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Remember when every panel needed a dedicated phone line?
Three years ago in a San Antonio office building, I had to run a whole new line just for the alarm. Now it's all over a $15 cellular module, which is simpler but feels less solid somehow. What's the oldest tech you still see out there that makes you shake your head?
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hugow302mo ago
Good grief, a whole new line just for an alarm? That's some serious dedication to the old way of doing things. I get that feeling though, the new cellular fix seems flimsy compared to a hardwired connection. The oldest tech I still run into has to be those giant, beige desktop computers running Windows XP in some small offices. They refuse to die, and it's a miracle every time they boot up.
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brooke4842mo ago
Honestly, I feel the exact opposite about that solid landline feeling. That dedicated phone line was a single point of failure waiting to happen. A backhoe two streets over could take your alarm out for a week. The cellular module might seem flimsy, but it's got a battery backup and uses a whole different network. I'll take the simpler, more reliable option every time.
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noahclark1mo ago
Interesting. I actually read an article last month about how some fire alarm companies are REQUIRED by insurance to use those cellular modules now because landlines fail so often in power outages. One guy from a monitoring center said they see about 30% more false alarm calls from the old phone line setups during storms. The XP computers hugow30 mentioned are a real problem too, I saw a dental office last year still running one hooked to their X-ray machine.
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