Qolsys IQ Panel 4: Available Communication Paths

Hey, DIYers. Dylan here with Alarm Grid. Today we're going to review which communication paths are available on the IQ 4 panel and if this will work with a phone line. So I'm going to show you how to access the communication paths.

But just a real quick answer, no, it does not work with phone line, and the communication paths options are cellular, which is primary. And you have an optional Wi-Fi path as well. So we'll show you how to access those and go over a little bit more information regarding that.

OK, so we have our IQ 4 panel here. Going to just show you some information about cellular, how to access the Wi-Fi on here. Again, phone line does not work with the system.

The cellular options are mainly going to be AT&T and Verizon. When you're ordering the system, it'll specify which of those the panel is set for. You cannot switch out the actual communicator inside. So when you're ordering, just check Google which carrier has better signal in your area.

You can go to each carrier's website and view a data map. Or if you have Verizon or AT&T on your cell phone, you can check the signals at wherever you're installing the panel, and it's going to be similar to how the panel is going to react as well. So for disinformation about these, again, cellular is required to get this setup for monitoring. That's how the system will be registered to alarm.com.

So we're going to check some information about that. We're going to go into the top gray bar. We'll go to Settings. We're going to go into Advanced Settings. We'll enter our installer code, 1111.

And then right here, we have the About option. So when you're getting the panel registered for monitoring, you're going to need the IMEI number from the system. That is located on the back of the system, but you also check it through this menu right here by pressing Cellular. And the IMEI number is right there.

This also shows the carrier. Our panel is working over AT&T. Shows cellular connection. So before this is registered with a company, that's going to say "not connected." We have this registered, showing connected. And it's going to show you the signal strength as well.

So we have four out of five bars. Very, very good. And then just some other information here that's not really too important for cellular. The IMEI number is what you're going to need to get this registered for monitoring.

Let me close this here. We also have Wi-Fi information. So, again, we have connection status, connected, the speed, the internet, our information right here, the SSID, and the IP address, which we will be blurring out. So that's going to be blurred for you guys. Sorry.

Now, when you have the IMEI number and you contact your monitoring company, get this registered, it's not really much you need to do on this end. They can get that connected, get it registered, and that's when that signal strength and all that information is going to start showing. And then, again, you do have the option to connect to Wi-Fi.

This is not necessary. The system is fine to work off cellular only. But if you want a little bit of extra security with the signaling being sent out, the Wi-Fi option is there. So if an alarm goes off, both of the cellular and Wi-Fi paths will send out the signal at the same time, and whichever is quicker will arrive to alarm.com first, which will then notify your monitoring company.

So we have another video showing how to actually connect to Wi-Fi, so I won't go through that here. But when you're pressing the Wi-Fi option, make sure "activate Wi-Fi" is checked off. When that is checked off, that's going to show you all the available networks, which you can then click into and connect to as you would on any other device that can connect to Wi-Fi. The process is very similar to that.

You can also go to system test to test the cellular network. So that's started and test successfully. So this test, it's sending a signal to alarm.com. So if you do not have this registered yet and you try to do that test, it's going to show status failed, because it's not signaling anything.

But this is also showing that information we viewed earlier, which carrier, the cellular connection, the IMEI, and the signal strength. And then we do have a Wi-Fi test as well. And, again, it's showing us similar information to what we just saw-- the speed of the internet, the result pass, what time, and status, connected.

So pretty good. Both options are enabled. Both options are running. And they're both going to send out to alarm.com.

And then, even though I have already mentioned it, as you can see here, there's no option for phone line testing because you cannot use a phone line with this system. Cellular and/or Wi-Fi only. And there is also the dual-path Wi-Fi test. So that's going to run for both cellular and Wi-Fi.

So if you don't want to do them individually, just do it here. Wi-Fi passed. Perfect. Dual path is enabled.

OK, so that is the communication paths available for the IQ 4 panel. Again, you cannot use phone line with the system, but it does have cellular, either AT&T or Verizon. There are some Telus options available, but AT&T and Verizon are the main ones that you're going to see, especially if you're in the United States.

Again, phone line does not work. Cellular is the primary option. That's how the system is going to get registered. And you do have an option of adding Wi-Fi as well and have both of those paths sent out at the same time.

If you did like this video, please like the video. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell icon to be notified about any future videos we release. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. Our phone number is 888-818-7728. We have an email address, which is support@alarmgrid.com.

And if you come to our website, www.alarmgrid.com, we have a live chat option on there as well. Feel free to use any of those options to contact us. Again, my name is Dylan with Alarm Grid. And thank you for watching.