Alternatives to Paging

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Alternatives to Paging

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276 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1359046 5-Aug-2015 01:26

FYI local commercial SMS providers like etxt and bulletin.net have APIs for ending SMS and provide delivery receipts as well.
The only thing the paging network had going for it was coverage in a few basements where cell coverage didn't reach.

andrewNZ

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#1359057 5-Aug-2015 07:08

Publius: The only thing the paging network had going for it was coverage in a few basements where cell coverage didn't reach.

And massive amounts of rural areas with no cell coverage but pagers work. Search and rescue still rely on paging heavily, they weren't looking forward to this news.

gjen

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Master Geek

#1360735 7-Aug-2015 15:57

So what have the rest of the world done as NZ is always 5yrs+ behind everyone ?

wellygary

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#1360771 7-Aug-2015 16:56

gjen: So what have the rest of the world done as NZ is always 5yrs+ behind everyone ?

Many of the equivilent users ( fire SAR etc) usually use a Government Provided Network,

certainly that is the case in OZ

macuser

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Uber Geek

#1360773 7-Aug-2015 17:00

Will the govt just buy the paging network in that case?

andrewNZ

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#1360820 7-Aug-2015 18:27

I wouldn't think so.

SAR use the police system that is uses the old telecom network.
Fire and ambulance have already moved to a new system that uses their radio network. I imagine the police will do the same and/or move to a system that relies on the cellular data network.

SAR don't want to move because of cost. I suppose they'll have no choice.

sbiddle

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#1360825 7-Aug-2015 18:37

gjen: So what have the rest of the world done as NZ is always 5yrs+ behind everyone ?

In many cases kept paging networks.

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sbiddle

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#1360826 7-Aug-2015 18:38

andrewNZ: I wouldn't think so.

SAR use the police system that is uses the old telecom network.
Fire and ambulance have already moved to a new system that uses their radio network. I imagine the police will do the same and/or move to a system that relies on the cellular data network.

SAR don't want to move because of cost. I suppose they'll have no choice.

Fire and ambulance use the Spark paging network extensively.

andrewNZ

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#1360837 7-Aug-2015 19:02

Interesting Steve, I have no doubt you have more knowledge on the subject so ill happily take your word for it.
I was talking to a senior SAR member who is usually pretty careful to not make statements about things he has no knowledge of. He did say fire and ambulance have moved or are moving (I forget which) away from the current paging system to their own.

For fire it would make total sense. You have members who will need to be within range of a station to respond anyway, so a system based on radio would work well.

sbiddle

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#1360842 7-Aug-2015 19:10

NZFS are in the early stages of looking at their own nationwide paging network based on transmitters at many fire stations. This would in many ways be huge step backwards from what they have at present as people aren't always near stations (such as rural brigades). No decision has been made about this, but with the decision Spark have made there is no other real option but to go down this path. Ambulance use both MDT and paging for turnout but still rely heavily on pagers.

SAR are pretty low use users of paging in the grand scheme of things. Realistically SMS could easily be used a replacement for them for 99% of their notifications.

allan

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#1643375 30-Sep-2016 16:40

Asked for this topic to be unlocked, given that we are much nearer to the big switch-off in March 2017, so I could ask whether people are aware of most organisations simply going down the SMS road as a replacement for ad hoc paging.

I saw some publicity this week for an app that had been developed for contacting doctors on call at Capital & Coast DHB, but obviously that is filling a specific niche.

daveymg

20 posts

Geek

#1676610 24-Nov-2016 10:40

allan: Asked for this topic to be unlocked, given that we are much nearer to the big switch-off in March 2017, so I could ask whether people are aware of most organisations simply going down the SMS road as a replacement for ad hoc paging.

I saw some publicity this week for an app that had been developed for contacting doctors on call at Capital & Coast DHB, but obviously that is filling a specific niche.

Thanks for unlocking.

I've been trying to find out what the situation is with paging post the Spark shutdown. On the Spark website they refer to the shutdown date being pushed back to June 2017 and on their "Alternative to Paging" page they say

"New Zealand Fire Service has entered into a contract with Spark to establish a new private paging service from 1 July 2017. New Zealand Fire Service will make this private service available to critical emergency services, health boards and other customers for whom paging is business critical."

with a comment that interested parties may register their interest before 6 December 2016. I've called the local Spark Hub (as indicated on the site) but they knew nothing about how to register. The NZ Fire Service Tenders page has reference to "NP2179 - National Paging Network Replacement" where they are looking for a paging supplier to leverage off of their satellite network. So it looks as though the Spark contract may not have eventuated.

I've tried calling the contact name provided for the NZFS tender but no joy so far.

So, I'm wondering if anyone here is going along the same track re paging replacements and knows more? At my place of work we use the paging system for our Emergency Response Team, amongst other things, and as we are geographically challenged when it comes to reliable mobile coverage, the pager system is/has been the most reliable notification method.

sbiddle

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#1676617 24-Nov-2016 10:51

NZFS have signed a contract with Spark for 7 years to upgrade and operate the paging network. While this is the same network the existing Spark paging service will still be ending for individuals.

My understanding is NZFS will have control over who can access the network and that they will enter into commercial agreements and pay commercial rates for critical users which will typically be DHB's and ambulance services who wish to continue with pagers.

knoydart

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#1676619 24-Nov-2016 10:53

Perfect timing! As Spark announced yesterday that the paging service was going to stay switched on for a further 7 years. No commercial details however have yet been released on the extension. NZ Fire are the biggest user and I guess have to help fund the extension.

Edit: @sbiddle knows more.

daveymg

20 posts

Geek

#1676711 24-Nov-2016 13:23

Thanks for the updates. Looks like the Spark website details were correct after all, I took it as old information.

Any leads on how one would go about registering an interest in using the new system?

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