AT&T Digital Life first brought its home security offering to the marketplace eight years ago. In a recent announcement, Digital Life informed their customers that their 3G controllers will not be upgraded, providing instead the option to sign a new service contract with Brinks Home.
According to a recent article on Security Sales & Integration, Brinks Home will provide Digital Life subscribers the opportunity to continue their home security and automation services without interruption, along with some upgrades that include the replacement of existing cameras with newly upgraded cameras. The story also reveals that AT&T will no longer support its Digital Life service long-term; the system and peripherals will remain active until transferred to Brinks Home, which will require a 36-month monitoring contract.
Kirk believes this move gets AT&T out from a potential landslide of 3G to LTE customer dissatisfaction, along with any potential legal issues of not upgrading consumers to newer cell technology.
Most likely, the Brinks Home partnership with AT&T is for a “qualified” purchase of accounts. Kirk presumes that, "The qualifier is that the homeowner needs to upgrade their old system to Brinks’ system. Quite frankly, Brinks may pay AT&T for all leads that result in a sale. It’s like a merger in reverse, but clearly Brinks will only pay for accounts that make the change to LTE on new Brinks’ equipment.”
For more on the situation, read "Brinks Home Strikes Deal to Service AT&T Digital Life Customers" on Security Sales & Integration online.