sundance-communications.com Forums Member Forums Phone Booth ADT alarm failed to protect victims

When phones fail, business is lost. When a new ADT intrusion alarm fails, lives are lost - but ADT says police are at fault. Story here:
https://www.startribune.com/local/east/91775814.html?page=1&c=y

Man that is a shame, I personally believe the big alarm companies like ADT destroyed the security field. They sell cookie cutter systems, 2 doors and a motion and toss in a keypad. With the exception of some independent dealers they sell the illusion of security, not true protection. In this case that door should have had a contact and a glass break sensor as well as motion, though the motion most likely would have been turned off since there were people at home.

We've used Guardian Alarm for a number of years at home. Our former alarm guy (one of those independent single man shops) stopped providing service and we were left with nothing more than a loud bell. Our system was quite outdated so we got a new one with monitoring. The equipment is solid. The service is excellent and responsive. It's a family owned company out of Michigan, and they continue to grow.
I've seen what a lot of these other companies sell and install, and it's no wonder it fails.

It's also possible that the system was armed in the "stay" which all the newer ones have some form of.
That would disable any zone defined as an "interior" zone.
I always put some form of line protection on my systems programmed for 24 Hr. audible.
"They sell cookie cutter systems"
Generally it's $99.00 or sometimes free.
The customer never actually owns the control and it requires a 2 or 3 year contract for monitoring and a high monthly rate, sometimes over twice what I would charge.
We called it a "buy back sale", it would take 6, 8 or sometimes 12 months of monitoring before you would break even on equipment and installation.
The 99.00 or add ons to the basic would be the salesman's commission.
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MrG

The picture at the beginning of the article says "cut phone wires". That looks like snipped coax cable.

Still a shame. Don't companies and equipment manufacturers offer some sort of redundancy (wireless for example) in case the phone line is cut?

Yea, and where is that ground wire goin?

It really isn't the alarm monitoring company's fault. They cannot prevent cable cuts from occurring, whether they be CoAX or BSW. The alarm system worked (or could have) if it had the ability to call out.

From what I can see, the BSW was enclosed in a PVC riser to the original NID. He cut the CATV cables, but is there any proof that the alarm system's dial tone was coming from the POTS service or from the CATV provider's "fake" dial tone?

Even if they were using fake phone service, did the CATV installer perform the installation properly where dial tone hits the alarm system's RJ31X first? I doubt it. These guys just backfeed existing IW via a duplex jack and just unplug the test cord at the NID. If that was the case, and it probably is, there is no way that the alarm system could have done it's job.

I do a lot of work for a high-end custom home builder (well, I used to) who insisted upon the telco NID being installed indoors. He even provides(-ed) conduit so that Verizon could do this. He never thought of dial tone being provided via CATV. Who would have?

Homeowners need to look at the big picture when shopping for price.

PS: Oh and yes, Paul, alarm companies do offer cellular backup dialers, but they are very expensive options that require a monthly subscription. People aren't usually willing to spend the money and added monthly expense.

Yeah, realistically anyone's phone lines can be cut and then they are SOL.
A lot of places around here are using cell backups now.

One "screech" and the killer would have been a stain on the carpet. The male victim kept a loaded gun by the bed and they are dead because the alarm didn't sound. The alarm sounded only when the kids opened the door to escape. In this scenario, cut lines or what type of lines didn't matter. A dog would have been better security.

Ditto Dave! :thumb: