Alarm Industry Committee Warns AT&T 3G Shutdown Plans Put Tens of Millions of Americans in Danger

By B.N. Frank

Earlier this month, T-Mobile was asked to stop speeding up its “3G sunset” because it puts many Americans at grave risk. Now AT&T is being criticized for doing the same thing.

From Light Reading:

AT&T’s 3G shutdown plans are ‘harmful, even deadly,’ warns alarm industry

According to the Alarm Industry Communications Committee, there are fully 6 million alarms installed in homes and businesses around the US that rely in part on the 3G networks operated by AT&T and Verizon. And a large portion of those devices might not work starting next year.

The shuttering of 3G will be “harmful, even deadly,” according to the association, impacting “tens of millions of people in millions of homes, businesses and government installations due to a loss of central station alarm protection service.”

As a result, the group is asking the FCC to prevent AT&T from shutting off its 3G network until the end of next year.

Keeping up with the Gs

Installed by security companies like ADT, at issue are the alarms that monitor for things like fire, home invasions, medical emergencies and dangerous carbon monoxide levels. Such gadgets often communicate with emergency personnel via wired networks, but also use wireless connections as a backup in case the location’s primary connection has been damaged or is otherwise unavailable. Indeed, according to the Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC), such backups are sometimes required by insurance companies and are often “more reliable and [a] higher-quality solution” than other options. AICC is a part of the bigger The Monitoring Association (TMA), a trade association representing the professional monitoring industry.

The AICC explained that the alarm industry has experience in transitioning from one G to another.

Read full article

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is supposed to protect Americans from the telecom and cable industries. The agency has been catering to these industries instead for decades (see 1, 2, 3). This has led to various lawsuits being filed against it (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).

Activist Post reports regularly about “Big Telcom”, “Big Cable”, and unsafe technology. For more information visit our archives and the following websites.