Must activate system--not just panic. I had problem with dial out to cell phone, which is really what you want if you are moving around and want to stay in touch with your system in case of activation. I first tried dialing to a neighbor on their landline and system worked. Look at the x10 "troubleshooting" section on their website for instructions. I was having trouble on cell phone dialout and finally after several tries, someone at x10 mentioned that I must have my cell phone set on "long key length"--it is a setting on your cell phone, which most likely, is set for "short key length". Had it changed by my cell phone guy and wala the cell phone rang on a test intrusion (I only programmed in teh 7 digit cell phone number without area code and a "1".