Tag: 2G sunset

YARMOUTH, Maine—Respondents to Security Systems News' latest poll on the 2G sunset show highly varied experiences: half said that areas lost 2G service before expected, 65 percent still have accounts to change over, and 25 percent said they can relax—there's plenty of time before the sunset.The 2G sunset is the projected date—Dec. 31, 2016—when 2G communications will no longer be serviced from current towers, forcing alarm dealers to seek alternate communication paths.“If...

Telguard recently announced its new Freedom program: providing dealers with funding and equipment for 2G conversions for a $9.95 monthly fee per 2G account. Shawn Welsh, Telguard's SVP of product line management and marketing, told me that the program helps the dealers who haven't yet figured out how to deal with the sunset. The sunset is an old topic, and Welsh said dealers have probably gotten a little fatigued hearing about it. He said that Telguard looked to why some dealers hadn't started. “What...

Now that it is the New Year—2016—it is also the year of the 2G sunset, with the effective end date for 2G signals being Dec. 31 this year. A lot of people have been talking about it, such as how to prepare for it, how to approach mass radio conversions and when dealers need to start. Lately, I've heard that the 2G sunset will play a role in the 2016 acquisition market. Specifically, I've heard that dealers that have not completed, or perhaps haven't started, their 2G conversions may find...

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—Independent dealers for the first time now can take advantage of Icontrol Networks' connected home platform.The new Icontrol One combines the software backbone Icontrol provides for the big guys, such as ADT, Comcast and Time Warner, but has a business model tailored to the smaller, independent dealers, said Greg Roberts, Icontrol vice president of marketing.“Icontrol can host it for them and provide the technology that makes it very easy for them to adopt services...

EL CAJON, Calif.—Alarm Relay is using a blog to keep its customer base well serviced and informed about the 2G conversion. Alarm Relay's estimate is that 2G will be outdated by 2016. Alarm Relay's blog lists for their customers the advantages of switching to a newer system, such as fewer outages or disruptions, 3G's expected length of usage, increased speeds, and advanced encryptions. “[Updating] from 2G will be imperative for customers to avoid service interruption,” said Alarm...

AT&T's 2012 announcement that it would phase out 2G service left most in the alarm industry, well, unfazed. With wireless technology, such changes come with the territory. Moreover, it's not the alarm industry but the mobile phone industry that dictates network “sunsets.” As Lou Fiore, Chairman of the Alarm Industry Communications Commission, put it in a recent conversation: “As long as you go cellular, there is no endgame here.” A few months after the initial announcement,...

One of the most newsworthy items for the alarm industry in 2012 was AT&T's announcement that it will shut down 2G service by Jan. 1, 2017. Everyone knew the day was coming, but there had been a lot of speculation in the field about exactly when cellular equipment would need to be upgraded to stay ahead of the sunset. With the uncertainty gone, the industry now faces the reality of swapping millions of devices that use AT&T's GSM/GPRS network. Choices must be made that involve assessing the longevity,...

YARMOUTH, Maine—AT&T's 2G “sunset” announcement in August didn't surprise many people in the alarm industry: Only 9 percent had doubted it was imminent, according to a recent SSN News Poll. But despite that perspective, a majority of respondents said they had not yet begun upgrade their cellular equipment to 3G or 4G.What a difference a deadline makes.AT&T's declaration that it will phase out its 2G service by Jan. 1, 2017 knocked a lot of people off the fence, with 55 percent of...

ATLANTA—Telguard Corp. is backing its call for alarm companies to prepare for the “2G sunset” with a $5 million program that gives dealers up to $25 for every 2G cellular communicator they replace with a Telguard 3G/4G product.The company, a division of Telular Corp., combines devices, communications and alarm processing into turnkey systems for wireless monitoring of intrusion and fire systems.The Upgrade Incentive Program was launched at ESX in Nashville in late June and is now...

CHICAGO—The “2G sunset” is coming—it's just hard to say when. But the 2G fade-out has already begun, eating into the frequency spectrum and posing a threat to the effectiveness of cellular alarm communicators.Like analog before it, 2G technology—most commonly GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)—is destined to become a technological footnote. The exact date for the “sunset” will not be determined by the Federal Communications Commission or...