The first thing to double check is if the system that is installed is a 2GIG Go!Control Panel or a Sky Panel. If it is the Sky Panel, the panel and the majority of the peripherals would unfortunately be unusable through any Alarm.com provider.
If it is a Go!Control, you would have the option of reusing the system with a new cellular communicator and firmware upgrade.
Reusing an existing system is more cost effective, but there are some downsides to consider:
- Existing 2GIG Panel is not encrypted. Only the brand new GC2e has encrypted sensor options (which won’t be what is installed there).
- There are more unknowns with regard to quality, and you should probably replace all sensor batteries to ensure everything is working at peak condition.
- No built in broadband backup communication. Broadband backup requires the Go!Bridge.
Benefits of a new IQ Panel 2+ and new sensors:
- Two different compatible encrypted sensor lines. A recent discussion on the importance of encryption is found here.
- Power G sensors have extreme range compared to other sensors, roughly 4-5 times the range for better reliability.
- The IQ Panel 2+ has built in wifi, local camera for alarm and post disarm images, built in glass break detector, streaming Alarm.com video cameras to the panel, answer the video doorbell on the panel, advanced Z-wave diagnostics. Most of these are exclusive features currently to the IQ Panel 2+.
The main limitation of the IQ Panel 2+ is that the cellular module is not removable. The whole panel would need to be replaced to switch carriers between Verizon and AT&T LTE. However, the 2GIG panel currently only has one option (Verizon LTE), so choosing an alternate carrier is not even possible with the 3G module activations having been cut off 6/30/2019.