Alert1 helps elderly couples afford an alert system

10-second breakdown:

Alert1 offers a solid service and a long company history solely focused on medical alert. One of the best options for elderly couples who both need protection.

The good:

Spouses are free to add to your service which can offset the cost and make it a great value for those who are married to enjoy their golden years together.

No setup fees, cancellation fees, no long-term contracts.

Customers don’t need a home phone line to use this service, and added bonus for those who’ve cut the cord.

The bad:

The range is lackluster at 600 feet. You can purchase and extender for larger homes at an additional cost.

Call center is not handled by Alert1, but by a partner company.

How it works:

The Alert1 home page is laid out nicely and you can find most of the information you need right on the front page. It displays their phone number right at the top, their main products and even why you should pick Alert1 instead of their competitors. If you need more information their call centers are open 24/7 if you want to question a live person or place an order.

Alert1 made ordering online as easy as can be. You select if there is one user or two, if you have a landline or not and they serve up 4 recommendations for you. They offer a discount for the second user and if you’re willing to sign up for an entire year they offer a discount for that as well.

The first product Alert1 offers is their ‘Home Medical Alert System.’ It comes with a base station and one help button pendant. The base station plugs into a landline and has two buttons on it – a big red ‘Emergency’ and a smaller green ‘Reset.’ The help button pendant probably won’t win any fashion awards with its bright cherry red button but it’ll be hard to miss.

For seniors that might have a hard time hitting the button, Alert1 offers the ‘Home Fall Detection Medical Alert.’ It’s identical to the original medical alert system but the help pendant gets an upgrade, it can detect falls and will automatically call out to Alert1’s ‘Command Center.’ According to Alert1 this is their most popular package.

What if you don’t have a landline anymore? No problem, Alert1 offers an identical package to the ‘Home Medical Alert System’ but instead it runs on T-Mobile’s cellular network instead of physically plugging into a landline. The ‘Wireless Home Medical Alert’ even looks similar to the original but is painted in black instead of white.

Although there’s no page for it on their website, if you go through the online ordering process there is a ‘Wireless Home Fall Detection’ package as well. It has the same features as the ‘Wireless Home Medical Alert’ but with the upgraded help button that can detect falls and automatically call out for help.

In addition to their home-based medical alert systems, Alert1 also offers their ‘Kelsi Mobile Medical Alert System.’ Instead of a base center and help button you get a portable, two-way voice communication device that you can take anywhere you want. It runs on a cellular network and the included GPS can get medical help right to you. The mobile alert system lasts a whopping 60 days, not hours, between charges.

As you may have predicted Alert1 also offers a fall-detection version of the mobile system. In addition to the portability offered by the mobile device, the fall-detection version can also automatically alert necessary parties if it detects a sudden drop. The fall-detection version doesn’t have as much battery life unfortunately and will need a recharge every 36 hours.

If you’re feeling stylish Alert1 offers a few different lanyards you can wear with their help button pendant, silicon wristbands in a few different colors if you prefer the button at your wrist and two sizes of medical ID bracelets.

Alert1 also offers quite a variety of add-on products in addition to the medical alert systems if you have any special needs. In addition to the fall detection upgrades we discussed above Alert1 sells monitored smoke detectors, additional wall-mounted emergency buttons and a voice extender that can increase the range of the landline options. If you call in to purchase your plan be sure to ask if they are running any promotions, they occasionally include little bonuses like a lockbox or pill opener.

Their monitoring and customer service is what makes Alert1 stand out. All of the operators are US-based in several different states and speak clear, native English but they also support an additional 179 languages including popular ones like Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese and Vietnamese. Every member’s language is on file when they sign up and if you need a different language, Alert1 is on it. They’ll have an interpreter standing by, ready to go.

The command centers are all UL listed and CSAA 5 Diamond Certified so you can be assured Alert1 knows their stuff. They are committed to making seniors feel like they are never alone and it shows, after an accident occurs Alert1 stays on the phone until help actually arrives at your front door. As an added bonus, you get unlimited talk time and button presses with any package. They don’t even need to call 911 if it’s not a medical emergency, if it’s minor and not life-threatening Alter1 can reach out to your neighbor or call family members instead.

For complete rankings of all medical alert systems, go here.

http://authority.org/medical-alert-systems/alert1/ http://authorityorg.tumblr.com/post/149073216552