According to a recent study, one in every four homes in the United States has no landline, or standard phone. They use a cellular phone as their primary means of communication. Just under 25 percent reported mobile phones only in their household at the end of 2009. That means that some 52 million adults and 19 million children live in a home with no landlines and that number has been steadily increasing.
Alarm companies are installing more and more cellular systems every day and the GSM Network is growing at an unprecedented rate. How is the new cellular technology going to effect you and your alarm system?
HISTORY OF GSM NETWORK (AT&T & T-MOBILE)
1G or AMPS was deployed in 1973, however the alarm industry did not start using it widely until 1992. 1G (AMPS) was sunset (or made obsolete) in 2008. AMPS had a "shelf life" of 35 years but was only in use in the security industry for the past 16 years.
2G or GSM was deployed about 1990 and had a shelf life of approximately 25 years. 2.5G or EDGE was a software upgrade to GSM deployed in 2002. Both GSM and EDGE will be turned off at the same time. This will be done slowly, tower by tower as economics and equipment repair necessitate. Although everyone is in agreement that this will happen, no one can or will say when this will happen. Conventional wisdom says that the GSM Network will be replaced in the next 5 to 10 years.
3G or HSPA/UMTS was widely deployed in 2005 and uses totally different hardware from 1G and 2G. It has an expected shelf life of 25 years.
4G (LTW or Wi-Max) is currently being deployed as two different technologies, depending on the carrier. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobil are all using LTW which is a 700Mhz band product. Sprint is rolling out what they call 4G using a Wi-Max technology from Clearwire. Sprint may move to LTE in the future.
CURRENT ALARM HARDWARE
Today's wireless alarm panels are using 2G (GSM) modules because the 3G (HSPA) modules have only become available in the past few months. The current love of Smart-Phones have driven the technology to move towards the 3G networks and higher. Hardware manufactures focus on building handsets for the first 2-4 years of deployment of a new technology in order to cash in on a short lifespan product, typically 18 months. Once most of the profit is extracted from that space, they design and deploy modules for use in the Market-to-Market applications.
3G (HSPA) modules are just now starting to become available as they are still cost prohibitive. 3G Modules are available on Cell Communicators to the security industry today however they are 3x the current price of standard modules. In 12-18 months, as volume increases, the costs will come down. At that time, you can expect panel manufactures to be able to offer cellular products that operate on 3G Network and have a life expectancy out towards 2025-2030, approximately 15 to 20 years.
4G Network (LTE on AT&T and Verizon) will be deploying in late 2011. Once that starts, we should see the same effect as the 3G Network. Security Communicators will start to become more affordable and available approximately 4 to 5 years from now and will have a life expectancy up to 2040, again approximately 15 to 20 years.
CDMA Networks (Verizon & Sprint) Sprint has publicly stated that they are planning on maintaining the 2G (1XRTT) and 3G (EVDO) network until at least 2020 or another 10 years. Verizon has stated it will maintain the 1XRTT for at least 5 more years and EVDO for another 10 years.
Currently, IP looks to continue to dominate commercial alarm communication and cellular is becoming the choice for residential. However as the cellular market continues to grow and mature, and local Fire Authorities allow for UL864/NFPA72 approved GSM Fire Communication with No other technologies required, you can expect the trend for commercial to move more toward Cellular Communication.
As the industry migrates from 2G to 3G and then on to 4G, cellular communication will become a more affordable option for residential and then on to commercial applications. Even if communication panels are changed out every 10 - 15 years, using a panel that is forwards and backwards compatible will allow you to stay up to date on the latest advances.
Cellular enabled panels allow all kinds of possibilities that are not available on a panel that is 15 to 20 years old. The ability for a user to arm or disarm their system from their cell phone, check current status of their system, monitor who is using their system (guests, children, deliveries etc) gives you a peace of mind that currently is not possible with an older model panel.
Don't get left behind on the latest technology. Contact SAS Security and let us help you navigate this new world of Cellular Communication.
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