South Florida Business Journal, "Switch to digital may leave ADT customers feeling insecure"

Secured by ADT? One lawsuit alleges the company marketed a product that will soon be obsolete. ADT says the suit has no merit. Boca Raton-based ADT Security Services may be the nation's largest alarm system provider, but many of its 6 million customers may not be secure come February.

On Feb. 18, the Federal Communications Commission will switch off analog service nationwide, rendering useless many ADT alarms, which send analog signals when breached. ADT only began offering digital alarm service in the middle of 2006, according to the company's Web site. That means millions of customers may have to pay hundreds of dollars to upgrade to digital systems. The attorneys allege ADT knew about the switch from analog to digital since 2002, but failed to tell customers and continued to market a product the company knew would become obsolete. The attorneys are hoping to gather a class, which could comprise hundreds of thousands of consumers who didn't know their alarm would be useless a few years after they bought it.

Lieff Cabraser attorneys said the analog conversion has affected other technologies, including fleet management and navigation systems. They have also filed suit against Mercedes-Benz for not informing clients that its Tele Aid navigation system also works on analog signal.

The FCC announced in 2002 that it would eliminate the requirement that carriers provide an analog network after a five-year transition period.Shortly thereafter, ADT issued a request for proposals to manufacture digital replacements for its analog systems, but did not announce the change to consumers until 2007, the suit alleges. In June, the FCC issued a sharply worded memorandum, in which it chastised the alarm industry - and singled out ADT - for not responding to the impending switch. "The alarm industry had ample notice and thus opportunity to prepare for sunset of the analog service requirement, but made insubstantial efforts to develop and deploy digital replacement equipment," the memorandum states.

Lieff Cabraser said it is unfair for ADT to make money from upgrading systems it should not have sold in the first place. "They're informing people so people pay to buy the new systems. But they waited until they had sold hundreds of thousands of systems before they started telling people, 'by the way, your system will stop working.'"

Learn more about the ADT case. We also provide information on the Mercedes Benz Tele Aid case.