Jeff I have a question:
I am looking for a life alarm system for an elderly couple. We had life alarm system put in, only to realize the system is not compatible with their phone service. They DO NOT have a landline system from a major phone co. ATT, Pacific Bell etc. phone in their home is thru their cable co. I believe it is Comcast cable. do you know of any system that works with cable phone service.
Pat
Sacramento, California
Hi Pat,
This is a sticky question. We have recently decided to allow our clients to use our systems with phones like Comcast…as long as they understand the issue at hand. Land line system phone systems sometimes don’t work perfectly when a medical alarm button is pushed…indeed they may fail. This failure possibility cannot be removed it is the nature of technology. That being said, replacing a land line based phone system with an Internet protocol (which is what a Comcast phone line is) places a larger unreliability to a medical alarm.
Both can fail, but an IP or voice over internet protocol VOIP has a higher incidence of problems due to the nature of the Internet, not due to the equipment used. In most cases the medical alarm will work when the button is pushed…when it fails to work perfectly it generally cuts off the ability to talk back and forth with the client but usually the message (signal) of the system works and the client is sent help without talking to them.
Whether a system can work at a particular time by either system is impossible to know at the time it is pushed, that is why all wise agreements state that the system can fail. Even 911 may fail to perform properly once they have been notified.
There is no equipment in the land that can guarantee with any certainty that the VOIP phone nor the land line can work at the time needed. However, VOIP is less predictable than a land line due to the nature of the Internet technology.
I hope this helps,
Jeff