Your satisfaction with a working home alarm and AT&T U-verse Voice service is our objective.

AT&T U-verse Voice service is provided over AT&T's world-class managed network and not the public Internet. Using one network to provide U-verse services enables AT&T to provide high quality service. Voice over IP ("VoIP") providers who utilize the public Internet are less able to control the traffic and ensure voice quality. These providers require you to purchase a high speed Internet service separately. With AT&T U-verse Voice, although you can use your high speed Internet service to manage your AT&T U-verse Voice features, the voice packets do not traverse the public Internet. The diagrams below illustrate some of the differences between AT&T's managed IP network and the separate networks used by VoIP providers who utilize the public Internet. The red dotted lines depict the path traveled by the voice packets. "PSTN" refers to the Public Switched Telephone Network.

AT&T U-verse VOIP Network

Another benefit of the AT&T U-verse Voice service is that AT&T does not use voice compression to deliver our AT&T U-verse Voice service. VoIP providers who utilize the public Internet commonly use some form of voice compression to reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to transport the VoIP traffic so that customers can surf the web and use the phone simultaneously. The problem with voice compression techniques is that they can cause home alarm signal distortion, potentially disabling your monitored home alarm. AT&T's U-verse network can support the bandwidth required to provide high quality Voice, TV and Internet service simultaneously and therefore does not use voice compression.

AT&T has conducted extensive testing and expects that AT&T U-verse Voice will work with many types and brands of home alarms. When AT&T U-verse Voice is installed, the professional AT&T technician will configure the wiring between your U-verse service and your alarm panel in the same manner that it was configured with your local exchange telephone service. When an alarm is triggered, your home alarm system will continue to automatically seize the telephone line, even when you are on the phone, and notify the central monitoring station of the alarm. Non-monitored home alarm systems are not connected to a telephone line; therefore, there are no impacts for installation of AT&T U-verse Voice.

Home Network Diagram

This is an illustration of how AT&T U-verse Voice service is connected to your home alarm system. The AT&T U-verse Voice line is connected from AT&T's network to the Network Interface device (or Optical Network Terminal) on the outside of your house and is then connected to the U-verse Residential Gateway inside your home (shown as a red line). The Residential Gateway is then connected back to the Network Interface device. Your home alarm panel has already been connected to the Network Interface device via an existing RJ-31X connector. Thus, the Residential Gateway is connected to the alarm panel at the Network Interface device (shown as a blue line). The alarm panel maintains its connection to the telephone jacks inside your home the same way it did when it was connected to your telephone service (shown as a green line). When your home alarm panel needs to transmit alarm signals to the monitoring station of your home alarm service provider, it will transmit them to the Residential Gateway and then out to AT&T's network. Because the alarm panel is connected to the Residential Gateway ahead of (on the network side of) your telephones, the alarm panel will "seize" the line for transmission of the alarm signals even if you were using the phones at the time the alarm signal took over. This diagram is for illustration only. Actual wiring may vary.

Please Note: AT&T U-verse Voice will not function, and will not be able to transmit alarm signals, during a power outage unless you have battery backup power. See Learn More about Residential Gateway with Battery Backup and Learn More about Optical Network Terminal with Battery Backup. In addition, you must not connect any device to the wiring between the Residential Gateway and the alarm panel. Any change from the configuration described above could result in a failure of the alarm system to seize the line and, therefore, a failure of the alarm system to communicate with the monitoring station. Also, if you use a multi-line phone with your AT&T U-verse Voice service, you must not connect the multi-line phone directly to the Residential Gateway; you must connect it to a phone jack in your home. If you connect a multi-line phone directly to the Residential Gateway, this could also result in a failure of the alarm panel to seize the line, thus preventing your alarm system from communicating with the monitoring station.

Other Important Considerations

• Prior to your AT&T U-verse Voice installation, AT&T strongly recommends that you notify your alarm company of your switch to AT&T U-verse Voice service and your scheduled U-verse installation date in order for your alarm company to test and check the status of your alarm system with you prior to installation and once installation is complete. If your telephone number has changed, you will need to notify your alarm company to update your account with the new telephone number. Failure to notify your alarm company of a change of service or new telephone number could potentially impact your home alarm contract.
• You will be responsible for testing your home alarm system with your alarm company after installation of AT&T U-verse Voice is complete, and on an ongoing basis.
• In some instances, your home alarm company may require and charge extra for additional equipment or connectivity services to use your home alarm system with AT&T U-verse Voice.
• If your alarm company determines that your existing alarm panel does not work with AT&T U-verse Voice, your alarm company may be able to install an alternative alarm panel that will work with AT&T U-verse Voice, or a panel that uses cellular phone service, or an IP-based panel that uses your Internet access service. (Talk to your home alarm company about these alternatives and any additional equipment and/or monitoring service charges). Note: If your alarm company installs an IP-based panel that will use AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet as the communications pathway, you must ensure you have functioning battery backup power for your Residential Gateway (and your Optical Network Terminal, if you have one) for your high speed Internet service to work with your alarm panel during a power outage. See learn more about AT&T U-verse Voice and Residential Gateway with Battery Backup.