Talk-A-Phone issues?

[mrlocks]

Why don't you ask any local service provider near you location for the issues. I heard about the issues before but your issues are something critical and can be reported immediately. it seems like all you got is a defected product.

[FireEMSPolice]

They all want an arm and a leg.

[integrator97]

Their can't be much to repair on these things. I'm surprised you can't find a local security integrator to do it, for a lot less than Sensormatic.

[FireEMSPolice]

Maybe you need a better service company? If you're not getting the service you need, it's your right to cancel the contract and move on to a company that is more knowledgeable about the products that you need service on.

I agree with the suggestion that ideally emergency phones should be placed in areas covered by video surveillance/CCTV. A number of Talk-a-Phone towers support video surveillance. I am pretty sure this is just an option from them at this point, and not standard.

Its not in our contract for Sensormatic to maintain them. It is for the CCTV end of it but we have yet to find a Talk-A-Phone repair person. Sensormatic will charge the $3xx.xx for the service call alone, making a repair is alot more. When we get a bill from them I swear I am in the wrong line of work. The whole system is junk. As stated earlier I have only seen them legitimately used a handful of times and never once for a true emergency. Its usually a jumpstart or lockout. Most times they start to walk away because all they can hear is "Security?"...."Security can I help you?" due to the long delay.

[FireEMSPolice]

You don't mention any upside (whether you're getting any value) from the boxes, but this looks like a question that's ripe for some cost/benefit and risk analysis.

Migrating to an IP-based version of the box might help the performance issues, but wouldn't be cheap and wouldn't solve the nuisance problems. In a perfect world, call boxes should be placed where they have CCTV coverage (or use models that are equipped with CCTV) for the obvious reasons.

For all my years there, I have not seen ANY upside to these things. We have to test them twice daily (2nd & 3rd shift) by having an exterior patrol activate them and the person sitting in the dispatch center to answer it. It does something like this

Dispatch: 303
Exterior Patrol: 303, all lights work (referring to the steady blue light, strobe light, customer service/emergency light)
Dispatch: Copy *click*

We typically have 2 cameras nearest the call box that pan over to it when its activated.

[SIW Editor]

In the mall I work at, we have Talk-A-Phone callboxes. They are currently serviced by Sensormatic at nearly $300.00 per service call. It doesnt seem like Talk-A-Phone has dedicated service people so it gets expensive. We have so much trouble with them like the volume sounding low, a long delay, voice cutting out, the call box sticks and rings continiously causing us to unplug the entire system, etc. I wish they would pull them from the lots because they are a pile of crap and its usually kids pushing the buttons and running off.

Anyone else have issues with Talk-A-Phone?

Maybe you need a better service company? If you're not getting the service you need, it's your right to cancel the contract and move on to a company that is more knowledgeable about the products that you need service on.

I agree with the suggestion that ideally emergency phones should be placed in areas covered by video surveillance/CCTV. A number of Talk-a-Phone towers support video surveillance. I am pretty sure this is just an option from them at this point, and not standard.

[SecTrainer]

In the mall I work at, we have Talk-A-Phone callboxes. They are currently serviced by Sensormatic at nearly $300.00 per service call. It doesnt seem like Talk-A-Phone has dedicated service people so it gets expensive. We have so much trouble with them like the volume sounding low, a long delay, voice cutting out, the call box sticks and rings continiously causing us to unplug the entire system, etc. I wish they would pull them from the lots because they are a pile of crap and its usually kids pushing the buttons and running off.

Anyone else have issues with Talk-A-Phone?

You don't mention any upside (whether you're getting any value) from the boxes, but this looks like a question that's ripe for some cost/benefit and risk analysis.

Migrating to an IP-based version of the box might help the performance issues, but wouldn't be cheap and wouldn't solve the nuisance problems. In a perfect world, call boxes should be placed where they have CCTV coverage (or use models that are equipped with CCTV) for the obvious reasons.

[integrator97]

Sounds like mediocre maintenance. Where are you? $300 a pop is pretty nice. Can you put alarming lift covers, like something from STI-USA; that would alarm locally when you lift the cover to push the button, then reset after 15 or 30 seconds?

[FireEMSPolice]

In the mall I work at, we have Talk-A-Phone callboxes. They are currently serviced by Sensormatic at nearly $300.00 per service call. It doesnt seem like Talk-A-Phone has dedicated service people so it gets expensive. We have so much trouble with them like the volume sounding low, a long delay, voice cutting out, the call box sticks and rings continiously causing us to unplug the entire system, etc. I wish they would pull them from the lots because they are a pile of crap and its usually kids pushing the buttons and running off.

Anyone else have issues with Talk-A-Phone?