Millions of cell phone users will be affected when the federal government shuts down the old analog cell phone network in February, 2008. The blackout will also affect services like OnStar and some home security systems that rely on analog communications.

The shutdown date has been known years in advance, but some industries appear to have a had a problem updating their technologies and informing their customers in advance, which raises the question of whether the effects will be even more widespread the next time a network is turned off, given the proliferation of wireless technology.

People who bought into services like OnStar and home alarm systems will greatly disappointed when they learn their products will no longer work and can’t be upgraded. The best pat of this is that most of these companies knew about the change as early as 2002, but still produced products that used the doomed technology. Nice!

[via CNN]