Wearable personal alarm to trigger SMS

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Wearable personal alarm to trigger SMS

Gemini

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#233721 30-Apr-2018 07:47

Wearable personal alarm to trigger SMS

Does an app exist that will send a pre-formatted SMS message to multiple recipients when triggered by a user pressing a wearable button remote or similar?

It's for an elderly guy who doesn't want to pay for 3rd party monitoring

He doesn't have a house alarm. He has Spark wireless (4G) and a Windows 7 PC but I can get him a cellphone no problem

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#2004826 30-Apr-2018 07:53

Trying searching for "Bluetooth SOS Remote"

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Gemini

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#2004859 30-Apr-2018 09:31

coffeebaron: Trying searching for "Bluetooth SOS Remote"

Will do.

Does anyone have experience with a one of these?

davidcole

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#2005544 30-Apr-2018 22:31

Adt do a 3G senior alarm, that I’m sure with gold plus card is free. My mum has one. I’m sure it’s adt.ill check tomorrow when by a computer

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linw

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#2005552 30-Apr-2018 23:03

This looks good http://www.elderlyalarms.co.nz/features/

$386 single payment.

hio77

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#2005558 30-Apr-2018 23:23

linw:

This looks good http://www.elderlyalarms.co.nz/features/

$386 single payment.

Not a bad product, i feel like they don't make the fact that you need to supply the simcard very clear with their whole no ongoing costs approach (thus an ongoing cost there)

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itxtme

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#2005567 1-May-2018 01:15

Just in case you weren't aware but many elderly have their alarm paid for or subsidised through a WINZ subsidy, something he may be eligible for.

Also that product above has 2-3 days of battery, not nearly enough IMO

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jonathan18

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#2005570 1-May-2018 05:49

Yep, been through this process for my mother, and purchased her something similar to this. Elected this over a monitored one. Found the same product sold by various stores in NZ and the same thing on eBay etc, but elected to buy in NZ as it then came with CGA cover and local help if required. Note, my mother’s one can only use a Spark SIM, not even a Skinny one, which I first tried! I’ve just added $4 packs for texts and minutes on it.

Anyway, will post some more feedback when I get the chance, inclsuing digging our where I purchased hers from.

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#2005576 1-May-2018 06:54

Here’s the adt one: https://adtsecurity.co.nz/home-security/neva-alone?utm_source=Google&utm_campaign=Sitelink&utm_content=ADT_Neva_Alone&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhq7k1NXi2gIVhJW9Ch0chQpTEAAYASAFEgJAfvD_BwE

I’m sure it’s been subsidised to the point where mum pays nothing per month and didn’t pay for install.

jonathan18

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#2005854 1-May-2018 11:57

So the link provided above (www.elderlyalarms.co.nz) is the site I bought my mother’s alarm from; the owner was really helpful (and very prompt) in answering queries, and seemed to know a good amount about the product he was selling. But, as mentioned, the same thing can be bought directly from an o/s site if you’re comfortable with nil support or CGA coverage.

Yep, some people will be able to get a personal alarm subsidised by MSD; my mother wasn’t in that camp, so all options were on the table. From my perspective, not only is the ongoing cost of these alarms fairly substantial if not receiving a subsidy, but also they only operate within the home environment. IIRC some even seem to rely on picking up the wearer’s voice etc from the base unit itself, so they would need to be within shouting distance (not much use in a large house or if outside). They also will call a particular call centre, which can then triage the call – in less serious situations this may be calling a family member.

The SIM-based alarm, though, works quite differently. First off, it both calls and texts pre-programmed numbers (a decent number – we have three set but I think it does more) in the situations where the button is pressed or if it detects a fall. It also works anywhere within range of a cell phone tower, so is still usable outside the home. Given it also has GPS built in, it’ll also text a location including a link that will open in a maps app. (One can also email a particular command, and it’ll send back location etc.) It can even operate as an incoming mobile phone, in that calling the SIM’s number the call will be accepted automatically and the microphone/speaker is enabled. Similarly, pressing the button on the side will call the first number on the list of contacts.

As mentioned, this model only works on Spark’s network, so there’s not the same decent $9 Skinny pack that I had been going to use; given the number of false calls we get I’ve put it on a $4 text and $4 call pack, so it costs $8 a month to run – I’d imagine if we didn’t get these it’ll hardly cost much and so pay by the text/minute would be ok.

A comment was made re battery life, and yeah this is probably its weakest point. That said, it comes with a base charging unit and charges pretty quickly (my mother, though, is not good at seating the unit in the base, so it sometimes doesn’t charge). My mother doesn’t wear it at night, so it charges then. Do people wear the commercial monitored alarms 24/7? I can’t imagine any of the ones that hang off a lanyard or similar would be comfortable to wear at night, anyway… Of course, that means it’s not much use if say someone falls during the night…

The biggest problem, however, isn’t anything technical, and I think it applies across the board to personal alarms in general – and that’s the willingness of the person to actually wear the damn thing. Many months in my mother still resists wearing it, complaining it’s uncomfortable and heavy (neither of which is true); I think it’s more the perceived stigma. If she wears it, it’ll generally be left in her pocket – which means we get our fair share of false alarms when the fall sensor is detected!

Gemini

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#2005980 1-May-2018 13:32

jonathan18: So the link provided above (www.elderlyalarms.co.nz) is the site I bought my mother’s alarm from; the owner was really helpful (and very prompt) in answering queries, and seemed to know a good amount about the product he was selling. But, as mentioned, the same thing can be bought directly from an o/s site if you’re comfortable with nil support or CGA coverage.

Yep, some people will be able to get a personal alarm subsidised by MSD; my mother wasn’t in that camp, so all options were on the table. From my perspective, not only is the ongoing cost of these alarms fairly substantial if not receiving a subsidy, but also they only operate within the home environment. IIRC some even seem to rely on picking up the wearer’s voice etc from the base unit itself, so they would need to be within shouting distance (not much use in a large house or if outside). They also will call a particular call centre, which can then triage the call – in less serious situations this may be calling a family member.

The SIM-based alarm, though, works quite differently. First off, it both calls and texts pre-programmed numbers (a decent number – we have three set but I think it does more) in the situations where the button is pressed or if it detects a fall. It also works anywhere within range of a cell phone tower, so is still usable outside the home. Given it also has GPS built in, it’ll also text a location including a link that will open in a maps app. (One can also email a particular command, and it’ll send back location etc.) It can even operate as an incoming mobile phone, in that calling the SIM’s number the call will be accepted automatically and the microphone/speaker is enabled. Similarly, pressing the button on the side will call the first number on the list of contacts.

As mentioned, this model only works on Spark’s network, so there’s not the same decent $9 Skinny pack that I had been going to use; given the number of false calls we get I’ve put it on a $4 text and $4 call pack, so it costs $8 a month to run – I’d imagine if we didn’t get these it’ll hardly cost much and so pay by the text/minute would be ok.

A comment was made re battery life, and yeah this is probably its weakest point. That said, it comes with a base charging unit and charges pretty quickly (my mother, though, is not good at seating the unit in the base, so it sometimes doesn’t charge). My mother doesn’t wear it at night, so it charges then. Do people wear the commercial monitored alarms 24/7? I can’t imagine any of the ones that hang off a lanyard or similar would be comfortable to wear at night, anyway… Of course, that means it’s not much use if say someone falls during the night…

The biggest problem, however, isn’t anything technical, and I think it applies across the board to personal alarms in general – and that’s the willingness of the person to actually wear the damn thing. Many months in my mother still resists wearing it, complaining it’s uncomfortable and heavy (neither of which is true); I think it’s more the perceived stigma. If she wears it, it’ll generally be left in her pocket – which means we get our fair share of false alarms when the fall sensor is detected!

Thanks for the great info!

Can you disable the fall alarm to reduce battery usage and false alarms?

itxtme

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#2005986 1-May-2018 13:51

Do people wear the commercial monitored alarms 24/7? I can’t imagine any of the ones that hang off a lanyard or similar would be comfortable to wear at night, anyway… Of course, that means it’s not much use if say someone falls during the night…

The monitored alarms like the ADT/St John/Bupa etc have base stations plugged into the wall, the pendant uses RF and so battery usage I would assume only occurs when the button is pushed. This means the battery last years not a couple of days. As someone who works in the emergency profession I can confirm around 80% of our call outs for medical alarms (from a fall unable to get up/injured) would occur overnight, and so not wearing overnight is hugely risky IMO.

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Gemini

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#2006049 1-May-2018 15:04

Great info about needing it overnight
BTW I'm not sure the proposed wearer will agree to any of this yet!
I was originally imagining a bluetooth pendant (if such a thing exists?) that communicates with an app on a cellphone permanently plugged in

Gemini

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#2015051 13-May-2018 11:01

Gemini:
Great info about needing it overnight
BTW I'm not sure the proposed wearer will agree to any of this yet!
I was originally imagining a bluetooth pendant (if such a thing exists?) that communicates with an app on a cellphone permanently plugged in

Haven't had any luck with this. I suspect there's no market for a bluetooth button as cellphone owners can trigger an SOS app by pressing the power button 3 times (or similar).

So I guess it's a cellphone or the $386 button...

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#2015072 13-May-2018 12:16

Gemini:
Great info about needing it overnight
BTW I'm not sure the proposed wearer will agree to any of this yet!
I was originally imagining a bluetooth pendant (if such a thing exists?) that communicates with an app on a cellphone permanently plugged in

What sort of range is typical for bluetooth? My earphones lose the phone as soon as I walk into another room. Outside about 10m. I have another device that might get 15-20m separation.

SMS delay leaves me unimpressed, the number of times I get a txt with additional grocery requests just as I get home.

neb

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#2015117 13-May-2018 13:59

hio77:
Not a bad product, i feel like they don't make the fact that you need to supply the simcard very clear with their whole no ongoing costs approach (thus an ongoing cost there)

If it can work with an M2M SIM then the ongoing costs are going to be pretty minor.

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