Alarm Stopped Reporting After the 3G Shutdown? Here's What's Happened — and What Fixes It

Telstra and Optus switched off their 3G networks for good on 28 October 2024 (after the originally announced August and September dates were pushed back for a final safety campaign). Every alarm panel in Perth that phoned its monitoring centre over a 3G communicator went quiet that day — and nearly two years on, we're still finding systems that have been sitting silent ever since, with owners assuming they're protected.

The panel still arms. The siren still screams. But nobody is being told when it goes off. If you haven't had a monitoring test since late 2024, this page is for you.

How to Tell If Your Alarm Is Affected

Signs your alarm lost its voice in the shutdown:

• Your monitoring centre hasn't called you in a long time — no activations, no low-battery calls, nothing. Silence isn't always good news.
• A persistent trouble light, beeping, or "communication fault" / "fail to communicate" message on the keypad that started around late 2024.
• Your monitoring invoice keeps arriving but you can't remember the last test. Ring the centre and ask when they last received a signal from your panel. That one phone call settles it.
• Your system was installed roughly between 2010 and 2019 and connects via a small antenna box near the panel — that's the vintage most likely to be carrying a 3G communicator.

If your alarm dialled out over the old copper phone line instead, you likely hit the same wall earlier when the NBN took over — different network, same outcome.

Which Panels Are Affected

Here's the important nuance: it's almost never the alarm panel itself that died — it's the communicator bolted to it. The affected era covers most of the big names we service every week:

• Ness — D8x/D16x-era systems fitted with 3G diallers
• Bosch — Solution series panels (very common in Perth) with GSM/3G modules
• Hills — Reliance-series systems with 3G comms
• Paradox — MG/SP-era panels with 3G modules
• DSC — PowerSeries-era systems with 3G communicators

All of these panels are electrically fine. A Bosch Solution or Ness panel from 2014 will happily keep running for years — it just needs a new way to talk.

Your Three Options, Honestly Compared

1. Fit a 4G Communicator (Most Common Fix)

A 4G communicator — Permaconn and Multipath units are the ones we fit most — replaces the dead 3G module and reconnects the panel to your monitoring centre over the 4G network, often with dual-SIM redundancy across carriers. Typically a single service visit: swap the module, reprogram, test signals end-to-end with the monitoring centre.

2. Switch to IP Reporting

If the panel supports it, reporting can run over your internet connection instead of (or as well as) mobile. Cheap to run, fast — but on its own it's only as reliable as your router and the power to it. For anything you actually care about, we'd pair IP with a 4G path so a blackout or NBN outage doesn't blind the system. Dual-path is the standard we'd spec for business premises.

3. Replace the System

Sometimes the communicator is just the final straw. We'd steer you toward replacement rather than upgrade when:

• Detectors are 15+ years old. Sensors drift and clot with dust; a panel that reports perfectly but detects poorly is worse than useless.
• The keypad/user experience is fighting you. If nobody arms it because it's annoying, it isn't a security system.
• Repairs are stacking up. A 4G module on a panel that also needs a battery, two detectors and a siren driver can approach the cost of a new wireless system.
• You want app control, video verification or self-monitoring. Modern systems like Ajax report over 4G and ethernet natively, send activations to your phone with photos, and don't depend on a bolt-on module at all.

There's no universal answer — we quote both paths when it's genuinely line-ball and tell you which we'd pick for our own house. If the fix is a repair rather than a rebuild, that's what our alarm repair service is for.

Don't Forget the Monitoring Test

Whichever path you take, the job isn't done until the monitoring centre confirms live signals — arm/disarm events, a test activation, low battery, and comms-fail supervision. We do this on every communicator job before we leave. If someone upgraded your alarm and didn't test end-to-end with the monitoring centre, ask for it. More on how monitoring works (and what it should include) in our alarm monitoring guide.

Seniors: This Repair Can Be Rebate-Eligible

If you hold a WA Seniors Card, repairs to home alarm systems by a licensed security installer can qualify under the state's Safety and Security Rebate — up to $400 per household. A 4G communicator upgrade is exactly the kind of job it exists for. Check the current scheme terms on the Seniors Card website before you book.

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