Originally published May 3 2005
Vonage teams with Alarm.com to provide home alarm service for VoIP subscribers
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Many homeowners are tied to landlines because their alarm system uses them for contacting alarm companies. However, Vonage has opened up this market for itself by teaming with Alarm.com to provide home alarm service for its voice over IP (VoIP) telephone service subscribers. Most home alarm systems are tied to land lines provided by the Baby Bells, preventing people from signing up for VoIP. However, this new agreement gives VoIP customers the opportunity to secure their homes while moving on to VoIP phone service. This gives Vonage, and other VoIP companies, the opportunity to move into a market that was previously closed to them.
Net phone operator Vonage has teamed up with Alarm.com to tackle a common problem that has kept some consumers with home alarm systems from subscribing to Internet phone services.
Home and office security provider Alarm.com has begun marketing Vonage along with its own equipment in an effort to appeal to people who may want voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service but are already tied to a landline phone via their alarm systems.
Typically, home alarm systems require consumers to have a traditional phone line from one of the Bell telephone companies--Verizon Communications, Qwest Communications International, BellSouth and SBC Communications.
That means consumers with home alarms are often less likely to sign up for phone service from VoIP providers such as Vonage.
With VoIP, calls travel over the unregulated Internet, thus avoiding the traditional phone taxes and regulations normally associated with local phone calls.
By inextricably linking their alarms to the Bells' phone lines, security companies are forcing VoIP converts to sign up for local phone service instead, according to executives from Vonage and Alarm.com.
The deal is a signal that Vonage, and presumably other VoIP operators, are continuing to focus on major issues with their services.
Perhaps biggest of all is VoIP's failure to provide a 911 service that matches the efficiency of the Bells' emergency service.
The issue is now the subject of intense federal and state regulatory scrutiny.
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