Aside from the changing leaves this fall, I've had another change on my mind too. Remember how we used to be able to rely on the performance of home phones, or landlines? Now, more than half of homes do not have a landline.
Landlines have even come to be known as "old fashioned" POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), and they're rapidly becoming replaced with internet-based phone service or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
For instance, if a young couple buys a home in a newer development and wants to get a home phone number, what they'll likely end up with is a non-landline service that's part of their cable offerings. Even some local phone companies have made this conversion. But at what cost?
While all companies offering VoIP phone service use the internet to make phone calls, not all providers are created equal.
As you'll read in our Featured Article below, sometimes the cost is that crucial long-distance phone calls to rural areas never truly make it to their destination. In some cases, those trying to make a long-distance call receive a busy signal or get messages saying that the line has been disconnected when, in fact, the phone they are trying to reach even never rings.
For telecommunications companies, the actual cost of these digital services is low, which make them very attractive despite the poor quality. However, for alarm communications at WHIRC, the poor quality and sporadic connections are unacceptable. Because quality is so important to us and those we serve, WHIRC has been personally working with national associations to improve the accepted standards.
Legacy alarm customers count on clear communication for their alarm systems, and we
are committed to providing you all the supporting technology and services to continue to serve your customers with the best possible alarm monitoring service.
In our opinion, quality is not negotiable and we're working hard to make that the industry standard. Rest assured, everyone at WHIRC is already providing the services you need at the highest quality.
We support most cellular alarm providers and IP communication and
actively continue to make improvements to our technology to address communications issues. WHIRC is doing
everything within our control to minimize the interruptions in communications while we battle this nationwide issue.
That said, best wishes to you for a safe and fruitful fall season!
