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I have seen in some of the past disscusions that some of you have emergency alerts sent to your cell phones. I was wanting to see if any of you could tell me how/where this can be done. Is it thru the EMA , cell phone company, dispatch ? We have the motorola hand held radios and pagers. My department was wanting to check into the cell phone alerts. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by DUST on
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In my county it only works with certain cell phone providers, I have US Cellular and it works great now just seconds after my motorola pager goes off, but our department had to set it up not the phone company.
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Permalink Reply by blair4630 on
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In our county, it is through the dispatch center. Only the chief from each dept. can add people, but that's how it's done.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Shaw on
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We use our system primarily for administrative messaging, and as a back up for our radio dispatch system.
We use a program called Page Net Pro, when we got it a few years ago it was only $30. It takes some set up, you have to install each carrier you plan on using and then each user, but all the information you need is on their website in the tech support area. It not only allows us to page out the whole department, it allows us to create sub groups like officers, and page individuals. Because it uses the existing cell providers infrastructure, it works at least nationwide. I have had messages when I am on vacation and nowhere near able to respond.
Now the bad part, and this is why it is not ready to be used as our primary alert. It is totally dependent on each carrier's infrastructure and each users hardware. Take me for instance. If Verizon has some kind of system problem and messages do not get through, neither I or my department have any way of knowing that I missed a call. If I do not pay my bill, the department has no way of knowing that I am not getting calls. There are too many factors that are beyond the control of the department to make this a viable emergency dispatch system.
I should also add that we do this messaging out of our station, not out of our dispatch center. In the event of a call, one member coming to the station will quickly send out the already written message for a call, prior to responding.
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Permalink Reply by Rick Bibb on
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Thanks for the info Alan. We had heard about this and I seen on another post that someone had said they had it on their wifes phone. This has a little to do with us checking into the idea of the cell phone alerts. This way our families will know a little about whats going on and that we are on a call.
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Permalink Reply by Bob on
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i dont know about you guys but my signal goes in and out also so i dont always get the text right away
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Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on
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Some of our depts. are going to this system called IMResponding. Basically once you get toned out you can push a certain button on your cell and it shows dispatch and your apparatus computers (if equipped and programed) that you are enroute to a call. We have been kicking around the idea but haven't really gone any further than that.
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I have seen the I Am Responding system, it works pretty well. I know of one nearby department that is using it, only internally not in the dispatch center. They are trying to get two other departments they frequently work with to use it also.
Our system of text messaging does not have the feed back that that system does.
As for families, we can add anyone onto the system, we do have two family members on the system, one of whom will respond to the station and see to support functions if we are at a long call. Since we can make groups, we could make a family group I suppose.
Now the only negative, and it is a small one, is that regular text messaging rates do apply. When we first got the system, the Chief promised to reimburse us for text fees. To date, I do not know of anyone who has put in for this. It is not a factor for me, because I have unlimited text messages on my cell plan.
We did have to put out an order on how and when to use the system, and also on who could authorize messages. When we first got it, it was being overused and abused for fun and games. This had to stop, as we had several members ask to be taken off the system because of that. We got everything under control and got everybody back online with the system.
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Alan,
"I am responding" is this the name of the system ? Can it be found on the web ? Is this a nation wide system ? I hate to pound you with all these questions but i'm not having a whole lot of luck finding anything on this.
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Yeah. I think that's it. I don't really know where to find out about it though. We have a meeting tomarrow night. I'll ask our radio guru and get back with ya on how it works and where you can find out about it.
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