Shaw Digital Phone and Alarms

 

There used to be an image here.

**** UPDATE  Shaw got upset with me for using an image from their website (so it’s gone now). I’ve also added a (TM) beside every instance of their trademark Shaw Digital Phone (TM). ****

I received a flyer for Shaw Digital Phone (TM) at my house today that claims that they are signing up a new client every 96 seconds, which may very well be true. However, on the inside of the brochure, it claims that “…unlike VoIP, the Internet based phone service, Shaw Digital Phone (TM) requires no computer or high-speed internet connection.” While it is true that you do not need a computer or internet account to use their service, their inference that Shaw Digital Phone (TM) is not VoIP (Voice over internet protocol) is absolutely untrue.

Further, the brochure also says “No additional fees. No extra charges. And no surprises.” … in speaking with our clients who have either contemplated, or actually switched to Shaw, they have all been VERY surprised to hear our concerns about Shaw Digital Phone (TM)’s effect on their alarm system. Especially given that Shaw’s website specifically says that their service is compatible with alarm systems and suggests that if your existing alarm provider cannot support Shaw Digital Phone (TM) , they have a ‘preferred vendor’, Voxcom Security, and claim that their systems are ‘fully compatible’

As you can see in this page from Shaw’s site regarding their service and alarm systems, their language differs a little from their brochure when they say “unlike some VoIP services…” (emphasis is mine) which correctly implies that Shaw’s service is a form of VoIP. As I wrote in a post on this issue a few months back (the most popular post on this blog, as it turns out) Shaw Digital Phone (TM) is most definitely a VoIP service… it is the type of VoIP that differentiates it from other VoIP providers like Vonage, but it is still a VoIP service.

Voxcom, like Provident, is an alarm service PROVIDER… not a manufacturer of alarm equipment or network provider. The reason alarm systems do not work consistently over VoIP service has nothing to do with the alarm equipment or the monitoring station where the alarm sends its signals, alarm systems do not work consistently with VoIP because the network that connects the two is not designed to transmit alarm signals. Neither Voxcom, or any alarm company, can claim to be able to offer any type of service that is capable of addressing this issue.

Presently, no major alarm equipment manufacturer (Tyco, GE and Honeywell) or cable company (including Shaw) will provide a written certification that alarm signals can reliably be sent using VoIP. While both the alarm and cable industries are working hard to be able to offer some type of certification, it still does not yet exist.

As I stated in my first post about this issue, our experience has shown that signal transmission using Shaw Digital Phone (TM) is inconsistent. Even if a signal is sent and received over the system once, there is no guarantee that it will work properly the second time.

To be fair to both Shaw and Voxcom, our own testing has shown that while not all alarm equipment can transmit over VoIP, those that do, are able to send signals every time that we tested… eventually. Sometimes, we received the alarm signals a full three minutes after we received it over a regular Telus analog phone line. Our major concern is the speed with which the signals are received. For a company like Voxcom, ADT or any of the other alarm company that does not provide immediate alarm response, a couple minutes of delay in receiving the signal is not a major issue because it will have little to no impact on how quickly the Police will arrive after they are dispatched.

However, in our case, where we guarantee a five minute response to alarms and regularly respond within just a couple of minutes… every second counts. Waiting an extra two minutes for an alarm signal to get to us makes a huge impact on our ability to offer maximum value to our clients.

Imagine the potential damage if the signal being sent is a fire signal from a smoke detector, and the alarm monitoring station only begins to try and dispatch the Fire Department three minutes later.

My biggest frustration with the Shaw service is that I feel that they are deliberately misleading people to believe that their service is not VoIP in order to avoid the public confusing their service with those provided by Vonage or other ‘regular’ VoIP providers… especially given all of the negative publicity that VoIP providers have received regarding 911 service. To that end, many Shaw employees have been told that their service is not VoIP and that it is equivalent to an analog telephone line. I have spoken now with at least a half dozen Shaw employees who have tried to argue that Shaw Digital Phone (TM) is not VoIP. As detailed in my first post, the difference between Shaw and other VoIP providers is that Shaw (like every other cable provider in North America) uses a “facilitated” VoIP network rather than an “unfacilitated” VoIP network that Vonage and other non-cable companies use.

The bottom line?

We STRONGLY recommend that clients who decide to use Shaw Digital Phone (TM) utilize a back-up method of communication such as cellular or Internet back-up to ensure that alarm and fire signals are received by our Operations Centre as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency.

For those who decide to rely on Shaw Digital Phone (TM) as the only means of communication for their alarm, we are requiring that they sign a waiver saying that they understand our concerns about this service and the potential risk that it poses to their alarm system.

While I have no doubts that most, if not all, telephone service will be VoIP in the near future, and that the alarm transmission issues will be addressed (they have been working on it for more than 3 years already), the fact remains that the network is still unreliable for alarm transmission at the present time.

Should you have any questions, please call our office at 604.664.1087

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* Shaw Digital Phone is a registered trademark of Shaw Communications Inc.

 

Posted July 10th, 2006 by mjagger in Technical Information | You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

 

5 Responses to “Shaw Digital Phone and Alarms”

Curt Sampson Says:
October 19th, 2006 at 8:24 pm

Hm. In this problem I see an opportunity. If someone has VoIP from Shaw, they’ve got a permanent, 24-hour-per-day packet-switched data connection, right? And Shaw’s got a reliable network designed to deliver those packets to various edge points (Internet interconnects, telco interconnects, whatever). Wouldn’t it be possible, with appropriate equipment on the customer end, to use this for active alarm monitoring as well? You’d want a CPE installation that’s battery backed, including the router, that’s not going to be accidently unplugged, and so on, but you already have to do similar things for standard alarm systems. Given that, and if your security company had a direct connection with Shaw, you’d have reliable, continuous communication via IP with all of your alarm installations. You’d have continual verification that the system was ok, and should someone disable the system (e.g., by cutting the cable) you’d also know about it right away, due to the break in communications.

Andre Reid Says:
November 20th, 2006 at 7:59 am

I will agree with Curt on the subject of a missed opportunity, I also agree with Mike on the phone service moving to a majority of VoIP/Digital Phone Installations.

My suggestion would be to move to all IP communications with the network monitoring Curt is suggesting, with this you know if they have a service interruption , if also gives the alarm company a value added service with IP Video Surveillance that a customer would be able to view from a security portal etc.

In addition to comment on the “facilities vs. non facilities” based discussion;

When you are using a cable providers(facilities based) “Digital Phone Service” you generally stay on the cable providers network until they drop you off at a local CLEC (number termination) where you are now on a traditional phone network.

This is better then using a “Non-facilities” based “VoIP Provider” (Vonage, SunRocket) which routes your call over the internet (slower, less secure) to their CLEC of choice.

In the short term, request a backup system as outages do occur, you should also know they do occur with traditional phone systems as well.

Dawn Says:
February 9th, 2007 at 9:04 am

We’ve had shaw digital phone for just over one year, with no problems until this past December. We also have an alarm system, and in the past six weeks, we’ve had the Shaw phone system go down five times. Twice, armed at night on “stay” our alarm system went into full alert mode, complete with sirens, at 4:30 a.m. one night, and at 1:30 a.m. two nights later. Adrenalin rush and freaked out scared, crying, young child? No kidding.

Shaw service techs didn’t know what had caused their terminal to shut down and reset itself, and they came down and changed the connectors and tightened them up.

Just this morning, yet again, we lost our Shaw phone service for one hour and it sent our keypad into alarm mode (while unarmed). The shaw service was restored, after an hour, then cut out for one minute, then came back.

When I talked to Shaw about this morning’s episode, they said that there was work going on in our area due to a water main break, and that probably caused it. I had just been out before I talked to the tech, and there was no work going on. No heavy equipment around either, and I told him that. He then said that he didn’t know why it happened.

We have cellular backup, but it’s irrelevant when the keypad still goes into alarm, and we still lose our phone service.

I have talked to other people who also have Shaw digital phone, and they also say that they have dropped calls calls and completely lose phone service as well, and they are frustrated.

When I confronted Shaw and asked them if they lack the required equipment to support so many telephone subscribers, based on my experience and the experience of others, they became very defensive. They said that everything checked out fine on their system, and that they truly did not know why their phone service cuts out, and they can only guess, or send techs out. Unreliable, and certainly not cost-efficient.

One month ago, an insert was included with our Shaw phone bill, advertising that the company was in need of support techs, and invited people to apply for the positions. Have they taken on more than they can handle?

We have had an alarm system with ADT for 10 years, and the only time we have ever had a problem is when we’ve switched from MTS to Shaw digital phone.

The Shaw package may appear enticing, but it’s really not worth it. You really do get what you pay for. Stick to MTS. It’s tried and true, and will not let you down. Being protected by your alarm system, and being able to use your phone when you need to–and especially in an emergency–is essential.

We’re switching back to MTS next week.

tech Says:
August 31st, 2007 at 8:45 pm

shaw in not a voip. from your home your phone signals travel on our own managed networks (or “last copper mile”) the phone conversation sits at around 555mhz on the broadband spectrum, it never gets sent as internet traffic as does Vonage and Primus. When the signals reach the head end they are then sent to Bell for switching to the PSTN. A 8hour battery is in the phone modem for back up in case of power failure. and the cable system is also backed up with gel cell battery. Also at the time of installation, the installer is trained to properly configure the house wiring to light up all home outlets just like the ILEC incumbent telcos. Unlike vonage which is always installed by the customer and phones are plugged directly to the back of the modem. Alarm systems are configured correctly so that when the alarm goes off if anyone is on the phone the alarm system always takes priority. alarm systems are tested prior to the instal (in many cases are not installed correctly) and after. Shaw’s 911 service is classed in the same category as the incumbent telcos,(unlike Vonage and Primus who’s 911 service in inferior)

Tony F Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 8:06 pm

“Do or do not, there is no try”. If you use Shaw, MTS, Sasktel or Telus, have the alarm tested after an instal. If it works, great. If it gives you issues, switch companies. Do not sign contracts, not with an alarm company, not with a telco, not with a cable company, and not with an internet phone carrier. A contract is a companies way of telling you they don’t stand behind their service.
As an installer of one of the above mentioned companies I contact alarm companies after I leave every alarm instal. Only once has the alarm not worked almost instantly, and it turned out to be an issue on their end. It’s easy to slander the telco/cable company/alarm company. I think the real answer is to make sure you’re being taken care of. Test your alarm frequently like you would a fire alarm, or CO2 detector.
As for the thread about VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), I find it irrelavent. Does your alarm work, does your 911 work, do they provide you the service you expect. Everyone loves to point fingers at the “other guy”, and if you don’t believe me, reread the thread topic, or an article in the Calgary Sun from May 2(if i remember correctly) where a Calgary Family called 911 and their phone company sent a paramedic to their old address in Ontario, yet they managed to bill the proper address in Calgary for services. The companies response I believe was, that the customer needed to fill out a form, to update the 911 or emergency information. I’m not sure who was right and who was wrong, but one thing you can always bet on, and that is people love to point fingers.

P.S. MTS, Sasktel, Shaw, and Telus all have their own networks, and all 911 calls from these services are routed to their local municipalities emergency contacts. I also believe these 4 companies are 4 of the finest in North America in their own ways. I think any of the 4 are a solid choice, just make sure what you are getting works and don’t let anyone scare you away from them because of 1 bad circumstance. Customer service is a good sign of a companies self respect, and dedication. Talk to them. Explore your options. And not to be redundant but make sure it works!

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