Leaving Your Alarm Company? You Probably Do Not Need a New Panel

When people call about switching monitoring companies, the assumption is almost always that they will be starting over. New panel, new sensors, new holes in the wall, new three-year agreement. That is what the industry has trained everyone to expect.

It is usually not true. In most cases the panel on your wall is perfectly good, your sensors stay exactly where they are, and what changes is who receives the signal.

What a takeover actually is

Your alarm system has three separate pieces. The panel and sensors are hardware you own, mounted at your property. The communicator is what carries a signal off the property, historically a phone line and now almost always a cellular radio. The monitoring service is the company whose central station receives that signal and dispatches.

Switching companies means changing the third one. The first two normally stay put.

Which panels we take over

• Qolsys IQ Panel 4 and IQ Hub

• 2GIG EDGE and GC2e

• Honeywell Resideo ProSeries (PROA7PLUSC)

• Honeywell Vista 15P and 20P

• DSC PowerSeries Neo and Pro

The first four are self-contained. The Vista and PowerSeries are older architecture and need a working cellular communicator to reach a monitoring station at all. If yours was installed on a phone line, a communicator has to be added. The panel and every zone still stay.

What we need from you first

Every panel has an identifier tied to its cellular radio. For most panels that is an IMEI, a fifteen-digit number you can usually read off the panel screen in the settings menu.

Two exceptions worth knowing. The Resideo ProSeries does not use an IMEI at all; it uses a MAC address and a CRC number, which is why people hunting for an IMEI on that panel never find one. And on Vista and PowerSeries systems the number lives on the communicator module inside the metal enclosure, not on the keypad.

If you would rather not open a panel can, do not. Opening a live enclosure can trip a tamper and generate a signal. Call us and we will identify it as part of the review.

The one thing that can actually block a takeover

Panel locking. Some providers program the panel so it cannot be reprogrammed without an installer code they do not give you. It is legal, it is common, and it is the reason the industry has a reputation for making it hard to leave.

When that happens you have real options. Sometimes the panel can be reset. Sometimes only the communicator needs replacing while the panel and all sensors stay. Sometimes the panel genuinely does need to go. What matters is finding out which before you sign anything.

Questions worth asking your current provider

• Am I still in contract, and what is the termination language? Many agreements run 36 to 60 months and auto-renew.

• Do I own the equipment? If it was free, you may be leasing it.

• Is the panel locked? Ask directly. The non-answer tells you something.

• What is my installer code? Sometimes you simply get it.

A note on Florida alarm permits

If you are switching providers, your alarm registration with the local municipality generally needs updating too. The permit is tied to the monitored account and the contact list, and out-of-date contacts are a common cause of false alarm fees and failed dispatches.

HD Smart Solutions is a licensed Florida low-voltage and alarm contractor (EG13000794). Send us your panel IMEI, or a photo of it, and we will tell you honestly whether a takeover will work. 954-573-9193.