10-second breakdown:
Lifeline is one of (if not the) largest medical alert services in the United States. Quality options for both home based and mobile systems give elderly customers some flexibility in their coverage.
The good:
There are a large number of options to fit any user’s need. There is a basic option for those mostly in-home, or for more active users; there is the GoSafe mobile device and package. There is a suitable solution for most consumers.
No contracts or cancellations. An easy pay as you go plan in monthly increments.
Up to an 800 foot range in the home, slightly above the average medical alert system.
The bad:
Philips has some of the highest priced plans in the industry. You’ll pay a fair amount more to use the best recognized service.
Backup battery only lasts around 30 hours, a bit low in the event of an emergency power outage.
How it works:
As you might expect from a major technology brand, Philips Lifeline’s website is very well built, easy to navigate and packed with all the useful information you didn’t know you needed. It’s marketed towards both the seniors who will use the services and the loved ones that might be setting it up. You can find everything from Philips Lifeline’s products, to extensive information about the company and call centers, to infographics and a blog supporting the senior’s caretakers! If reading is not really your thing that’s perfectly fine, there are plenty of videos all over the place and they have a phone number to call if you prefer to talk to an actual person.
Philips Lifeline makes it easy to order through the phone or purchase your package online. The online store is very well built like the overall website, prominently displaying all of their products and the key facts about each. A unique feature of the store is that each product has live customer reviews at the bottom, very similar to large online retailers. Want to see what actual people are saying, minus all the marketing polish? Just take a look at the bottom of the product page. You can even leave your own review to share your experiences down there too.
There are three main medical alert systems that Philips Lifeline offers, first up is the ‘HomeSafe Standard.’ This is Philips Lifeline’s typical medical alert offering, it comes with a base station and your choice of a waterproof wrist or pendant button. The station connects through a landline connection and has a range of 500 feet. The station looks a little bit different than the rest of the competition as well, it has a smaller red ‘Help’ button on the side of the device and a larger gray ‘Reset’ button on the front.
If you don’t have a landline Philips LifeLine offers an upgrade, the ‘HomeSafe – Wireless.’ The pendant is identical to the landline version but they swap out the base station for a completely different one. This one has both of the buttons at the top and the station looks similar to a large wireless speaker. The wireless version doesn’t need to be plugged into a landline, it runs off of cellular signals.
Next up is the ‘HomeSafe with AutoAlert’ and ‘HomeSafe with AutoAlert – Wireless.’ These two are identical to the HomeSafe packages listed above but swap out the standard help buttons with upgraded versions that can detect when a fall has occurred and will automatically call out for help.
For active seniors, Philips Lifeline offers ‘GoSafe’ and ‘GoSafe – Wireless.’ The GoSafe connects through a landline while the GoSafe – Wireless uses a cell signal for the base system. They both use the same futuristic, speaker-like base station of the wireless models above, but this time the help button pendant comes with a few upgrades.
This one is still waterproof and has fall detection but now it has a speakerphone and advanced geolocation tracking built right in. Where competitors offer GPS mobile devices Philips took it a step further. The GoSafe uses 4 different systems to direct emergency responders to you including GPS, Wi-fi locating, cell tower triangulation and intelligent bread crumbs.
The GoSafe pendant can go up to a week before needing a charge, well above the industry average of a couple of days for mobile devices.
If you don’t want to carry an additional pendant or watch on you Philips also offers their ‘LifeLine Response App.’ It’s an Android and iOS compatible smartphone app that can function as your help button. While it does use your smartphone’s built-in GPS there is no kind of fall detection here, so if that’s important to you it would be wise to go with another option.
One thing to keep in mind is the cost of protection. Philips has some of the most feature-rich medical alert devices on the market intended to keep your loved ones as safe as possible. With all that power comes a larger price tag too, almost every offering is more expensive than competitors. In addition to Philips charges for things many competitors don’t such as an activation fee. The issue is Philips has no direct competition for their technologically superior products, so they can price it however they want.
The price might be a little on the steep side but Philips runs one of the largest medical alert operations out there, according to their website they have over 650,000 subscribers! Technology is at the heart of why so many people choose Philips, they build in extra safeguards to their products like the multiple ways they can detect where you are, and their call centers are state of the art as well. If you need special considerations, like the need for bilingual operators, the moment you call in it’s routed to specialists who can handle the second language, no waiting or transfer.
For complete rankings of all medical alert systems, go here.
http://authority.org/medical-alert-systems/philips-lifeline/ http://authorityorg.tumblr.com/post/149120465912
No comments:
Post a Comment