Alarm users who sometimes make phone calls with the help of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone services may want to check their security alarms, warn people who found out that if they use VoIP, their homes are not properly protected.

It is said that VOIP phone service is incompatible with some types of home security systems. The security alarm signal cannot reach the security monitoring center, and it means that any calls for help go unanswered.

People who are unaware of this issue think that their houses are protected when actually they’re not.

VoIP uses a high-speed internet connection as a phone line instead of a regular analog line — and often at a fraction of the cost of traditional land-line phone services. The reason why VoIP services are incompatible with security systems is that 90% of residential security systems operate on conventional phone lines.

People complain that their VoIP providers don’t tell them about incompatibility issues with security systems when they sign up for their services. At the same time the companies say that this kind of information is actually available in the contract, however not all the customers see it.

They also say that the customers that use other services that can in some way be related to the VoIP services should decide such questions by themselves. The clients that particularly use security systems should ask the VoIP service providers about the compatibility.

The VoIP providers advise people who want to use VoIP services to consider changing their alarms into the ones that operate on Internet or cellular lines.