Hi, DIY-ers.
I'm Jorge from AlarmGrid.
Today, I'm going to be going over whether or not
you can setup Wi-Fi as a primary communication path and cellular
as a backup communication path on the Qolsys IQ Panel
2 and the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 Plus.
So to start off, the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 actually
comes with the Wi-Fi communicator built in
and the cellular communicator built in,
whether it's AT&T or Verizon.
And when you have the system monitored,
what the system actually does, unlike most systems that
use Wi-Fi as a primary and then cellular as a backup
just because Wi-Fi is always going to be faster,
what the IQ 2 and the IQ 2 Plus actually do
is they send out the signal simultaneously on both paths.
So the signal, whenever, let's say an alarm goes off,
a door opens, any signal that is sent out by the panel,
it's sent out through both the Wi-Fi
and through the cellular path at the same time.
Whichever one Alarm.com receives first, that's
the one that it's going to use.
So basically, whatever signal loses, whatever signal comes
in last, is just going to be discarded,
it's going to be ignored by the Alarm.com servers
because it already received the signal
on either the Wi-Fi or cellular path,
depending on which one you do.
Now generally speaking, Wi-Fi is still always going
to be the fastest path.
Wi-Fi is pretty much always going
to be faster than cellular.
However, with the new LTE cellular towers,
sometimes LTE might be a little faster than Wi-Fi
if you have slow Wi-Fi in your house.
So again, it's just whatever signal
that Alarm.com receives first, that's the signal it will use.
And in order to get your Panel actually
signaling to Alarm.com, you do have
to have an active monitoring plan.
You can't simply just power the system on
and expect it to start signaling over to Alarm.com.
The system does need to be activated by a monitoring
company, and they're the ones that actually
need to create the account for your IQ 2
or your IQ 2 Plus on the Alarm.com servers.
And that way, then your panel has something
to send the signals to.
And then if you're being monitored,
self-monitored, the signals may be forwarded
to a central station, and then you
may be called whenever there's an alarm, et cetera, et cetera.
Now, if you are going to be using the Wi-Fi on the IQ 2
Plus, you do need to make sure that you
have your master code, your installer code, or your dealer
code.
These are the two codes required to set up
the Wi-Fi on the system.
The system pretty much, it just connects to your Wi-Fi network.
If you don't have it connected to your Wi-Fi network,
then the system will just use a cellular connection.
Vise versa, if you don't have a cellular connection where
you're at, your system will just use Wi-Fi.
But keep in mind, if you're getting the IQ 2 or the IQ 2
Plus, you're going to want to make
sure you get the one that has the best cellular connection
in your area.
If not, you may just want to get a-- if you don't have
any cellular connection in your area,
you may want to think about getting just a system that
will work only on Wi-Fi.
There are other systems out there
where if you don't have cellular connection in your area,
you may want to look into getting
a system that will work on Wi-Fi only, like a Honeywell system.
But again, the IQ 2 Plus comes with cellular, comes
with Wi-Fi already built in.
You just have to make sure you get it activated
with the correct company and that they
enable both pass for you.
You can run it on cellular only if you
don't have Wi-Fi at the house.
That's perfectly fine.
You just want to make sure that you have good signal.
If you have minimum signal in your house,
another thing you guys can possibly do
is get a cellular amplifier for the house.
Cellular amplifier will actually increase the cell signal
strength, not just for your system,
but for your personal cell phones or anything else that's
using cellular towers or cellular service in your house.
Cellular amplifiers are really, really great to do
and I've always seen great improvements in cell signal,
in the signal strength when somebody
uses one in their house.
So it's just something to keep in mind.
If you guys have any questions about configuring your IQ 2
or your IQ 2 Plus on Wi-Fi, on cellular,
if you have questions on getting it activated with Alarm.com,
please send us an email to support@alarmgrid.com.
If you found the video helpful, make
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so when we upload new content, you guys get notified.
I'm Jorge, and I'll see you guys next time.