Tag: FCC

You’ve read that title right. I’ve got the dulcet plucking of strings by Pat Metheny going on in the background as I write this, and it’s a rambling title for a rambling blog which I'll be getting to, but for now think of this as a tale of two governments. On Nov. 25, the FCC voted to expand the ban on monitoring hardware from several different Chinese companies, chief among them Huawei, and other familiar names you have likely read on this site. While this might seem like...

Unless you have been living under a rock you have probably heard the debate over net neutrality. For all the talk there is very little understanding of how dangerous this obscure sounding policy would be to our economy.While our lobbyists seem to be focusing their efforts on adding language they view as favorable to our industry, our efforts instead should be to stop this regulation in its tracks.  While many will misleadingly try to convince you this is an effort to promote an “open Web,”...

WASHINGTON—The recent FCC ruling on net neutrality appears to give security professionals a “level playing field,” but it remains to be seen if it will fully satisfy the industry, according to Lou Fiore, chairman of AICC.“For the services we use on the open Internet, it's good news that our traffic will be unblocked and unthrottled; it won't be slowed down. It's mainly for video that we need the higher speeds,” Fiore told Security Systems News.“The threat was the...

OAKLAND, Calif.—AT&T's move to partially disable its 2G service here at the end of August got the attention of California Alarm Association members, but the frequency blackout did not affect operations in the field, according to CAA Executive Director Jerry Lenander.AT&T, which announced on Aug. 3 that it would phase out its 2G networks nationwide by 2017, temporarily shut down its 850 MHz frequency on 16 cell towers in Oakland after city officials notified the company that the towers were...

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission is stepping up enforcement to halt the sale and use of radio jamming devices, which can indiscriminately interfere with cellular 911 calls and wireless signals from alarm devices.It is illegal to buy, sell or use signal jammers in the United States, but that doesn't stop consumers—including criminals who use the devices to disable alarm systems—from obtaining jammers online. They are available on many websites, with retailers claiming...

Calling all alarm companies … Are you robocalling into the void in an attempt to land new business, or to sell new products and services to existing customers? There are new rules that will soon affect you. Under provisions of an order adopted Feb. 15 by the Federal Communications Commission, express written consent will be required from consumers before a company can place a marketing robocall to a residential or wireless number. The FCC also will require telemarketers to provide an automated...

At more than 100 pages, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012—H.R. 3630, the so-called "payroll tax" bill that passed Congress last week—is a daunting read for just about anyone outside the Capitol. There's a lot in it that doesn't pertain to tax relief or job creation, including items of great interest to the alarm industry, and now it is law. A lot was changed during the months-long process of getting the bill through the partisan morass, but one item of concern to...

VIENNA, Va.—Utility companies are installing smart meters on homes and businesses around the nation to help the utilities and their customers better manage power usage. But the devices also appear to have some drawbacks—one of them being possible interference with property owners' security alarm system. That concerns the Central Station Alarm Association, which published an article late last year in the CSAA Dispatch, a publication of the association, which is based here. The article...

YARMOUTH, Maine—As 2010 draws to a close the editors at Security Systems News take a look back and see what the most read stories of the year were. What was making the news? What were you most interested in knowing? Below is a non-sequential, categorized rundown of the top 10 most read stories on our site from Jan. 1 to Dec. 11, followed by a linked top 10 list. The top category for 2010 was “For sale/SOLD!” Acquisition stories had a large showing in 2010 with a full half of the...

WASHINGTON--Plain-old telephone service--the mainspring of traditional burg and fire alarm signal transmission--could be coming to a mandatory end. The Federal Communications Commission on Dec. 1 issued a public notice seeking comment on a National Broadband Plan that could include a mandatory switch from a public switched telephone network to IP, similar to the FCC-enforced switch from analog to digital broadcast television that occurred in early 2009. For an exclusive look at how IP technology...