Hey, DIYers Jarrett with Alarm Grid here.
Today, we're going to talk about which
cellular communicators work with the Honeywell Vista 20P.
Now there's a bunch of cellular communicators
out there that you can choose from.
But if you're going to be using a new cellular communicator,
the only ones that can be activated
for monitoring currently are the LTE communicators.
Now, if you wanted to get a new communicator,
then you're going to want to purchase the LTE ones.
And there's also dual path LTE communicators available
as well.
Now, if you're looking to set up monitoring for the system,
using an LTE communicator is very reliable
and it's very nice to be able to have with the system.
Because if your Internet were to ever go down,
you don't have to worry about not
being able to connect with your system,
or the system communicating with your central station.
The LTE service and the cellular service is going to say up
and active.
And it will be able to notify the central station
if the alarm were to be triggered.
Now, if you wanted to be able to setup LTE
communication for your system, and monitoring,
you would have to choose a monitoring
plan that supports the cellular communication with the system.
Now, if you're an Alarm Grid customer,
you can choose between different plans that
support the cellular service.
You'd be basically looking at the Gold Plan and up.
And then, if you were looking at the self-monitoring plans,
then you'd be looking at the Self Gold Plan and up.
To look at more detailed information
about the different plans and everything,
just check out the link below this video.
And also, if you wanted to be able to set up
monitoring without any interactive services
on your phone, whether it be Alarm.com Total Connect 2.0,
you can be set up with the cellular only monitoring plan
as well.
You just have to give us a call if you
want to take a look at it.
But if you want some more information,
there is a link below this video as well.
So you can take a look at that.
So as I said, there's a couple of different cellular
communicators that you can use with the Vista series,
with the Vista panels, but unfortunately, the only ones
that are able to be activated currently
are the LTE communicators.
The reason why is because the cellular companies
are currently shutting down the 2G and 3G networks.
Some 2G networks are still active,
but they're going to be shut down probably around 2022.
Now, LTE is going to be around for a very long time.
The cellular companies have promised
that the LTE is going to be supported for a while.
And even so, the LTE communicators only recently
came out this year.
So they're going to be useful for a very long time, compared
to the 3G communicators.
So as I was saying about the activations for the 3G
communicators, and also the LTE communicators,
the 3G communicators are no longer
able to be activated anymore if they're brand new
or the Sim card was deactivated this is because the alarm
monitoring platforms have recently
blocked off any new activations for 3G communicators.
This also goes for 4G non LTE communicators
as well, as they are technically using the 3G network.
And unfortunately, those will not
be able to be activated as well.
Now, if you already have some of these 3G, possibly 4G
communicators set up, then they will still
be able to be monitored and everything for the time being,
up until 2022.
That's when the shut off is going
to happen for the 3G and 4G.
And unfortunately, those will not
be able to be used after that.
But if you do have those setup, they
will still be able to be monitored.
But if you wanted to reactivate them,
or set them up with, or activate them
with another company or anything, then unfortunately,
those will not be able to be setup.
There's a possible procedure in order to do so,
but don't have your hopes too high, because unfortunately,
the 3G 4G cutoff coming up.
So if you were looking to set up an LTE communicator,
there's a couple of different ones available.
There's the LTE XA and the Honeywell LTE XV.
The LD XA is an AT&T LTE cellular only communicator.
And the LTE XV is a Verizon LTE cellular only communicator.
There's also the LTE IA, which is an AT&T LTE dual path
communicator.
And then the LTE IV, which is a Verizon LTE dual path
communicator.
So either one of the communicators
that you could choose from, whether it
be the LTE IA or the LTE IV, they
will allow your system to be able to connect
to the AlarmNet360 servers.
And it can connect to the AlarmNet360 servers,
whether it be through an Internet connection
or a cellular connection.
Now if the alarm signals are being sent,
if the alarm were to be triggered,
and it's sending the alarm signals,
then it is normally going to be sent through the Internet
connection first.
And if anything were to happen to the Internet,
it will then send the signal through the cellular.
This is, obviously, if you have both communication
paths enabled at the same time, so that you
can make sure that either one, whichever
communication path the signal is being sent through,
it is going to reach the central station.
This is also why would you recommend
having a cellular connection, so you can make sure
that you have that redundancy.
Now, another option for a communicator
is called the Tel Guard TG1 Express.
This is a communicator that you can set up
with the system that connects to the panel's phone dialer.
And when the alarm signals are being sent,
the panel thinks that it's dialing out
through a plain old telephone line or POTS, which
is Plain Old Telephone Service, and it's actually
being sent through a cellular connection,
instead of through a phone line.
So it does allow your system to use a cellular connection.
It does allow your system to use a cellular connection,
because it is a lot more reliable.
But keep in mind that if you're using this communicator,
you're not going to be able to use Total Connect 2.0.
If you wanted to be able to use an interactive app
with the system, then you're going
to have to use a similar interactive app that
comes with Tel Guard.
And it's called the Tel Guard Home Control Flex.
You'll be able to control the system and everything remotely,
but it will not be the same service as Total Connect 2.0.
So if you wanted to set up a communicator with the system,
but you don't want to use a cellular connection with it,
then you can use what's called the Honeywell 7847I.
This is an Internet only communicator, which
uses an ethernet connection.
It doesn't connect to your Wi-Fi.
But it does allow your system to use just an IP only connection.
Now, just keep in mind that if you're using an IP connection
only, it is more prone to go down and not
be as reliable as using a cellular connection.
And this does include, if your power goes out and shuts off
the modem, if you have an Internet issue in the area,
and you have no Internet at the time being,
or if your modem just goes bad and you have to get a new one.
So the thing is with just using Internet connection,
it has a probability of going down more than using
a cellular connection.
This is why here at Alarm Group, we normally
do recommend that you use a cellular connection,
so you can make sure that you have the redundancy
and you have the security for your home,
just in case anything were to happen.
So now we've gone over the options
of which cellular communicators you can use with the Honeywell
Vista 20P.
If you have any questions about the Honeywell Vista 20P
or alarm systems in general, please contact us
at support@alarmgrid.com.
Or go to our website, www.alarmgrid.com.
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This is Joe with Alarm Grid.
You have yourself a great day.