AT&T Digital Life Home Security Review

Okay, first of all, let’s address the elephant in the room for the uninitiated: yes, phone company AT&T has a security system. Surprised? Us too, a bit. Anyway, on to the review.

With AT&T Digital Life, you can get a Smart Security package for $549.99 and then have it professionally monitored at $39.99 each month. That’s Vivint-level pricing but without Vivint’s smart home capabilities. Maybe not the worst trade deals in the history of trade deals, but definitely not the best.

If you’re remembering more options from AT&T Digital Life, you’re not wrong. It used to have three different tiers of monitoring and equipment. Now it has just the one.

Our favorite thing about AT&T Digital Life is the contracts: just 12 months. We like that so much more than the industry standard of 36 months.

Digital Life doesn’t charge you for the initial installation. But if you move during the contract period, the company may require you to pay for reinstallation or to buy a whole new system.

If you cancel early, Digital Life will charge you up to $640 to recoup its costs. We don’t like steep cancellation fees (or, honestly, any cancellation fees). In this situation, it makes a little more sense. We understand that the charge offsets the risk that Digital Life assumes by providing 12-month contracts. Still, we’d prefer to see no fees.

Also, a word of caution—with AT&T, it actually makes more financial sense to keep paying through the last few months than to cancel. $640 is more than what AT&T would make off your professional monitoring all year.

Also, if you need a technician to troubleshoot or fix something, you’ll be charged for that service call.

Most of the Digital Life equipment is pretty meh. We aren’t sure who makes the equipment, but it’s nothing special. It looks a bit outdated, to be honest.

When you purchase the Smart Security package, you receive the following equipment:

• One keypad/control panel
• One indoor siren
• One motion sensor
• Two contact sensors
• Four window sensors

In terms of equipment, that’s not a bad package. A lot of home security companies offer just one or two sensors at the start. But it is a bad package if it costs $549.99, which it does. $549.99 worth of equipment should not be a simple security setup. It should have a lot more bells and whistles.

A conversion kit? What’s that? According to Digital Life, you use it to convert your already existing security system to be Digital Life-compatible.

Don’t get too excited. It apparently only works with wired window and door sensors. Still, it could save you a little money . . . or not . . . since the kit costs $99.99.

Let’s put it this way: AT&T Digital Life talks about its cameras on its website, but it doesn’t appear to have any cameras for sale at the moment. So if you’re looking for a security camera, instead of using the Digital Life e-commerce system, call in directly and see what the company has to offer.

Digital Life is currently selling an “active doorbell” online. Based on the description, it’s not a video doorbell. It’s just a high-tech doorbell. But if you want, you can connect it to a separate Digital Life camera that will take photos when your doorbell rings (assuming you can, in fact, get a Digital Life security camera at all).

First of all, if you want Digital Life in your home, you need high-speed internet. If you can’t remember what speeds your ISP promised, test your service out on our speed test tool below.

According to the FCC, your internet needs to hit 25 Mbps to be “high-speed.” If your internet speeds are below that, you want something faster. Otherwise, Digital Life won’t work properly.

If you have speedy internet and want Digital Life, you can choose to add the fancy doorbell, a carbon monoxide sensor, or a heat detector. In terms of home automation, that’s all you can purchase directly from Digital Life.

You can control your system using Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. Sadly, the equipment isn’t 100% compatible with either Z-Wave or Zigbee protocols, although it does connect with some Sengled and Lutron devices.

When you buy AT&T Digital Life, you’ll set an appointment for professional installation. Professional installations can be time-consuming since you have to be at home when they take place. But overall, it’s nice to have your system installed by someone who knows what they’re doing.

Remember, your installation is free. But if you need troubleshooting in the future, you’ll be charged for each technician visit. So don’t let that installation tech leave until you’re satisfied that the system’s at 100%.

Installation fee: None.

We had high hopes for Digital Life, but we noticed in user reviews that its customer service is comparable to Comcast’s. That’s a red flag for sure.

Based on what we dug up, we have to agree that the Comcast comparison’s not outrageous. Digital Life customers have to navigate a lot of pitfalls, especially to cancel the service. You may have to call multiple times to get the outcome you want. 

AT&T Digital Life isn’t our favorite or most highly-rated service. Still, its short contracts are beaten only by the contract-free brands. If you live a nomadic lifestyle or want to leave your rental when your lease is up, Digital Life could be a good fit for you.

If you don’t want to pony up $549 for the equipment or aren’t comfortable with the credit check, try these inexpensive security solutions. Or you can look at our individual reviews for services like ADT and Frontpoint. Finally, if you’re leaning towards a DIY system, check out our favorite DIY home security systems.