Security Sales & Integration April 2022 - 56

EXECUTIVE DECISIONS
Monitoring Matters by Peter Giacalone
Refl ecting on 3G
Sunset Eff orts
What made
this sunset a
bit diff erent
was that during
the 3G period,
cellular radios
became more
widely utilized
and it was no
longer for just
central station
backup.
▶ I'M GOING TO CHEAT A LITTLE this
month and share some of the thoughts and words
I communicated back in the summer of 2018. It
wasn't an article that I wrote, it was a white paper
for the purpose of memorializing an anticipated
challenge that surfaced sometime before that summer.
At that time, it was very clear that the cellular
carriers planned on the sunset of the 3G cellular
networks in the upcoming four years.
Th e sunset of a major wireless network was not
new for the security and life-safety industry. We
experienced the sunset of the analog radio network
many years before, which was later followed
by the sunset of the 2G cellular network. It was
communicated and confi rmed that the 3G cellular
network was slated for permanent retirement. Th e
only saving grace was that the carriers provided a
four-plus years ramp for the industry to update
their network of radios and systems.
As we learned, retirement dates staggered by
carrier and changed along the way. What made
this sunset a bit diff erent was that during the 3G
period, cellular radios became more widely utilized
and it was no longer for just central station
backup communications anymore. Cellular systems
and communications were now the umbilical
cord for home controls, notifi cations, video
and the mobile applications end users utilized to
view and manage their systems.
Peter Giacalone
is President of
Giacalone Associates,
an independent
security consulting
fi rm serving
central stations,
manufacturers and
dealers.
Although some of the dates seemed to improve
since the initial announcements, the path to the
retirement of the 3G networks was very clear.
AT&T announced that it will fi nish shutting
down its 3G network by February 2022. Verizon
announced that it will fi nish shutting down
its 3G network by Dec. 31, 2022. T-Mobile announced
that it will fi nish shutting down Sprint's
3G CDMA network by March 31, 2022, and
Sprint's 4G LTE network by June 30, 2022.
Who Was Paying Attention?
With the targeted dates and historic data on how
sunsetting tends to accelerate in certain areas, you
would think that everyone was on top and in front
of this issue. Although many were on top of this
56
Security Sales & Integration APRIL 2022
peter@giacaloneassociates.com
issue, unfortunately, many others were not. From
the intrusion and fi re side, manufacturers like
Napco were very early in off ering a host and variety
of intrusion and fi re cellular radio solutions
that were all 4G and way ahead of the issue.
On the mobile medical alert side known as
mPERS, you have companies such as Anelto that
were the fi rst to launch their fl agship mPERS
that is 4G and fully functional with a backend
dealer portal. With these choices as well as others,
it was and is totally bizarre that dealers would
choose to still install and off er 3G cellular radios
and mPERS after the sunset was announced
when they had choices to utilize 4G radios as a
natural, controlled and nonstressed manner to a
successful migration. Why compound a problem
that already exists?
Why Look Back?
Th e reason I felt it was important to share this
retrospective memory, is to highlight that we had
time as an industry and the manufacturers were
supportive very early on. It is understood by experience
that it is challenging to force change of
subscribers. It is also understood that not every
dealer operates under the same fi nancial model
when it relates to selling, leasing and upgrading
subscriber systems. All this plays a big part on
how a dealer can address this and similar issues in
a manageable structure.
Subscriber participation is essential. Assuring
proper communication to the subscriber outlining
the issue and how it will aff ect them is of
paramount importance. Th e structure of giving
the cellular radios away for free or low cost versus
charging full price is less important. Everybody's
model is diff erent. It's all about proper communications
and a structure that allows for a smooth
transition from a sunsetting network to the current
network. In my travels I know and have met
many dealers that migrated their entire subscriber
base way in advance of the shutdown.
Unfortunately, many did not or could not accomplish
this transition prior to the network retirement
date. It's likely a variety of reasons caused
some of these companies the pain of not beating
the shutdown deadline. Although the reasons may
diff er for those who are in a tough place now that
the AT&T deadline has passed, the one common
element I have found from the companies who are
all migrated is that that they started updating their
subscribers very early on.
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Security Sales & Integration April 2022

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