Three Telecom Challenges Facing Central Stations
(…and Others That You May Not Even Be Aware of)

Central monitoring stations are made up of complicated communication routes with various equipment from a subscriber’s premises to the operator’s screen. In between, many things can go wrong. You may not even be aware of some, and even if you are, it is easy to simply blame the Telecom carrier. 

Businesses have more choices than ever when it comes to telecommunication, but with more choices and the merging of digital and analog technologies, challenges are becoming evident.

The Telecom Sunset is at the center of these challenges, and it is industry-wide. Let’s take a look at the challenges and provide some solutions.

The Challenge: Lost or Broken Alarm Signals

With traditional phone carriers, geographic regions are divided by areas and assigned area codes. To complete a call or alarm signal transmission from one area to another, remote call forwarding takes place multiple times to reach the final destination. But like photocopying a photocopy, the quality of the call is reduced each time, leading to communications errors and undeliverable signals.

The outcome is that alarm signals are delayed and with errors. They may not have all the information needed, such as the account number or zone. With a voice call, you may notice a glitch occasionally, but it is not as sensitive as an alarm signal. If you do have a problem with a voice call, you can call back, the signal now may go through a different path, and all is fine. You can’t do that with an alarm signal.

Because the alarm industry has historically always been on analog, it never really mattered. If a customer switch to another carrier and replaced the analog line with a SIP Trunk, many alarm companies say that the Telecom carrier caused the alarm panel not to work.

The real problem is that the central station has an analog line and then making it convert back to analog from digital. The alarm signals are now delayed and with errors.

The Challenge: The Discontinuation of Adtran 550 PRI Channel Bank

You may be aware that Adtran has stopped manufacturing its 550 PRI Channel Bank as well as supplying its replacement parts and support. These channel banks had to do special DTMF conversions and break down the frequencies to analog lines that go to the receiver cards on your legacy receivers. That means your central station, as well as many others, won’t be able to get replacement parts, fix or replace the product.

The Challenge: Old and Out-of-date Receivers

You may also be aware that the Sur-Gard Receiver Systems 3 and 4 are being discontinued. The cost to replace them along with each line card can be costly. As well, keeping your receivers in your facility goes back to the first problem, which is needing channel banks to communicate with those receivers.

The Solution

It Is important to note that the problems described are all interconnected. So instead of simply addressing each problem with a solution, let’s take a look at the big picture.

First, to replace the Adtran Channel Bank 550, DICE and IPtelX offer a channel bank that is less costly, has 48 lines and is supported 24/7. Adtran’s Channel bank had only 24 lines, so you would need two to equal the DICE/IPtelX one. 

Is there another solution? One industry company is offering a PBX, which has a channel bank function. However, it does not make sense to buy a whole PBX just to handle some signals to a receiver. If you want to change to another PBX at a future date, you have the channel bank problem again.

Our PBX is built for the special tasks that the alarm industry needs.  Redundancy, auto-dialing integrated to all automation suppliers, call recording built in.

Another solution is to go back to every customer and convert the alarm panel. But for most alarm installers and millions of panels in the U.S, it is not possible – at least in the immediate future.

If you want to keep your receivers onsite, IPtelX and DICE can provide a channel bank, as well as delivering telecom services to the channel bank.

IPtelX and the Alarm Signal Network

IPtelX is the only one in the alarm industry that has what we call an Alarm Signal Network. We can plug that alarm signal network into your channel banks that you have, or into ours that we’re providing.

IPtelX/DICE can make the solution even easier. If you don’t want receivers on your site and you don’t want to deal with channel banks, you can just subscribe to our receiver farm in the DICE UL 827 Data Center cloud. We will connect to your automation platform (whatever one you may have) and then you will not need to deal with these problems!

Changing Your Carrier to IPtelX

Designed with the security industry in mind, the IPtelX Alarm Signal Network is an FCC licensed federal phone carrier that prioritizes call routing, eliminates remote call forwarding, and facilitates direct peering to allow alarm monitoring companies to identify, resolve, and eliminate communications errors that other networks cannot. It is important to note that IPtelX is not a sales agent. Changing your current carrier is very quick and easy. It’s done seamlessly at the telecom infrastructure network. You won’t miss a signal.

UL 827 Data Center

As mentioned, DICE and IPtelX can host the receivers, the signals, the channel banks. We have a simple driver into any automation platform. Our hosted receiver is turnkey and in the cloud. It takes care of everything. Plus, it is UL 827 Compliant, which also saves you from recertifying with UL on an ongoing basis.

Alarm Signal Routing

Like a GPS System, IPtelX picks the best route for the alarm signal to arrive at the destination. The Alarm Signal Network is also capable of direct peering, allowing users to establish a direct telecom connection between one point and another. Think of a carrier as a series of roads. A traditional telecom network owns Interstate A and will only allow you to take that route to get to your destination, leaving you with no other ways to proceed. On the other hand, IPtelX and the Alarm Signal Network works with Interstate A and a series of other roads that provide multiple paths to your destination. If Interstate A is your clearest route but is experiencing disruptions, IPtelX works to ensure another path is available, such as Interstate B, to provide a clear connection without downtime or interruptions.      

IPtelX uses a proprietary system to analyze and pinpoint local exchange carriers or customers for signal discrepancies, outages, processing issues, or other factors leading to signal disruptions in real time. This technology is only accessible by IPtelX and allows the company offer a truly unique and valuable service to the alarm industry.  

Voice Calls and Internet

Obviously, if IPtelX can do what other carriers can’t do with these very sensitive alarm calls, why not add voice and Internet? You will receive better rate and reduce your bill because there will be a greater volume.

With the IPtelX Alarm Signal Network, you’ll notice an immediate difference in call quality, completion, and service. Additionally, with a reduction in errors, users have noticed the ability to process alarms faster and fewer support calls, freeing up operator productivity. In many cases, IPtelX can lower service fees with the ability to reroute and peer directly.  

Our ISP connections follow the new UL listed standards for failover, whereas other ISP’s don’t understand industry UL rules and requirements.

Join Others

There is a reason that both large and smaller central stations have chosen to take advantage of the IPtelX Alarm Signal Network and DICE’s hosted solution. It is worry-free, cost savings solution and future proof!

A Host of Solutions

As you can see, there are several problems and IPtelX and DICE can provide several solutions. Which is right for your central station? Contact us and we’ll go over your options to help you make the right choice for your central station. 

www.dicecorp.com

www.iptelx.net

Copyright 2021

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