KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Comments on Honeywell radio problem
August 5, 2019
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Comments on Honeywell radio problem from July 30, 2019 article
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Ken
            Subject: 4G cellular Radios 
            I too have this problem with Honeywell Radios and Telguard, probably not all their fault as they work through AT&T and Verizon. The sunset clause should have been for 3G service only shut down 02/22 not 4G in my opinion. 4G was fine is fine and not sure but Honeywell told me it was the cellular providers that won’t let them register a perfectly good radio that not being turned off until 02/22. Manufactures and providers all involved are moving too fast mow. I’ve been through 3 migrations so far and I can tell you we lose customers or they get pretty irritated when this comes up the first time.   Now, again, in just a couple years as they shut down 2G. It also affects us as dealers not only potential loss of customers our businesses, or homes, our family systems. I feel for the customers and then I want to be paid to do the swap or recoup something. There should be an exchange program from the manufacturer and provider or an insurance policy,                     But who wants another blasted insurance policy. Honeywell, Telguard, Uplink and all the others not mentioned should have pushed back and not allowed at least the 4G units to be not activated at this time. I had three radios I could not reactivate, one was an expensive fire communicator purchased within the last year. And if all this wasn’t bad enough we have had to install external antennas and sometimes switch to different manufacturers to bring the radios back online that all of a sudden the signal weak end. I think they are already turning off tower coverage, not all but it’s causing problems now with a bunch of radios that were fine and have been fine till recently.  Think about all the new smartphones that will now be purchased as a result of weak signals. It’s a real money maker for these huge companies. The more I talk about this the angrier I get about it.
Anonyms
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Ken
            Any new Honeywell / AlarmNet 4G Communicators that you install can’t be “activated” after approximately June 20th 2019.  Any 4G radios still in service out in the field will continue to operate until the coming 4G sunset, which will be around 2 years from now I’ve heard.  New installations or replacements can only be LTE communicators!  Honeywell offers a line of LTE radios to fit your installation requirements.
            We found out the hard way too!
            Hope this helps,
Terry
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Ken,
            Honeywell did discontinue a specific cellular communicator for the LYNX panels.  We were given adequate notice that they would not activate any NEW radios after the date; don’t recall what that date was but it was within first or second quarter of 2019.  I did not follow it closely since we do not use that specific item.
            We are finding though that the IGSMV4G/GSMX4G have been giving us some troubles, and when we replace them with the LTE version the problem disappears.  When you go to replace the radio, they ask for a reason.  One of the reasons is 3G/4G upgrade.  You can then check a box for the “Upgrade Rebate”.  It just appears that Honeywell is trying to do this quietly, so they don’t get pounded by their dealers both in a public relations sense and financially.
            I’d like to hear what others are experiencing.
  Thank you
Please withhold name
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Ken
            Regarding Honeywell cellular radio communicators
            From AlarmNet, March 1, 2019 email:
Attention: USA customers 
AT&T Sunset
AT&T plans to end service on its 3G wireless networks in February 2022. 3G/4G new activations will no longer be permitted after June 26, 2019. This means you will no longer be able to activate a new 3G/4G communicator for an AlarmNet account. Existing 3G/4G communicators that are currently registered will continue to communicate to the central station.
            A reminder was sent on June 11th and again on June 19th.
            Resideo (Honeywell) won’t activate (or re-activate) 4G radios anymore.  Luckily we don’t have a lot of Lynx panels out there and we change out AlarmNet radios with IPdatatel or Napco brands.  AlarmNet cooked their goose with the overage fiasco, and we aren’t going to reward this kind of behavior with continuing to do business with them.  They hurt us, and we’re returning the favor.
            Going forward, you might want to not deactivate the radio when a subscriber moves.  Cancel the central station account (or put it on test for a couple of weeks). Keep the radio active and try to get the new owners to sign a new agreement.  It’s going to cost you a couple bucks for the gamble, and if it doesn’t happen, kill the radio.
 Thank you,
Dan
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Ken, 
            RE: trouble with Honeywell cellular radio communicators
            Alarmnet stopped any new activations on the "older" 4G cellular radios on June 26, 2019 and will now only allow LTE radios to be activated. I seen a notice in a Honeywell news letter sent out on June 11, 2019. I attached a chart to this email you can look at to see the crossover from the older to the newer radios. Any 4G radios you have in stock will NOT be able to be programmed anymore. Existing 4G radios will still function but, if you turned it off you cannot turn it back on again you must upgrade it to LTE. Contact your central station or maybe someone at Rediseo to see if they can help you with a credit of some kind.  As far as a class action suit, Ken would have to comment on that.    
Ron Baumann 
Cincinnati, Ohio 
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Ken
            We been having problem with 4G Honeywell Radio also;  we replaced about 50 units so far and more every day.
Something got to be going on with the cellular providers; add me to the class action suit AT&T / Verizon
Yours Truly
Jeff Bertuccio Sr.
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Ken
            Regarding the Honeywell 4G radios:
            Notice was sent out to all Honeywell dealers that you would not be able to activate or reactivate any 4G radio after June 26,2019. They service will be shut down by 2/22.
            I have copied the notice below:
Greg Smizer
Sprint Security Inc.
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AT&T 3G Sunset: February 2022
Effective June 26, 2019: No New AT&T 3G/4G Activations for AlarmNet Accounts
Attention: USA customers 
AT&T Sunset
AT&T plans to end service on its 3G wireless networks in February 2022. 3G/4G new activations will no longer be permitted after June 26, 2019. This means you will no longer be able to activate a new 3G/4G communicator for an AlarmNet account. Existing 3G/4 G communicators that are currently registered will continue to communicate to the central station. AlarmNet expects to continue support for communicators that were sold with pre-activated SIMs by AT&T up to 180 days from the date of manufacturing. The manufacturing date is located on the carton and on the radio label. Any existing 3G/4G communicators that are currently registered are expected to communicate and be supported by AlarmNet through February 2022 under Resideo’s 
agreement with AT&T. Cancelling  a 3G/4G Account on and after June 26, 2019  
If you cancel a registered/billable 3G/4G account on or after June 26, 2019, you cannot reactivate the 3G/4G communicator because reactivation will be considered a new activation. Read more: https://www.alarmgrid.com/documents/resideo-at-t-3g-sunset-notice
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Ken
            We have received several notifications from Honeywell about not activating any CDMA devices after June 30th. Attached is a copy of the email.
 Cordially,
Jason Alcock
Fairhaven, MA
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Ken
            We have been having alarm net issues for well over a year; we did get and email about the sunset on the ATT GSM radios.   We have had Honeywell in for meetings at least 2 times to no avail.
 MFG
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Ken,
            Concerning the 3g/4g cellular radio issues and Honeywell refusing to reactivate them.  This is pretty common knowledge in our industry. 
            Honeywell/Resideo, telguard, Uplink, Napco and most other providers all have a similar policy in place.  Most providers in our industry have already gone to great lengths to warn dealers about the upcoming 3g/4g sunset.  We’re only 2 short years away from ALL customers needing to switch to either LTE or internet services. 
            While it may feel like a bite in the butt, think of it this way.  Forcing dealers to “do the right thing” ahead of time and upgrade a communicator now,  is actually doing us a favor by ensuring that we don’t get stuck having to roll a truck in 18 months.  Its also the right thing to do for the customer so that they don’t get stuck making a financial decision half way through a contract with an alarm dealer. 
            It’s really a win/win for everyone in the industry, including our customers if we all face these sunsets with a more proactive approach.   
 Eric Widner
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Ken
            Regarding the cellular radio I feel the pain that your writer feels as well we’ve got almost 300 3G radios in the field and there is a 3G sunset approaching. They are doing away with 3G to better use the wireless spectrum for 5G. What that means for us as alarm dealers as they are refusing to activate any 3G or CDMA radio.
            it’s important to know that it’s not the communicator backbone (AlarmNet, alarm.com) that’s refusing to activate your cellular radio it’s the carrier for example it would be Verizon or AT&T that’s refusing to activate it is not Honeywell or any other manufacture that is refusing your device.
            The carriers themselves are refusing to activate the radios in anticipation of the coming 3G Sunset which in my opinion sucks but it does help us in the fact that we will not be activating a 3G radio on a 3 to 5 year contract as is the norm when the communication pathway will Go on a sunset within the contract timeframe. To look at the glass half full you’re not going to sign a contract and have to upgrade the communication pathway inside of your contract period. Even though our contract states that we are not responsible for obsolete communication pathways (we use Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum contracts) we have always taken the position that we will take care of our customer and that includes replacing or upgrading any device within reason because the residual monthly income is worth more to us then whatever we have to do to keep the system working, again that is our personal opinion. We are in the same period as we were when we had to rush to upgrade from 2G to 3G to prevent our customers from losing service to the Honeywell dealer directly I’m in the same boat that you’re in and I’ve got a lot of stock here in my shop I would get with your local ADI rep I believe they’re offering some sort of conversion incentive and going forward it is my personal opinion and our new company practice that we will not be installing an alarm panel that does not include Wi-Fi built in as that should future proof of us from obsolete communication pathways and I would strongly recommend that any other alarm dealer do the same it’s a much easier sell to transition a customer from cellular to Wi-Fi then to inform them they have to spend $150 minimum to upgrade an obsolete system, especially the larger dealers could you imagine having to replace 1000 cellular radios in a year? that being said my primary market set is residential and opinions will vary across the different clientele. 
Anthony Vanhorn
The Security Guy
Kentucky
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Ken,
            In my opinion Honeywell not activating any 4 G radios at this time is a very wise decision. I myself have seen more than one “ security company’s” purchase old analog radios many years ago because Honeywell was closing them out. The sunset for the old analog system was only a few months away at that time. Bottom line for Mr. Anonymous,  are the trees blocking your view of the Forrest?  Get them to sign a new Kirshenbaum 5 year contract and change the of outdated 4g radio to a new LTE one, for no cost.  
All of us must keep up with the times, to me it’s really old fashioning to hold on to the past….
            If Honeywell kept activating , outdated equipment, in my opinion this  would be wrong.
George E. Martin
Martin Control Systems Inc
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Ken
            There was an e-mail sent out from Honeywell a few weeks ago stating  this was going to take place. We have  the same issue .
            Our way around it for now is to NOT turn off the Alarmnet account ,but put it in a disregard state with your central station,  until the new end user  takes on the service.
            Once the simm is deactivated  they will not  allow use of the radio. I’m sure the same issues  are going to come up with other brands  of 3-4 g communicators
It’s bad enough we have to deal with random comfails and reboot radios for no reason  
It just seems like they are forcing  early replacement  (the sale of equipment ) before needed .  It’s time to look at alternatives rather than rely on cell based systems.
D Monas
IST Security Inc
Roselle IL
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Ken
            Re-: Honeywell Alarmnet 4G service.
            I agree that it’s terrible that Honeywell is not allowing to re-activate or activate any 4G Radios. There was some kind a notice put out a few months ago regarding this but I don’t know how widespread it was or how effective it was reaching all dealers. Quite frankly I think it sucks that we constantly have to change radios out but of course these radio companies point the finger at the carriers saying they’re the issue: i.e.AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile.
            Back in the day Ademco had their own radio network built out called MobiTex for high security applications. It did not rely on any carrier but of course they got rid of that because it was probably more cost-effective for them to piggyback onto mobile phone carriers networks. They don’t have to maintain sites or add more sites as more users come on board but at the end of the day the dealers have to eat the big one on this because anytime there’s a change in the mobile phone carriers technology or ‘mood-change’ somebody’s got to pay for all these new radios. There’s no incentive for Honeywell to be on the dealer side on this one; they end up selling more radios by this scenario.
            And don’t think that an Internet transport is any better. We’ve tried using Internet transmitters and of course anytime a customer changes the router or there’s a glitch in the Internet service the alarm goes down!
            What’s the dealer to do here? Of course you can go to some of the companies like AES I believe and build your own network out but get your checkbook out-to do anything decent with them you’re looking at, at least, $20K just to start.
            So what’s the solution here boys and girls? Do you want to continue haggling with your customers about having it put new radios in every couple of years and have to make more site visits and adjustments? Or would you rather have customers provide a nice steady revenue stream and not have to roll trucks all the time because radio go down?
            Our simple solution has been ‘OLD-SCHOOL’:  we call it the KISS method—-(keep it simple stupid).
            Use phone lines wherever you can-either POTS or high-quality VoIP phone service and you won’t have the kind of hiccups and hassles that you do with radio companies that constantly want to market new product at you(if you think this is crazy-think again. All the radio companies are pushing LTE 4G radios right now but if you read the headlines you’ll know that all the big carriers are already anticipating a complete re-structure of their networks to 5G as soon as they can-meaning in a couple of years all those LTE radios you’ve put in will basically end up in the e-waste dumpsite as you will have to now put in 5G and probably 6G radios and where will it stop??)
            We find that most panels will still work perfectly on either analog phone lines or high-quality voice over IP phone lines and we can still maintain the manufactures downloading capabilities which is a tremendous asset.
            Just some thoughts-hope you guys & gals  were all listening!!
Dan
Security One
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com