Can the ELK M1G call out on an alternate line?

[kgingerich]

My ELK is currently calling out on a landline from the phone company which is the cheapest line I could order. It's able to call nextalarm when needed but pretty much any other calls are long distance which I'm not paying for on the line.

I'd like to have the ELK call my cell phone under certain circumstances but since it's long distance it doesn't work.

I have vonage for my primary phone service and I was wondering if their was a way to have the ELK call out over an alternate telephone line. I don't see any obvious way to hook it up to two telephone lines so I thought I'd ask the pros.

 

[midian]

My ELK is currently calling out on a landline from the phone company which is the cheapest line I could order. It's able to call nextalarm when needed but pretty much any other calls are long distance which I'm not paying for on the line.

I'd like to have the ELK call my cell phone under certain circumstances but since it's long distance it doesn't work.

I have vonage for my primary phone service and I was wondering if their was a way to have the ELK call out over an alternate telephone line. I don't see any obvious way to hook it up to two telephone lines so I thought I'd ask the pros.

My first question is why do you need a POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) telephone line at all? I am not familiar with Vonage exactly. However, I run my own Asterisk VOIP server which my alarm panel dials through just fine. In my case, I have an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) right inside the alarm panel and ethernet going to the ATA. The ATA then connects to to the STUN sever (Asterisk for me, Vonage for you).

Assuming you need to skip the POTS port and still want to dial out, then you are still in luck as you use VOIP. If you happen to have a computer running, you can have the ELK interface to the computer (via serial port, ethernet adapter, or low voltage ADC converter: Arduino for Example). Then, the computer can execute a SIP (softphone) client to dial out over your Vonage VOIP line. I can go into more detail if any of these options interest you.

Another great option worth checking out would be a cellphone backup device. These cost a few hundred USD to purchase, but then should be no more per month than your current POTS line. However, some of the backup units have triggers and other advanced features that would allow for sending text messages, emails, or dialing out as you are hoping to do. This would be the easiest option and does not require a computer running all the time.

Hope this helps.

 

[WayneW]

My ELK is currently calling out on a landline from the phone company which is the cheapest line I could order. It's able to call nextalarm when needed but pretty much any other calls are long distance which I'm not paying for on the line.

I'd like to have the ELK call my cell phone under certain circumstances but since it's long distance it doesn't work.

I have vonage for my primary phone service and I was wondering if their was a way to have the ELK call out over an alternate telephone line. I don't see any obvious way to hook it up to two telephone lines so I thought I'd ask the pros.

Yes, you probably could wire a relay to switch the Elk between the POTS and Vonage lines. You would have to write rules to select the right line for the right scenario. And remember you are dealing with security and maybe life safety, the #1 reason you bought the Elk and pay for monitoring.

You might also be able to use a calling card account and program the Elk to dial the 800/888 calling card number first, then your cell phone number.

Or have Elk call a GrandCentral (now GoogleVoice?) number and let it get forwarded to your cell?

 

[kgingerich]

I have the POTS line because I was forced to order it by my telco when I ordered DSL service.

I choose to use the POTS vs. vonage for my ELK because it's way more reliable. I understand reliability of vonage is based on the network it runs over and the DSL where i live is only slightly better than carrier pidgeons for transmitting data.

I may end up biting the bullet and ordering long distance for the POTS line for those rare occurences when I would need it to dial my cell.

Thanks.

 

[sic0048]

I would think you could get long distance added for next to nothing. The per minute rate would be higher than some of the package deals, but since it would be rare to call the cell, the total cost probably isn't going to be much more than you are paying now.

 

[signal15]

You should still be able to dial an LD access code even though you don't have LD added through the phone company. In fact, I think this is a law that you have to have access.

So for ATT, you would do something like 10288+1+<mobile number> (you'll probably have to look up the exact format, I haven't done it for a long time)

I just have FreeSwitch running on a Linux box and configured with a SIP trunk from VoicePulse. Then I had an old ATA adapter (Sipura SPA-2000) and I joined it to the freeswitch box, gave it an internal extension, and set it up to answer immediately. So when I call my house, I can dial the extension of the ELK, and control it remotely, or it can dial out freely. Now if someone would write an XHTML interface for the M1 ethernet adapter, I could have a panel on all of my phones in the house. That would be awesome.