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WARNING:

As everyone knows, Shaw™ cable in now in the business of providing telephone service. Although their system is somewhat compatible with alarm systems for two way communications, Hunt Security Systems Inc. strongly recommends that you thoroughly test your alarm system before the Shaw™ technician leaves the premise.

Why?

Hunt Security Systems Inc have come across several telephone systems that have been converted to Shaw™.  Unfortunately, some of their technicians are not familiar with alarm system interface's with telephone systems, nor do they claim any responsibility for "CSE" (customer supplied equipment) Their system can cause:

1. A telephone line fault "trouble"
2. A "fail to communicate" trouble. (Which will not be evident until your alarm system attempts and fails to communicate with the central station.)

Before the installer leaves:

1. Call your monitoring station and place your system "on test".
2. Arm your alarm system and wait for the exit delay duration to expire (usually 60 seconds)
3. Open a door or window and let the siren or bell sound for 30 seconds.  Before you disarm the system, make sure that your telephone is "dead" while the signal is being transmitted to the monitoring station.  If you hear anything the installation is incorrect!
4. Disarm your alarm system
5. Call the monitoring station and confirm receipt of an alarm signal.
6. If an alarm signal was not received or your keypad indicates a "trouble" within 5 minutes, the Shaw™ installation / hookup is incorrect. If so, have the technician rectify the problem and re-test the system.

It is not our intention to discredit Shaw™, however we have seen far too many failures due to incorrect installations rather than equipment failure.  It is your responsibility to make certain that your alarm system is functioning correctly before Shaw™ Cable / Telephone leaves your premises.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Shaw™ Cable / Telephone modem has a built in standby battery and will maintain your telephone service for about 4 hours during a power failure? Once the battery runs out on the cable/telephone modem, your alarm system loses the ability to communicate with the central monitoring station. Telus™ never goes down in a power failure as all battery is supplied by the central telephone office.

Standby batteries lose 20% of their capacity per year. How long will your phone stay up and running after 5 years? Hunt Security Systems Inc recommends that you simulate a power failure once a year and time how long your Shaw™ modem maintains telephone service. Unplug the adaptor / transformer that supplies power to the modem and check your phone every half hour.  This will give you a good indication of the condition of the battery.  Once you plug the transformer / adapter back in the battery will (should) recharge.

A meeting with Mr. Roy Stagg of Shaw revealed that they monitor the condition of the battery in the modem and ensured us that they will replace the battery at their expense once they receive a notification that the battery is failing. It was suggested that the client could plug the modem into a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) for added service during a power failure.

In all fairness to the cable companies providing this service, they are not providing VoIP, rather a "form of" VoIP whereas theirs is a privately "managed" network and not the internet. The similarity (and problem with security systems) stems from the data your alarm system sends to the monitoring station is converted at both ends of their network. This can and has caused the data to be corrupted in some cases.

 The service provided by the cable company is in fact a "form of" VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol system, and as such is not approved by alarm equipment manufacturers to work with any degree of reliability or certainty (if at all) and should not be considered a reliable or secure method of communicating signals to the monitoring station satisfactory to meet the requirements of life safety signaling systems.  Client's who switch to this service do so entirely at their own risk!

Until such time as alarm equipment manufacturers can develop systems to work jointly or specifically with this service, we can not endorse it's use. We do know that research and development is underway to achieve this goal, but as of now nothing has been marketed as such that we are aware of. HONEYWELL is currently working with not only Shaw, but Rogers Cable on the compatibility issues.

Hunt Security Systems Inc. only recognizes and endorses TELUS® as an official provider of telephone service in British Columbia, and as such recommends that anyone contemplating using VoIP service for their alarm communications pathway, also invest in an alternate communications service such as TCP/IP or GSM radio to minimize the possibility of signals not being communicated to the monitoring station.

Clients utilizing Shaw Cable™ as their primary security alarm signal pathway will be required to sign an amendment to the "Security System Agreement" which explains fully the limitations and risks involved as well as the clients responsibilities.

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Last modified: 09/27/08 07:23