How would an alarm company get around this? Would Qwest need to run copper into the neighborhood if any one of the people purchased an alarm? If not, how would the alarm company get the signal pushed through the fiber, and could that be done with the dsl signal?
Most home/small business alarm systems use a digital dialer and use a regular dial up phone line. The alarm system dials the alarm monitoring station then uses a low speed data protocol to report the alarm. Of course if the line is cut the alarm can't get through. For businesses that are required to have a monitored/dedicated line on their alarm there is a newer technology called "DVACS" which uses a low speed Frequency Shift F1/F2 modem to communicate alarms over a voice-band private line. Voice-band (300-3000Hz) private lines as well as 56K/64K DDS and ISDN digital lines can be provisoned over most DLC/SLC fiber systems. -Randy