Does the Simon XT landline dialer plays any role at all in the case of an alarm. Does it dial first, second or concurrently with the GSM module? If it dials first, wouldn’t this call cause a delay in the GSM module dialing? Also, considering that me picking up the phone when called by the landline dialer would give the monitoring station a busy line when trying to contact me at about the same time, shouldn’t the landline dialer be either completely disabled or be configured such that it calls the monitoring station instead (and GSM functioning as backup)?
We don’t typically work with Simon XT panels, so I’m not sure, but assuming they work like most other panels it would dial via the land line first and if that fails then it would fall back to cellular. Someone can confirm that during business hours. Yes, it would slow down the cellular signal. I recommend ditching the land line all together and using cellular as primary. The new Alarm.com dual path communication (cellular and IP) is concurrent, it sends both signals at the same time - which is the absolute best way to go. The land line dialer doesn’t call you, it calls the central station.
Alarm.com already supports dual path on the back end. Qolsys panels are using dual path now. 2GIG will have dual path in their next firmware release with the aid of a 900MHz IP bridge. I would imagine the Alarm.com communicators for Interlogix will support dual path soon.
Forwarding signals through an Alarm.com module can take place after a failure is detected in the phone line or concurrently, determined by the Alarm.com account setup process.
Ok, so is the consensus that the Simon XT landline dialer in the alarm.com setup is useless at best, and that one is better off disabling it altogether?
Generally speaking, communication will be quicker and safer via the cellular communicator. There may be a delay in the panel communicating to Alarm.com in the event of your phone line being disabled or cut. If you were dead-set on using the land line communicator for your system, I would have the land-line be the backup and the cellular be the primary.
I was mistaken, you cannot set the land line up to be the secondary communicator.