abt a liablilty issue so they might not disable it even if it can be. "

Is this something I can do myself? If I am a current paying customer, but disable a feature on the box to temporarily stop the beeping for a couple months, it would be my accountability if there ever was an issue. Do you know how I would do this?

Vonage has a feature where I can be $10/month for a fax-activated line (which I assume transmits dial tone results. Maybe getting that feature added and having binks connect into the VOIP dedicated fax port would work?

Wow....you are passionate about the alarm business. And even more so about pointing blame at people you do not even know and with just partial context. There is a lot under the surface there, but this is just an alarm system group so I will keep it at that. THEREFORE: This response is intended for others the quality of service some alarm companies will go through to help get VOIP issues sorted out, as they know they will be instinct if they don't. Thie is just one example of a company who used me as a training ground for their [VOIP] educated Techs to work through an installation. As a pre-note, the first tech who came to my house did know what VOIP was- he may have just been new on the job, so I spent some time walking through it with him,

A year into having my Brinks alarm system, I installed Vonage VOIP and let Brinks remain on a regular line. I called Brinks to see if my alarm would work via Vonage; At the time the market was newer but they were happy to send someone over at no cost (plus I have the support plan and never have "my failt" things like this prevented them from coming out to service me. The Brinks techs spent must the day trying to sort it out and although still did not get it working, they thanked me for calling them in because I was one of the first in the area and they want to get more experience working with these. So it became a quest for them to get this sorted out before the inevitable calls starting coming in as mainstram VOIPs like vonage start popping up and Best Buy and other mass retailers. A few weeks later they brought a special adapter Brinks just purchased to help solved this problem. It worked for a while but then no more. Brinks worked with Vonage on the communication protocols or how it is configured and the service was a bit on and off. They continued to send technicians out a couple times to work through it. Again, they were happy I was being their real-world guinea pig as some of these adapters were so new the Brinks installer did not even have instructions. So... I asked for a credit for a few months of monitoring because they were very interested in getting it working, and I was patient with them to see if they could. So... I could have activated my landline for $20 and saved myself numerous visits and a non-functioning alarm I paid hundreds for. So. Why the credit you ask? I think that their using my house as a training platform local Brinks staff to get up to speed on VIOP (and using new provided adapters with no instructions) and allowing them test installations and troubleshootings is certainly worth a service credit of $35 for the past three months. If you could deploy a new production alarm environment in a residential real-world setting, allow your teams to learn how the technology works, understand their mysterous (instructionless) adapters where they did not know which end was up, and build a case study.... all for $105 in SOFT cost (simply 3 months of service which my system did no work), that is reasonable by any standard. If you disagree, then we both know you are not reasonable but I will not ask for a credit for taking the time to education you on that. :) half-kidding :)

You are awesome- that is the most informative step-by-step action I can take My disaply says "CP" and the Clock Says "---". The clock has never worked since vonage, I was told time could not be downloaded. My monthly months alarm tests (my most recent was this morning) have never worked (except a few times early on). One of the troubleshooting steps a few months ago included them replacing my board. Since I do not have a clock, could I already have a download board maybe? I just did the reset by holding down O, it rebooted, then I ran a "test" which failed and the display still says CP. Thanks for clearning up Brinks v Vonage, I assumed Vonage was the culpret. So I am I back to calling for the board or another step? Thank you for being so helpful, and knowledgable.

You are awesome- that is the most informative step-by-step action I can take My disaply says "CP" and the Clock Says "---". The clock has never worked since vonage, I was told time could not be downloaded. My monthly months alarm tests (my most recent was this morning) have never worked (except a few times early on). One of the troubleshooting steps a few months ago included them replacing my board. Since I do not have a clock, could I already have a download board maybe? I just did the reset by holding down O, it rebooted, then I ran a "test" which failed and the display still says CP. Thanks for clearning up Brinks v Vonage, I assumed Vonage was the culpret. So I am I back to calling for the board or another step? Thank you for being so helpful, and knowledgable.

Thank you. Post a follow up with you, I really appreciate your help!

If Brinks over that side of the pond is like Brinks over here...probably not. (IF it's a Brinks panel that is)

Easy short term fix. Open the panel. Disconnect battery and power.

No more beeping.

first off, are you getting "cf" or "cp"?... cf is a supervisory signal on the keypad(s) cp is a communication error my guess is that you are getting "cp"

if you are getting this every 24 hours, here's what you need to do..... call brinks, tell them you have Vonage, and that you need an "uploaded board" they will know what you are talking about, and it will cost you $75 for the switchover....they will tell you that you need a voip connecter....they're idiots...ther is no connecter, you need a new board....when the board is replaced, you will no longer have a clock on your kp...it will be replaced with "- - -" that's exactly what it will look like.... if you are getting cp trbl, send a test, if it goes thru, then so will your "real" signals....the reason it's beeping every 24 hours is because the upload will not go thru...it's NOT a daily test that someone mentioned!!!! with brinks, there is NO daily test, here's what's happening.... every 13 weeks the board will do an upload to basically sync the clock...with vonage, the upload is not possible...once the upload fails, it will try again EVERY 24 hours untill the upload is succesful the only tests that get done on the system is the installer test at time of install, and a full test of the system anytime there is a serv call. that's why right on the front of the keypad, it says "TEST WEEKLY" if that does not work, then you REALLY need them to come out and change your board.... another way you can fix this (temporarily) is to press and hold the 0 button down for ten seconds, this will reset the panel...eveything will turn completly off, and then after about 5 seconds it will come back on.

now, if you're getting "cf" trbl, then you need a serv call NOW

please don't listen to SOME of the people around here that give you bad, although well meaning advice...brinks WILL NOT "deprogramm" the system for you they WILL NOT change the test time SIA is NOT only format that will work with voip

the problem is not with brinks or any other system.... the problem is VONAGE.....you get what you pay for

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