LindaWCCA said:
I have the ELK M1G and have purchased the HAI C3 communication. I need to install with a VOIP phone line instead of a POTS line. The VOIP service is provided by a modem connected directly to my wireless router. I can not find anywhere in the installation instruction on how to connect with type of a set up. I did set up the C3 with the VOIP (not connected to M1G) to test signal strength and it seems fine. I must say though that I seem to get static on the VOIP line now that I didn;t get before. So I have two questions for the expertise here 1) Should I consider only using the C3 GSM as primary and not interface with the VOIP line for some reason and 2) how do I install the C3 with the VOIP line instead of POTS line?
A big thank you to everyone in this forums who takes the time to assist others. I admit that this whole alarm/home automation has been way out of my knowledge base but with everyone's help here and I slowly but surely accomplishing one add on project at time without having to mortgage house to pay installers.
The "POTS" jack on the modem is plugged into the "POTS" location on the C3. Then you plug the outbound line from the C3 into the Elk panel. The C3 is going to do direct pass through provided there is a dial tone on the VOIP line. If dial tone is lost on the VOIP, the C3 will switch to the cellular.
Please be sure that your VOIP is compatible with alarm data transmission. You should try just plugging your VOIP modem directly into the Elk and doing test communications with CS.
Personally, I have my C3 unit as a dedicated primary transmitter for the Elk. I don't have a POTS line and I use Google voice configured with my Sprint cell phone number for the house phone. Google Voice does not work with alarm data, but regular VOIP carriers have the ability. You'll need to check it out at your house. But frankly, VOIP would still make me nervous, these sorts of things can work, but be flaky.
If your VOIP service goes down (internet drops), the VOIP modem may still provide a dial tone. If indeed this is the case, the C3 won't switch to cellular since it thinks all is well by virtue of hearing a dial tone.
I have not tried this, but you can add a second notification phone number as a backup with the prefix that the C3 recognizes as a message to switch to cellular. It is like star something, I forget. This would then dial first using the VOIP and then dial using the cellular if the first attempt fails.