[VoiceOps] ADT Alarms Special Dialing?

Fri Aug 7 08:14:10 EDT 2015

Paul,

And is inband DTMF not what the ADT alarm panel needs?

On Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 10:02 PM, Paul Timmins <paul at timmins.net> wrote:

> TA5k only speaks DTMF inband VDSL2 and ADSL2+ combo cards. It's not a
> changeable setting.
>
> -Paul
>
> On Aug 6, 2015, at 21:55, Colton Conor <colton.conor at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Wow thanks to all this has been a huge help! So we are using a Broadsoft
> for the voice switch connected by SIP to an Adtran Total Access 5000 that
> has VDSL2 Combo cards. So I assume we would need to change the DTMF
> settings on the Adtran. Have any recommendations on what to look for to
> make this work with ADT alarm lines if its truly a DMT issue.
>
> I don't like the idea of changing setting on the actual alarm. I prefer to
> get the POTS working right so it works regardless of the alarms settings.
>
> On Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 7:03 PM, Nathan Anderson <nathana at fsr.com> wrote:
>
>> I doubt it.  We are an ISP and ITSP doing voice exclusively 100% over
>> IP.  We have historically actively discouraged hooking up an alarm system
>> to our service and relying on that (in order to avoid support headaches,
>> liability issues, etc.), but we ourselves have an ADT system that was
>> previously hooked up to local ILEC POTS service and that we moved over to
>> an ATA of ours as an experiment.
>>
>> It actually works just fine now, but it didn't initially.  Turns out that
>> the default "modulation" technique used between the panel and the
>> monitoring center is...DTMF.  Really.  It appeared that either the
>> monitoring center or the panel (or both) did not like something about how
>> either the ATA or the terminating provider was regenerating the DTMF tones
>> from the OOB info.  Not sure if it was a timing issue or what.  I am pretty
>> sure I did try forcing DTMF to not be decoded/re-encoded and just remain
>> inband, but that didn't seem to work for whatever reason (can't remember
>> the details; it's been a while since this all transpired).
>>
>> Eventually, I managed to track down an installer's manual for the
>> particular model of panel we have, and was able to reprogram it to use a
>> form of FSK modulation to talk to the monitoring center instead.  It's
>> super low bitrate (300 baud IIRC), and works 100% perfectly over G.711
>> PCM.  (I know this because after I made the change, I accidentally managed
>> to set the alarm off, and ADT called my boss, etc.; that was fun...)  We
>> have been using the panel this way for months, plugged into a VoIP ATA.
>>
>> The panel dials an 800 number periodically to check in, and also when the
>> alarm is tripped.  If it cannot complete a check-in successfully, a light
>> on the panel will be illuminated.  That LED has not come on since the
>> modulation switch.  If they were doing LRN lookups, we would fail that test
>> as well since none of our sources for DIDs are on ADT's "approved" list,
>> either.  I am sure I can get you the number that ours dials if you care to
>> have it, but I have no way of knowing if they use the same number in all
>> geographies or across all product lines (ours is an office/business system
>> that I'm pretty sure doesn't get used in residential installs; for all I
>> know, it may call a different monitoring center than the residential
>> product(s) do).
>>
>> Hope this helps at least give you some more ideas,
>>
>> --
>> Nathan Anderson
>> First Step Internet, LLC
>> nathana at fsr.com
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: VoiceOps [mailto:voiceops-bounces at voiceops.org] On Behalf Of
>> Colton Conor
>> Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2015 4:30 PM
>> To: voiceops at voiceops.org
>> Subject: Re: [VoiceOps] ADT Alarms Special Dialing?
>>
>> I did find this page http://www.adt.com/customer-service/voip-faqs Seems
>> that your phone company has to be:
>>
>> A Qualified “Managed Facility Voice Network (MFVN)”includes the following:
>> 1. Has a physical facilities network which is managed and maintained
>> (directly or indirectly) by the service provider. Can ensure service
>> quality from the service subscriber location to the PSTN or other MFVN peer
>> network.
>> 2. Utilizes similar signaling and related protocols as the PSTN with
>> respect to dialing, dial plan, call completion, carriage of alarm signals
>> and protocols, and loop voltage treatment.
>> 3. Provides real-time transmission of voice signals, carrying alarm
>> formats unchanged.
>> 4. Provides professional installation that preserves primary line seizure
>> for alarm signal transmission.
>> 5. Has major and minor disaster recovery plans to address both individual
>> customer outages and widespread events such as tornados, ice storms and
>> other natural disasters. This includes specific network power restoration
>> procedures that are comparable to those of traditional landline telephone
>> services in the same geographic region.
>> 6. Has informed ADT that its network meets the characteristics of a MFVN.
>> Still how are they controlling this? Think ADT is smart enough to do a
>> LRN lookup on a number, and see its not one from their qualified list?
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> On Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 6:21 PM, Colton Conor <colton.conor at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> We are a CLEC and have a had a couple of customers port away from
>> Verizon's landline service and to our voice service where we provided an
>> analog POTS line with the same number just as the client had before with
>> Verizon. We hook the POTS line up to the exact same wire going to the
>> client's alarm panel, but the alarm can't communicate with ADT.
>>
>> We called ADT on multiple clients behalfs, and they basically said
>> Verizon is on an approved list to work with their services and our CLEC is
>> not, so it would not work.
>>
>> How is ADT limiting this? Does their alarm panels dial a special number
>> that only Verizon knows or allows? This has happened with multiple clients.
>>
>> We have not been able to get on the voice switch and see what numbers
>> they panel is actually trying to dial, but any insight to this would be
>> helpful.
>>
>> I have read that some alarm companies uses a special code before they
>> make an outbound call so the long distance gets billed to them or
>> something?
>>
>>
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