Radio Issue

Hello,

My system has been working fine up until a few days ago. The issue I’m having is that I have no radio signal. When I run the cell phone test, it just says “Acquiring network registration” over and over again until it fails. Under Radio Status, it shows signal strength 0/31, registration status = registration denied, connection status = idle (OTASP Ok). I’m hoping you guys can help me figure this out.

Thanks,
Chris

It seems to me if the registration is specifically saying denied, it may be an account related issue. I’m certain a surety rep will check this for you and let you know shortly by replying to this post. It seems if you were getting NO signal, it would not deny the registration.

When I run the cell phone test, it just says “Acquiring network registration” over and over again until it fails. Under Radio Status, it shows signal strength 0/31, registration status = registration denied, connection status = idle (OTASP Ok). I’m hoping you guys can help me figure this out.

This indicates that the module is not able to access the carrier network at all. It looks like in Alarm.com history your signaling indeed abruptly stopped recently, and was previously very strong. This suggests most likely a carrier error, or the module itself has experienced hardware failure.

The first thing to do would be to power down the system for a full two minutes, (unplug the transformer then internal battery) then power back up battery first, then transformer. Wait a few minutes then try a cell test. Any luck?

If not, try the steps in the video below, which should help with any cell registration issues unless a major problem occurred at the signal source your panel is attempting to connect to.

Any luck with this?

None of that worked. When I run the test, it keeps saying “Waiting for CS response” until it times out. However under radio status it now says 19/31 for signal, and registered for registration status

However under radio status it now says 19/31 for signal, and registered for registration status

Now that it shows a signal strength and registration on the carrier network, try power cycling the panel again for a full two minutes.

Any change after boot up?

Nope. I even followed the steps above again and still nothing.

Did you possibly add a cell network extender?

Otherwise this seems pretty solidly suggesting either a major change in carrier tower or failure of the module.

I am not seeing any evidence of other systems in the general area experiencing this same issue, though it may be limited to a tower they do not connect to. We will forward this to Alarm.com to see if they can determine if any general signaling issues are being noticed across any other non-Surety accounts in the area I don’t have access to.

While CDMA modules can be used for the next couple years as they are, there may be some carrier coverage concerns as we near the 3G CDMA sunset date.

As of 6/30/2019, CDMA modules will not be able to be newly registered on Alarm.com accounts. It may be a good idea to update firmware to 1.19 (would need the firmware upgrade cable) and try the LTE module as a resolution to failed signaling.