comment on fire alarm communication and back up battery
**************
John certainly hit the nail on the head in his comment on April 20, 2012 ... VoIP is worthless crap dreamed up to shift all the operating costs from the analog line providers to anyone else and offers nothing but continuous service calls and headaches for alarm companies and no security for anyone dumb enough to use it. And the statement about 8 hours of standby is mostly wishful thinking because most VoIP has no standby battery at all except inside of the customer's premises to power the ROUTER only and in this area that is either 5 minutes or 15 minutes and in no case is it eight hours. However, once the signal leaves the building is where you have your major problems because aside from telephone companies that still provide ADSL service over their analog lines which are powered by their central station batteries nobody else has any dependable source of power. All of the cable companies depend on roadside power supply boxes every quarter mile and many of those either have dead batteries or no batteries at all because they have been stolen.
The cable companies know you can't watch tv when the power is off so they don't bother maintaining the power supplies and they just don't tell their customers that their phone and security systems also don't work when the power fails. In fact they give a printed notice saying if you need to use your cable phone while the power off to call 911 you should use a "wired" phone at a neighbors house. Or you should keep your "wired" phone service for use in an emergency or for security systems or fax transmissions or other uses unsuitable for VoIP technology. If all the stuff I have been using for more than 45 years on my current technology and it's all unsuitable for VoIP technology then VoIP technology is unsuitable for me and if I am going to switch to something then I will switch to something I can have at least a small amount of confidence of successful operation. Ken can correct me if I am wrong here but if I suggest that a customer invest in anything security related that depends upon VoIP technology knowing in advance that it is likely not going to work properly in an emergency and then it does fail when something bad happens, I will end up spending a lot of expensive time in courts trying to defend my expert advice. The disclaimer is not going to keep me out of court.
The smart move seems to be to avoid VoIP but what choice do we have as analog goes away? It's VoIP or some sort of radio and the cellular service is already clogged up and only slightly more dependable. You don't know if your VoIP or radio devices are actually working.
At least if you use a dedicated ip transmitter you know when its dead but your are still dependent upon the internet and depending upon somebody else to provide you with a working internet hookup may sound easy but it's horribly undependable. The customer router MUST be working and not locked up. The customer router MUST have standby power in case the local power fails but you don't have any way to know this battery backup is any good or actually hooked up. The customer MUST NOT unplug your connection to the router. These three issues cause alone cause a huge number of service calls and customers don't want to pay for these calls because they don't see anything connected to the internet as being their problem. I will stop my rant now. thesatguy
******************
Response
******************
Any form of communication pathway is ultimately out of your control. The Standard Form Contracts address this and exculpate you from any responsibility. But, you raise a great point. Can you avoid liability if you use or recommend any form of equipment or service that you know in advance is ineffectual or non operational or not reliable to perform the task expected? It's really not a fair question. it's a loaded question.
You should not use or recommend something that you know isn't going to work. However, technology is still evolving and you have a right to rely on the latest technology, even if not perfect. The contracts will absolve you as long as you have a reasonable believe that the system will work, or, as is the case with VoIP, you explain the limitations of the technology and make it clear that the subscriber assumes the risk.
You are right that the contracts may not keep you out of court, but they should keep you from paying most claims and damages. Don't underestimate the Disclaimer Notice.
*******************
comment on fire alarm communication and back up battery (from April 18, 2012)
*******************
Ken,
Mike/CSS wrote; “The whole back up battery issue is a joke with voip modems. If the cable goes out at the central office or the power in the area goes out.... the signal going to your modem will not be there. What good did the battery back up do? When was the last time the batteries, if any, were changed on the telephone pole that houses the amps or repeaters? Pots, still the way to go with radio back-up.!!"
In December 2009 AT&T petitioned the FCC to transition from circuit switched (POTS analog) to packet switched (Broadband digital) by 2014. In summary; AT&T summed up the problem it faces with its copper-based POTS network plainly:
It is losing about 700,000 landlines per month; POTS revenue has fallen from $178.6 billion in 2000 to $130.8 billion in 2007; 22% of households have already made the move from wireline voice service to a mobile replacement; and the costs to maintain the copper POTS plant are rising, particularly because there are fewer customers to spread those costs across.
Said AT&T in its filing, "If broadband and IP-based services represent the future of telecommunications, the PSTN and POTS are now relics of an earlier era. The business model that sustained circuit-switched voice service over the last century is dying."
Fact is like Direct Wire, i.e. lease lines, Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) is being phased out.
For those in New Jersey amendments to the Uniform Construction Code are in the works to streamline the transition from POTS to MFVN where DACTS are employed. The proposed amendments would allow MFVN's to be used without making the owner of the building apply for a full permit to change phone lines. The proposed amendment specifically deals with existing DACTS and will allow the use of MFVN service on existing DACTS without the need for a full permit. This modification will require verification to be submitted to the fire subcode official that the fire alarm signals to the supervising station are being maintained. The installation of new communications equipment, versus the transmission means, will still require a full permit.
2010 NFPA-72 TIA-10-3
2010 NFPA-72 3.3.141 Managed Facilities-Based Voice Network (MFVN) provides; "A physical facilities-based network capable of transmitting real time signals with formats unchanged that is managed, operated, and maintained by the service provider to ensure service quality and reliability from the subscriber location to public switched telephone network (PSTN) interconnection points or other MFVN peer networks."
2010 NFPA-72 3.3.141 Managed Facilities-based Voice Network (MFVN). Managed Facilities-based Voice Network service is functionally equivalent to traditional PSTN-based services provided by authorized common carriers (public utility telephone companies) with respect to dialing, dial plan, call completion, carriage of signals and protocols, and loop voltage treatment and provides all of the following features:
(1) A loop start telephone circuit service interface
(2) Pathway reliability that is assured by proactive management, operation, and maintenance by the MFVN provider
(3) 8 hours of standby power supply capacity for MFVN communications equipment either located at the protected premises or field deployed. Industry standards followed by the authorized common carriers (public utility telephone companies), and the other communications service providers that operate MFVNs, specifically engineer the selection of the size of the batteries, or other permanently located standby power source, in order to provide 8 hours of standby power with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Of course, over time, abnormal ambient conditions and battery aging can always have a potentially adverse effect on battery capacity. The MFVN field-deployed equipment typically monitors the condition of the standby battery and signals potential battery failure to permit the communications service provider to take appropriate action.
(4) 24 hours of standby power supply capacity for MFVN communications equipment located at the communication service provider’s central office.
(5) Installation of network equipment at the protected premises with safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to the equipment and its connections "The evolution of the deployment of telephone service has moved beyond the sole use of metallic conductors connecting a telephone subscriber’s premises with the nearest telephone service provider’s control and routing point (Wire Center). In the last 25 years, telephone service providers have introduced a variety of technologies to transport multiple, simultaneous telephone calls over shared communication’s pathways. In order to facilitate the further development of the modernization of the telephone network, the authorized common carriers (public utility telephone companies) have transitioned their equipment into a Managed Facilities-based Voice Network
(MFVN) capable of providing a variety of communications services in addition to the provision of traditional telephone service."
"Managed facilities-based voice network service is functionally equivalent to traditional PSTN-based services provided by authorized common carriers (public utility telephone companies) with respect to dialing, dial plan, call completion, carriage of signals and protocols, and loop voltage treatment and provides all of the following features:”
Heres the link to the TIA;
http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/CodesStandards/TIAErrataFI/TIA72-10-3-INC.pdf
Hope this helps,
John Drucker, CET
Fire Protection Subcode Official
Fire/Building/Electrical Inspector
Fire Marshals Office
Borough of Red Bank, NJ
*******************
another comment
**********************
Ken,
Response to John from NJ
John, I hear you loud and clear. There was a time when Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS) were being installed in front of FIOS Optical Network Terminals (ONT) to provide 24 Hour Backup Power to the local means of transmission similar to that of Fire Alarm Control Panels and Communicators. At the very least this provided equivalent secondary power at the protected premises for the ONT.
Following Hurricane Katrina, the FCC concluded that “a lack of adequate backup power for communications facilities was a critical problem after Katrina that caused communications network interruptions and hampered recovery efforts.”
The FCC took action regarding the Recommendations of the Independent Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications Networks, EB Docket No. 06-11 9, WC Docket No. 06-63, Order, 22 FCC Rcd 10541, pg 76-78 and Appendix B 2007-"Katrina Panel Order". The FCC issued rulemaking to modify 47 CFR 12.2 requiring that "telephone service providers", including all MFVN providers and cellular telephone service providers to provide 24 hours of standby power for all equipment located at their central offices and to provide 8 hours of standby power for all field deployed equipment including provider equipment located at the premises, i.e. Modems and ONT's.
The Katrina Ruling thus allows Managed Facility Voice Networks (MFVN) to provide “8 hours of standby power supply capacity for MFVN communications equipment either located at the protected premises or field deployed." and "24 hours of standby power supply capacity for MFVN communications equipment located at the communication service provider’s central office."
NFPA-72 TIA 10-3 cleared the way for alarm communications over MFVNs, specifically with regards to DACTS. (Comments in Parenthesis) 3.3.141 "Managed Facilities-based Voice Network service is functionally equivalent to traditional PSTN-based services provided by authorized common carriers (public utility telephone companies) with respect to dialing, dial plan, call completion, carriage of signals and protocols, and loop voltage treatment and provides all of the following features......." The "following" requires; 1) Loop Start Circuit (currently required), 2) Pathway Reliability (in other words they have to maintain and repair) 3) 8 hour standby power (make sure ONT's and Cable Modems are so equipped, many of the older units had none or only 4 hours) 4) 24 Hours standby at their central offices (we don’t have any control of this) 5) Network equipment at the protected premises is safeguarded to prevent unauthorized access (many of the older ONT's were installed outdoors in unprotected locations).
With that said keep in mind that Digital Alarm Communicator Transmitters (DACTS) are only one of the allowable means of fire alarm communications, there are many more, so why are we limiting ourselves to DACTS ? 2007 NFPA-72 contains a section titled; "Other Communications Technologies".
There are at least four standalone Radio communications equipment solutions, two IP Communicator solutions and multiple IP/Radio solutions. Add to that that many are listed sole path solutions. POTS is sunsetting guys. Similar to Lease Lines, POTS will be merely a memory, it's time to move forward.
Sincerely,
John Drucker, CET
Fire Protection Subcode Official
Fire/Building/Electrical Inspector
Fire Marshals Office
Borough of Red Bank, NJ