BT Digital Voice and burglar alarms

Cas2023

Hi - we're about to be switched over to BT's Digital Voice and have been told by our alarm company that although our burglar alarm will still sound, the automated phone calls to alert us to this will not be possible.  They have said that they can fit a converter (that we would need to provide a sim card for), for approx. £500!  This seems like an outrageous amount to pay out for, when BT are forcing us on to this new system, and they tell me they won't cover any charges made for burglar alarms to become compatible.  I've looked online and these converters seem to be called either ATA's or DECT's and can be bought for under £50, but I've no idea how to fit one!  Can anyone advise on how to do this please? Or any other suggestions on how to make our i-on16 alarm continue to work correctly?  Many thanks in advance.

Keep_pedalling

A lot depends on the type of system, the better ones did not simply dial up the alarm company there was also equipment in the BT exchange which would also alert the alarm company that the line was down or had been cut,.

Rodders53

As I understand it BT Voice Modem-router includes a connection that allows analogue phones and probably alarm systems to connect to.
It'll require a cable from your house sockets wiring to the hub.

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Digital-Voice-FAQs/td-p/2207485

It might be advisable to check on some of the diy alarm forums for proper experts to confirm this could work with your particular system?  Alarm companies seem to frequently charge a lot and, worse, lock down their installs with engineer pass-codes so the user is tied in to using them alone.

littleboo

The BT Hub has ATA functionality built in. This is down to your alarm company to sort, they have known for years that this change was coming.

TadleyBaggie

My Truecall box wouldn’t after we went digital, sorted by a firmware update. My ancient BT caller-id box also didn’t want to work, feeding the output from the router via an ADSL filter sorted that.

J_B

Our alarm company are saying similar - they want to sell me a 'Digi Air' (?)

I told them to B Off as the chances of 'digital voice' getting to us any time soon is unlikely.

When it does happen, I will investigate further ....