Moving to Surety from another Alarm.com Provider

Hello,

This is probably a basic question but I could not find the exact answer after some searching. If someone could direct me to the information, that would be great.

I have an existing 2GIG panel connected to various sensors, garage doors, lights and locks all controlled by Alarm.com and Z-wave. I have a local provider who did the install and I am paying a monthly fee for the ability to automate everything via Alarm.com but they are not providing any monitoring service.

I am wondering if I can use all of my existing equipment and move to Surety for my Alarm.com access and monitoring service. When I type in my radio serial number, it shows as registered. Will I still be able to re-register this device with Surety or will I have to get a whole new panel? How about my Alarm.com access?

Thanks for your help and looking forward to joining!

Happy to help!

You can start service with Surety in one of two ways, transfer your current Alarm.com account to us, or create a new one.

More information on transferring your account can be found here. Not all service providers support account transfers, you will want to find out from your current service provider if they will support it. If they do, let us know and we can follow up with further instructions.

Transferring will allow you to keep your current Alarm.com account settings (rules, scenes, notifications, etc.). This will also allow you to continue using a 3G module if that is installed in your panel (more on that below).

If you transfer, and you use a 3G module, you will need to upgrade to 4G LTE at some point in the near future (end of 2022 is the end of support for 3G and Alarm.com)

If transfer is not possible, then signing up for service through Surety would result in a new Alarm.com account. Due to the impending 3G sunset, as of June 2019, Alarm.com will no longer allow new accounts to be created using a 3G module, going forward only 4G LTE modules can be used to set up new accounts. Do you know what kind of 2GIG panel and cellular module you have?

If it is 3G, a new module would need to be obtained. If you currently have a 4G LTE module, you would need your current service provider to un-register the module (typically done during the account cancellation process) prior to being able to use it to set up new service through Surety.

Service plans can be found here. If you are looking for , home automation control and professional monitoring, I would recommend the Surety Home plan with 24/7 professional montitoring

Thanks Tyler for this helpful information. I have a 2GIG Go!Control panel but not sure what radio they put in there - I imagine 3G as this was done 3 yrs ago.

If I read the above correctly, I will have to ask my current provider if they support transferring my Alarm.com account. If that is the case, then do I still need to worry about re-registering my panel or will that be taken care of during the transfer?

If they do not support transferring, then I would have to buy a new control panel and make a new Alarm.com account and presumably I would not be able to use the same e-mail associated with it currently?

Thanks Tyler for this helpful information. I have a 2GIG Go!Control panel but not sure what radio they put in there - I imagine 3G as this was done 3 yrs ago.

No problem. If the module board has 1 antenna coming out of it, its a 3G module, if it has 2 antenna, it is 4G. Given the installation date, it is likely 3G. Do you know what firmware your panel is at?

If that is the case, then do I still need to worry about re-registering my panel or will that be taken care of during the transfer?

If transfer is supported, we give you a pin number to give to your current service provider. They need to initiate the transfer on their end. After that it can take a few business days for Alarm.com to transfer the account. During this time, your service will remain uninterrupted.

Once complete, everything about your Alarm.com account will remain the same (rules, notifications, users etc. )

If they do not support transferring, then I would have to buy a new control panel and make a new Alarm.com account and presumably I would not be able to use the same e-mail associated with it currently?

You wont need a new panel. You will likely need a 4G LTE module and a 2GIG USB Firmware update cable (both can be purchased here). The panel needs to be at firmware 1.19.+ in order to be compatible with the 4G LTE module.

Email addresses are not unique to Alarm.com accounts however the Alarm.com primary login username is. Two accounts cannot share the same username, so if your current Alarm.com account is not cancelled by the time you create the new one through Surety, a new name must be chosen. However, you can change that name at a later date (back to the one you were using once its unregistered. )

You’ve been super helpful and this has answered all my questions. I will be looking to make the switch shortly once I confirm with my current provider. Thanks and hope this will help the next person who may have the same questions.

I was able to install the new firmware and modem.

However, I realize now that after updating the firmware, all of my sensors and z-wave devices have been removed. I guess I should have excluded all the devices from the hub before doing the firmware update because now I’m having a hard time getting them to re-learn to the new device. The devices are still looking I guess for the old firmware although the panel is the same. Is this normal? Or is there a good way for the devices to recognize the same panel although the firmware has changed?

Updating firmware should not delete any sensor zones or z-wave devices. There are two things that might do that: running a factory reset procedure, or applying firmware older than 1.14 to a 1.14+ panel.

Z-wave devices themselves retain a parent network link. In order to re-add a Z-wave device to the network it must first go through the “Remove Device” step. This will clear its saved parent network data.

Select Remove Device in Z-wave settings and the panel will listen for devices. Press the learn button/sequence on the device. Do this one by one for all Z-wave devices. Then they can be added again.

I have a 2GIG panel that was on 1.16 firmware. I followed all the instructions to install first the intermediate 1.9.6 firmware and then updated the firmware again to install the 1.19.3 software.

I then installed the LTE modem. I powered everything back up and activated my account which went fine. However, none of my Z-wave devices are registered so I cannot remove them.

I would assume the 1.9 is lower than 1.16 which is what I started out as but if I remember the instructions, it said I should do the intermediate firmware if I was below 1.19 I believe. Is this where I went wrong?

I would assume the 1.9 is lower than 1.16 which is what I started out as but if I remember the instructions, it said I should do the intermediate firmware if I was below 1.19 I believe. Is this where I went wrong?

Yes. 1.9.6 is only required if your panel is currently older than 1.9 (not 1.19).

1.8 < 1.9 < 1.9.6 < 1.10 < 1.12 < 1.16, etc.

Yeah any panel above 1.14 that has firmware 1.13 or older applied will essentially experience a factory reset., even if the option to reset is locked out in programming.

I re-read the instructions and I indeed misread it…thinking I had to use the intermediate firmware if I was below 1.19 before I could upgrade to 1.19.3.

Sucks as I had multiple locks, thermostats and lights programmed already. Totally my fault though…

I am using Jasco lights which are known to crap out (already had to replace 3/6). I was attempting to reset them and it never works. I ended up getting the flashing blue LEDs which in my experience means they’ve been bricked so now the lights don’t even operate.

Any advice on trying to get these light switches factory reset without bricking them like I have done? I’m too scared to try again because if the others break then I won’t have working lights let alone having them remote controlled…

You don’t need to factory reset Z-wave devices to re-add them. You just need to use the Remove Device function on the panel on them individually.

Are you saying that they will not react to the panel Remove Device when they are subsequently triggered?

On my 2GIG panel, none of my devices show up so I assumed that you cannot remove the device since they are not on the device in the first place.

Is this assumption incorrect? You are saying I can remove the devices even if they don’t show up on the panel initially?

Is this assumption incorrect? You are saying I can remove the devices even if they don’t show up on the panel initially?

Yes, the assumption is incorrect, you must use remove device on each first, and it doesn’t matter what controller does the removal.

The remove device function does two things, because Z-wave communication is a two way protocol:

  1. It will delete the device from the panel list if it is there.
  2. It will clear the parent network link in the device itself.

Clearing the parent network is necessary regardless of whether or not it is currently paired to that controller. The point is it has a network saved for some controller (in this case an old instance of that same panel) and it must be cleared out before it can be re-added.

Each Z-wave device must be cleared individually, one at a time, using remove device.

Ok I was able to confirm this as well by removing a device without doing a factory reset. Thank you as I was sitting here continually doing resets and bricked a light switch because of it.

Not sure if this is 2GIG or Z-Wave but all of this is so non-intuitive and so clunky including doing the firmware update. Appreciate Surety’s help so far…

The same Z-wave functions are on all controllers. They are sometimes labeled differently. Qolsys uses “Clear Device” instead of “Remove” which may be a more accurate label.

Others may use “Exclude” but it all does the same thing. It is a necessary step for any Z-wave device setup if the device was already installed on another network.

You are right about 2GIG firmware. The GC2 firmware updates are definitely clunky. It is a much older panel when compared to the GC3 and Qolsys IQ Panel 2+, but even then its method of update is medieval by comparison.

Thanks for all your help - I’m back up and running at a much better value than before.