The need to provide access to a phone line (PSTN connection)
We are aware that there are a significant number of existing installations around the country that do not have a secondary communications path (PSTN connection), and we are being asked why AFAM are so strongly recommending its use.
AFAM monitors your Fire Alarm panel using Vodafone’s GPRS system for the primary communication path and a PSTN (phone) connection for the secondary (back-up) path. We have chosen to require a secondary (back-up) path so that in the event of a failure of the primary path we can continue to receive signals from your Fire Alarm panel.
A “failure” of the primary path can be caused by anything that prevents the monitoring system from receiving a signal from the Fire Alarm panel via the primary path (Vodafone GPRS network). This can include an internal failure of the CTU (AFAM's local monitoring-transmission unit), its local antenna, a Vodafone network outage, etc.
It is also common practice for cell-phone network operators to periodically update the software in their cell-sites. This activity is generally scheduled to take place between mid-night and 4:00 a.m. so as to cause minimum disruption to users, and it is possible for the network operators to notify users of planned outages; but the fact remains that there is a loss of the primary communication path during that period. These circumstances apply to all systems (AFAM, Vodafone, ADT, Telecom, etc) and without a secondary communications path, will result in your premises not being monitored / protected during one of the most vulnerable periods of time (when no one is in the building to raise the alarm).
Imagine a Monitoring Company watch-room which has recorded the fact that a monitored system (without a secondary communications path) has not reported its state in the past 10 minutes (or after up to how many of outage hours); what do they do? The ‘silence’ could be caused by a primary communications path failure, a failure of the monitoring system, even caused by a fire!…. The watch-room could call the Fire Alarm Service Agent to investigate, or the building owner to notify them that their premises are not protected; neither would appreciate that at 2:00 a.m. (or the cost of a call-out), and if it did turn out to be a communications path failure neither of those people would be able to fix it. Yet not taking any action is a bit like “closing ones eyes and just hoping that it’s not a fire”….one day it will happen. We can’t say what existing Monitoring Service Providers do under these circumstances and we suspect that their customers aren’t fully aware either.
Given the above and AFAM’s commitment to provide a top-quality service, we are strongly recommending the use of a secondary communication path (PSTN connection). Ideally this would be an outside line (perhaps the fax line,) which we could “grab” in the event of a Fire or Primary Communication path outage (typically for a 10 second period between 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.), but even if the PSTN connection is via a PABX (dial 1 to get out etc, we can handle that and it's unlikely that anyone would be on that extension between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. If ultimately it is not physically possible to provide some form of PSTN connection, AFAM can “page” or “sms (text)” the building owner in the event of a sole (primary) communication path failure, to let them know that their premises are un-protected.