Change to Fibe and bell home phone not connecting with my security system

[DGDOttawa]

Bell just switched out the old copper wire to the Fibe wire

my security system does not connect with the central monitoring anymore 

the security rep said bell May have switched the service to VOIP which means the security system will not connect and he would have to switch to a cellular system (costs of course)

anyone else have this issue or can confirm?

[BellPatricia · Accepted solution]

Hi there @DGDOttawa. Thanks for your post, and welcome to the Bell Community. 

You're correct. The telephone delivered over copper lines is being upgraded to Fibe Home phone. Some security systems may not be compatible. 

- Patricia

[Paladin · Accepted solution]

Hi!

Some alarm companies offer other ways of connecting your alarm system to them beside the phone line/cell phone, you might want to look into this.

Good luck and have a nice day!

[Viv]

When I converted to Fibe (and subsequently back to landline), there were intermittent problems with both the security system and the telephone line. The Fibe telephone was quite a nuisance, so I switched back and problems were solved.

[Paladin]

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@Viv wrote:

When I converted to Fibe (and subsequently back to landline), there were intermittent problems with both the security system and the telephone line. The Fibe telephone was quite a nuisance, so I switched back and problems were solved.

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Anything that communicates with old style modems (alarm systems, fax and old style modems) are one of the things that I would expect not to work or work poorly with VoIP (Voice over IP).

There are replacement modules you can put on your alarm system to use the Internet to communicate with the alarm company but you have to find an alarm company which supports this otherwise your only other choice is to use cellular.

As for faxes,there is a standard that is supposed to help with VoIP,it is T.38 but I have not played much with it. Personally for the rare times I need to send faxes I send them using one of those sites that offer these kind of services...

I am not surprised that the alarm system could cause problems with the phone line too as alarm systems are usually wired in such a way that your phone line goes through the alarm system before being distributed in the house. They do this to allow the alarm system to do "line seizure", essentially cutting the phone line to all phones so that is can report an alarm. If it did not do that you could simply put a phone off-hook to keep the alarm system from reporting an alarm...

If my home had an alarm system I would really think twice before switching to VoIP. I would most likely switch to Internet monitoring well before switching to VoIP...

I hope that the salespeople warn people that want to switch from copper lines to VoIP in advance that things might not go smoothly if they have an alarm system as I doubt many people know how fussy alarm systems actually are and how much of a nuisance they can be...

[Yak]

You might better look for alternatives as Bell is actively cutting off their copperline service. They just cut of our copper landline service without any notice last month. When we called to report landline wasn't working, Bell told us our equipment was outdated and we were going to get upgraded to Fibe at no cost. Not true. Every change comes with a cost, if not an adjustment. Bell should have been forthcoming with this and how it will impact residences and small businesses.

[ZaneP · Accepted solution]

Yes, I can confirm that your scenario is an issue, unless you deal with it in advance .

Before switching to Bell we had internet and VOIP services from a cable company. (We had no need for VOIP going forward: cell phones only). In advance of the Bell fiber install date I contacted our security system provider. We switched to an internet-based system and it was a smooth transition. The yearly cost is lower than the old system. 

Bell should be informing customers of these possible outcomes before the service upgrade happens. It's also a sales opportunity!

[ZaneP]

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@Paladin wrote:

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Anything that communicates with old style modems (alarm systems, fax and old style modems) are one of the things that I would expect not to work or work poorly with VoIP (Voice over IP).

If my home had an alarm system I would really think twice before switching to VoIP. I would most likely switch to Internet monitoring well before switching to VoIP...

I hope that the salespeople warn people that want to switch from copper lines to VoIP in advance that things might not go smoothly if they have an alarm system as I doubt many people know how fussy alarm systems actually are and how much of a nuisance they can be...

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I agree with these points!

[SharetheGood]

Hoping in future we can have well-informed decisions without compromising existing services tied closely with landline (fax, security system etc).  It would be good to see these in pre-sales FAQ - information-to-know online or by salesperson soonest as they are ready. 

Warmest regards.

[BAM]

We recently switched to a Bell Giga Hub 4000 (previously 2000) upgraded service, and the landline switched to the new modem. We have a UPS as recommended.  

We have an ADT (now Telus) system which was originally installed by Bell Gardium about 20 years ago.  After we made the switch, matters seemed to continue normally.  However, problems arose within a few days and now we have constant issues with:

• Our service drops frequently: home phone, internet, FIBE TV
• Home phone service quality is very poor: today we had issues with the line cutting in and out.  It takes forever to get dial tone on the home phone at any time.  I used the chat on my Bell mobile phone and was cut off ("connection to server lost") -- not helpful and frustrating. Ran the self service trouble shooter with opposing/conflicting results several times - we had service outages/no service outages, we made adjustments to the external equipment, etc.  Again, not very helpful.  
• The alarm system starts to sound audible warnings ("connection issue") when the home phone drops, and of course, that is often, and at all hours of the day and night.  

ADT/Telus can't advise us if the alarm system is compatible with the new service.  They don't seem to know.  The problem might be the age of the alarm system, but again, they don't seem to know.  There is probably not a cellular upgrade available, but again, don't know what the problem is. The simple solution from that end is to blame Bell and tell us to upgrade our ADT service but that sounds to me like throwing money at an undefined problem which may not be solved by the suggested action! 

Has anyone else had a similar experience with the alarm systems and what was the solution?

Hs there been any fix to the other issues which are noted on this forum?

[Nikki]

After our recent switch from Rogers to Bell phone (Hub 4000), our Caddx Networx with Alliance Security also stopped communicating with the monitoring station.  I was told that this is a known issue with many of their clients who moved to Bell and that the 20+ yr old system was incompatible with Bell VoIP.  They offered a cellular upgrade as well, but I decided to cancel the monitoring service, something that I have been contemplating for a while.  IMO, security monitoring has been a waste of my money - police never respond to a threat within a meaningful timeframe so what's the point? 

[BAM]

Thank you.  The insurance company gave us a big enough annual discount for a monitored system that the monitoring cost was close to covered.  

[catman42]

when bell says some systems may not be compatible does that mean your home phone

[Rusty_Alexander]

We are in the middle of the same debacle.  Hours wasted trying to find out why phones are dead, but Internet works fine.  Tech coming Monday to install Fibe, but nobody could explain what I needed to do to prepare for the work inside the house. I also have no idea how this affects my many extension phones.  Why no advance warning?

[Viv]

Interestingly, the second connection to Fibe phone does not interfere with my security system, so no migration to a cell-based system. Lots of additional costs saved!

As regards the internal set-up, all extensions still use the internal phone lines, so go figure....