A security system comprising: a control panel having a first wireless transceiver that is configured to operate under an IEEE 802.15.4 or equivalent protocol and a second wireless transceiver that is configured to operate under an IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the first and second wireless transceivers are configured to operate on an overlapping or non-overlapping radio frequency channel, and wherein the second wireless transceiver is configured to provide WiFi access to portable wireless devices; a beacon processor of the control panel that is configured to transmit a beacon through the first or second wireless transceivers, wherein the beacon defines a repeating superframe having a first time period divided into a number of time division multiple access slots (104... 114) and a second time period; wherein while use of the second time period is generally used by the portable wireless devices for IEEE 802.11 traffic, it is polymorphic in that it can also be used for IEEE 802.15.4 traffic; and a plurality of remotely located wireless sensors (12, 14) each having a respective wireless transceiver wherein at least some of the plurality of remotely located wireless sensors are configured to exchange messages with the control panel within a respective one of the time division multiple access slots of the first time period of the repeating superframe on the overlapping or non-overlapping radio frequency channel; characterized by further comprising: a first processor (32,34) within the control panel that is configured to dynamically adjust a relative size of the first and second time periods to reduce or exclude the WiFi access by the portable wireless devices wherein a portion of the second time period is used by the first processor (32, 34) to perform at least one of enrolling or re-enrolling the at least some of the plurality of remotely located wireless sensors (14, 16) with the control panel under the IEEE 802.15.4 or equivalent protocol, download frames of video images from at least one IP camera to the control panel under the IEEE 802.15.4 or equivalent protocol when the plurality of remotely located wireless sensors include the at least one IP camera, or download software to the at least some of the plurality of remotely located wireless sensors under the IEEE 802.15.4 or equivalent protocol, and wherein a relative priority of the IEEE 802.15.4 traffic and the IEEE 802.11 traffic is inverted when an alarm notification is transmitted from the control panel to a central monitoring station of the security system under the IEEE 802.11 protocol or when there is WiFi video/audio traffic from the at least one IP camera to the control panel under the IEEE 802.11 protocol. a control panel having a first wireless transceiver that is configured to operate under an IEEE 802.15.4 or equivalent protocol and a second wireless transceiver that is configured to operate under an IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the first and second wireless transceivers are configured to operate on an overlapping or non-overlapping radio frequency channel, and wherein the second wireless transceiver is configured to provide WiFi access to portable wireless devices; a beacon processor of the control panel that is configured to transmit a beacon through the first or second wireless transceivers, wherein the beacon defines a repeating superframe having a first time period divided into a number of time division multiple access slots (104... 114) and a second time period; wherein while use of the second time period is generally used by the portable wireless devices for IEEE 802.11 traffic, it is polymorphic in that it can also be used for IEEE 802.15.4 traffic; and a plurality of remotely located wireless sensors (12, 14) each having a respective wireless transceiver wherein at least some of the plurality of remotely located wireless sensors are configured to exchange messages with the control panel within a respective one of the time division multiple access slots of the first time period of the repeating superframe on the overlapping or non-overlapping radio frequency channel; characterized by further comprising: a first processor (32,34) within the control panel that is configured to dynamically adjust a relative size of the first and second time periods to reduce or exclude the WiFi access by the portable wireless devices wherein a portion of the second time period is used by the first processor (32, 34) to perform at least one of enrolling or re-enrolling the at least some of the plurality of remotely located wireless sensors (14, 16) with the control panel under the IEEE 802.15.4 or equivalent protocol, download frames of video images from at least one IP camera to the control panel under the IEEE 802.15.4 or equivalent protocol when the plurality of remotely located wireless sensors include the at least one IP camera, or download software to the at least some of the plurality of remotely located wireless sensors under the IEEE 802.15.4 or equivalent protocol, and wherein a relative priority of the IEEE 802.15.4 traffic and the IEEE 802.11 traffic is inverted when an alarm notification is transmitted from the control panel to a central monitoring station of the security system under the IEEE 802.11 protocol or when there is WiFi video/audio traffic from the at least one IP camera to the control panel under the IEEE 802.11 protocol.