When you decide to move your phone system to the cloud, you want your system to be simpler and more scalable without using your old telephone cables. But did you know that getting rid of the old copper wires might have some unwanted consequences for your home security system? Because despite being the future of telephony, VoIP and home security systems still don’t get along well with each other: VoIP companies recommend keeping a separate system while home security companies recommend keeping your copper wires. For an average user, this is a real catch 22. We are here to help you cut the Gordian knot. We’ll help you figure out how you can still use your home security system without copper wires while switching from landline phones to VoIP, and what you should pay attention to.
VoIP and Home Security Systems: Match Made in Heaven?
Since you want to replace old telephone cables with internet cables (unless you leave just one for security purposes), your system will use two monitoring solutions.
The first one is relying on a wireless security system that establishes a constant connection between your home and the monitoring center. Should this connection fail, due to network connection loss or a power failure, your home security system provider can immediately see the problem and take measures like calling you or other phone numbers you have provided. However, as your cloud phone system can use regular and wireless/cellular internet connections (especially if you have a phone outside your home or an app that can receive your home phone calls), your phone system can still remain active. And that is extremely crucial since it is you who wants to be alerted first, plus you can avoid false alarms if the reason of the power outage is insignificant.
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An even better solution, which is almost always recommended by VoIP providers, is using a cellular home security system. The reason behind this is simple: cellular monitoring can be completely independent from your VoIP system (as it uses a SIM card to establish a connection), so your home security system can still alert you any time.
Landline vs VoIP
Despite many people dropping their landline phones for a better, newer, and (not to mention) cheaper VoIP system, home security system providers still consider this solution an extreme risk. The biggest concern is that if your internet goes down, you can say goodbye to your VoIP connection as well, making it impossible for the security monitoring center to be alarmed. Furthermore, due to voice compression and the UDP technology (where data packets do not travel in order) security signals might get lost or misinterpreted by your security company. The only foolproof way of avoiding this is to look for companies with managed facility voice network (MFVN) – but at the cost of switching to VoIP.
So what’s the best solution? Get a backup power source for your VoIP system, or better yet: get a completely wireless, cellular home security system and removing your landlines won’t be a problem.
Recommended VoIP Systems
Unfortunately, VoIP providers still not recommend their services to be paired up with home security systems. However, this doesn’t mean you cannot use a virtual phone system alongside your home security system: all you need is a company which can provide bulletproof connection 24/7.
RingCentral
Although this company is a bit of a standout (as it is mostly intended for businesses), it is one of the most reliable of the market. The RingCentral network is fully redundant to avoid natural disasters, power outages, and attacks, the system is continuously monitored (and you can see whether it’s up or down), plus it flawlessly switches from one data center to another should there be problem with the servers. Plus, for prices starting from $34.99 per month for one user, you get “unwanted” professional features like shared phone lines, auto-receptionist, unlimited extensions, audio(visual) conferencing, business texting, plenty of third-party software integration and even online faxing.
Broadvoice
Broadvoice (available for as low as $8.33 per month) already has a pretty impressive list of features on its own, including a built-in softphone, inbound fax handler, call router, a bandwidth saver, and the unique Click2Call. However, it has a list of features that mostly focus on keeping your phone system foolproof. Broadvoice offers a free second line so you can place another device somewhere else within or even outside your home. With simultaneous ring and/or Failsafe you can be reached on any number you have provided, which comes in handy if your system is down. Plus, for $0.99 per month you get a separate 911 service which sends your name, address and location in case of an emergency.
ViaTalk
This company, providing both residential and business VoIP services, has all features a cloud phone system needs, like web-based voicemails, call logs, do-not-disturb, the outgoing private caller ID, speed dial, built-in softphone and so on. And if you pay the $15.75 monthly fee (for which you also get unlimited minutes), your ViaTalk subscription will feature not just the above, but extras as well. These extras include: e911, call routing, call hunt, simultaneous ringing and, quite interestingly, internet forwarding with which you can forward your phone number to a different SIP address should your system be down for any reason.
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