Does FIOS work for monitoring or do I need iGSM?

[bajinnova]

I have a new house with an alarm system and Verizon FIOS phone service. The alarm installer tells me I need to buy an IGSM unit because the alarm system won't work with FIOS. Is this correct? The reason I'm skeptical is that the alarm company seems to think that FIOS is VOIP, which I don't think is the case.

[MrRonFL]

If the telephone adaptor emulates a phone line properly, then yes, FIOS can be used for security monitoring (like any voice over digital solution, it has some drawbacks).

The FIOS phone adaptor _is_ a version of voice over IP, the only difference is that you are going over fiber instead of copper. On a typical install, the adaptor has about 3-4 hours of battery backup.

[bajinnova]

Originally Posted by MrRonFL

If the telephone adaptor emulates a phone line properly,

Is there a way to tell if this is the case?

(like any voice over digital solution, it has some drawbacks).

Are there any major ones besides the limited battery backup time? I can live with that, but I would not be satisfied if, for instance, line seizure didn't work.

The FIOS phone adaptor _is_ a version of voice over IP,

I guess what I meant is that my impression is that it is not the same as, say, Vonage.

I'm not sure what I should do at this point. I thought the alarm company would come out and set me up with a year of monitoring and I would just pay the fee. I'm kind of swamped right now (trying to get settled in the new place and we have a baby), but in a year or so I thought I might like to try one of the do-it-yourself oriented monitoring services that are a lot cheaper.

But now the alarm company thinks I need to spend $300 on IGSM + the monitoring service, and if they do the monitoring they will change and lock the installer code so I won't be able to do anything with the system myself in the future (not sure if this is negotiable). And I'm annoyed to realize that I don't have any keypads advanced enough to program the system anyway (it's an Ademco Vista-20PSIA, and I only have fixed text keypads, not the 2-line one you need for programming). So I'd be tempted to chuck the company and put in a new keypad, but I'm not sure how complicated it will be to set up the monitoring myself for the first time (as opposed to changing the monitoring arrangement on a system that was already monitored), especially if FIOS makes it more complicated.

[MrRonFL]

The best fast and dirty test, is if you can send a fax over it, usually, it's good enough. Services like vonage have limited ability to call normal landline.

Line seizure is based on your in house wiring. See the FAQ. Basically the adaptor takes the place of the telco.
The wildcards boil down to the quality of the adaptor. Some do a better job than others. Also, any downstream outage hoses you.

In my opinion, I think your alarm installer is trying very hard to upsell you _and_ lock you into their service.

Read the archived posts. The Vista 20p is nearly a daily topic. It's really not a difficult system to work with.

FIOS isn't really the issue. It's poor installer service.

[bajinnova]

Thanks, I think I'm going to give it a try on my own.

Originally Posted by MrRonFL

The best fast and dirty test, is if you can send a fax over it, usually, it's good enough. Services like vonage have limited ability to call normal landline.

I passed the fax test.

The Vista 20p is nearly a daily topic. It's really not a difficult system to work with.

I don't have any documentation besides the user manual. I have found installation and programming manuals online, but generally with dates that are older than my printed user manual. Is it likely that the revision number of the manual is critically important? And is a Vista-20PSIA the same as a Vista-20P? I think I have a 20PSIA because there's a little sticker on the circuit board with 20PSIA on it, but I don't know what that means.

[MrRonFL]

The 20p and 20psia are functionally and programming identical. The PSIA models have a different set of system defaults (mostly for functions that are seldom used).

The online version of the manual you have will work just fine. The only significant change is that later models allow the use of 4 touchscreen keypads instead of just 2.

[jim603]

I have had an Ademco alarm system installed by Protection One for two years now . The system works great with FIOS no problem at all , They can call in program the system , if I set the alarm off they call me and tell me what zone it went off in .
I want to change to Comcast and I am being told by protection one that it does not work with VOIP IE: comcast digital voice , well I think FIOS is Voice over IP also so I dont know what to do .

[MrRonFL]

Same answer as above. If it works normally with a fax machine, then it's 90% likely to work with alarm communication.