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When IoT Fails

Much of our hardware, such as vehicles, can last more than 15 years while cellphones and computers last 5 years or less. What happens when long-life devices embed shorter-life components? You may, as some users are finding out to their cost, be left up the proverbial creek without a paddle. Network support for embedded old-tech cellphone modems have been or are being shut down. You need to figure out what may stop working and what its impact might be. You need a risk mitigation plan – before you need that paddle.

By Peter Aggus

Peter, as a radio engineer & technology management consultant, has developed innovative & cost-effective solutions for clients in many industries.

Business IoT

In the ‘90s, a new term entered common language – The Internet of Things (IoT). Devices with sensors could communicate with remote controllers via ‘The Cloud’. Much of the early focus was in domestic appliances but business applications soon followed. Examples include:

Communication Failures

These IoT devices need 2-way communication to connect with their controllers across the internet. Some devices use local WiFi or Bluetooth, while others have embedded cellular or satellite links. The problem arises with embedded cellular data links of an older vintage. Early generation units used 2G (GPRS data) and 3G. When cellular operators shut down older cellular technologies to reuse the frequencies for 5G service, embedded systems that use the old technology will cease to function.

That has happened for 1G and 2G, and 3G is part way through this process. 3G was mostly shut down in the US in 2022 with Canadian carriers identifying December 2025 as an end date for the remaining systems. Cross the border into the US, or venture into a Canadian region where 3G is terminated, and you will be without service. Until then, regard 3G network devices as living on borrowed time and plan to replace them at the earliest opportunity.

As an example, some vehicles as new as 2019 may contain older 3G telematics technology. Some can be field upgraded by replacing a communications module – but not all. Nissan recently informed all owners of first-generation Nissan Leaf electric cars that their telematics systems, which users use to pre-warm (or cool) the car, would soon no longer work – and offered no fix. This loss of functionality may extend to navigation systems, which rely on access to cloud systems like Google Maps.

Other Failure Modes

It is not just the data link itself. Embedded systems communicate back to servers to work their magic. Those servers must be kept up to date by the service provider. Home automation devices sold with a ‘Lifetime Subscription’ by Revolv were rendered useless after Google Nest bought Revolv and subsequently shut down the legacy servers. This exposed a different perception of ‘lifetime’ when Nest simply defined the older devices as ‘end of life’

Required Action

To put it simply, you need to identify whether you have any active IoT devices that contain embedded 3G cellular. This is easier said than done. Our recommendation is to develop an IoT layer for your network diagram, then investigate each device to determine how it communicates back to its control system servers over the internet. If communications depend on embedded 3G cellular, then you need to look into upgrade or replacement options.

If you’d like to discuss developing an IoT network drawing layer, or to comment on this article, please email me at .

This article was published in the April 2024 edition of The TMC Advisor
- ISSN 2369-663X Volume:11 Issue:3

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