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Alert1 is a medical alert service. They sell medical alert packages consumers use to get quick help in a medical emergency.
Alert1 is headquartered at 1000 Commerce Park Drive, Williamsport, PA, 17701-5400.
Alert1 is registered with the Better Business Bureau. They have an A+ rating. You can read their BBB profile here (opens in a new window): Alert1 on BBB.
The Alert1 emergency operators are stationed throughout the United States.
Alert1 Medical Alerts
Alert1 is a medical alert device service, also known as a Personal Emergency Response System (PERS).
You wear an Alert1 button to get immediate attention when you experience a medical emergency.
A few of their products work only in the home. The rest work anywhere you have cell phone service.
Alert1 Product Profiles
Senior Home Central gives you an in-depth profiles of each Alert1 package.
You can view all of the Alert1 profiles using the list below:
The Alert1 On-the-Go and Home Fall Detection Bundle
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The Alert1 Home Fall Detection Medical Alert
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The Alert1 Home Medical Alert
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The Alert1 Pro On-the-Go Fall Detection Medical Alert
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The Alert1 On-the-Go Medical Alert
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Alert1 Home Devices
An Alert1 “home” medical alert uses a call box to communicate with Alert1 operators.
The call box uses a landline you provide, or a cell phone signal you get from Alert1. Alert1 uses AT&T cellular if you choose their cell phone connection instead of using your landline.
You use your wearable pendant or wrist button to activate the call box.
Three Alert1 packages contain a home call box. The links below open in new windows to Alert1 profile pages on the Senior Home Central site:
- The Alert1 Home is a call box home medical alert. It uses your landline or a cellular connection. It does not have fall detection.
- The Alert1 Home Fall Detection is exactly like the Alert1 Home, but adds fall detection.
- The Alert1 Home On the Go + Fall Detection combines a cellular home call box with a mobile pendant. Both the home and mobile alerts include fall detection.
Alert1 Mobile Devices
An Alert1 “mobile” system uses a two-way communication pendant to communicate with Alert1 operators.
The Alert1 mobile pendant gives you medical alert coverage so long as you are in the AT&T cell signal range.
The mobile pendant is a bit clunkier than the home pendant. In return for being a bit larger than the home pendant, the mobile pendant has two-way communication, GPS locaiton detection, and cell phone network coverage whether at home or away from home.
The two-way communication means you can speak to Alert1 right from your wearable device.
Three Alert1 packages contain a mobile medical alert. The links below open in new windows to Alert1 profile pages on the Senior Home Central site:
- The Alert1 On-the-Go is a mobile alert you wear as a pendant. It uses a cellular phone service to connect to the Alert1 operator. It does not have fall detection or location detection.
- The Alert1 On-the-Go + Fall Detection is a mobile alert you wear as a pendant. It also uses a cellular phone service to connect to Alert1. It does have fall detection and location detection.
- The Alert1 Home On the Go + Fall Detection combines a cellular home call box with a mobile pendant. Both the home and mobile alerts include fall detection. The mobile pendant includes location detection.
The Alert1 Lock Box
Alert1 offers a Lock Box with its medical alert packages. You put your house key inside the lock box, then program the lock box combination. You give the lock box combination to Alert1 to put on file.
Based on your instructions on file, Alert1 can give the combination to caregivers or emergency personnel.
Without this access, emergency personnel might have to break into your home in order to help you.
Alert1 Fall Detection
Alert1 sells devices both with and without fall detection. I would not bother with a medical alert that does not have fall detection. I’m only recommending options with fall detection in this article. You do have the option to choose a home device that does not include fall detection.
For fall detection to work, you must wear your pendant. Both the home and the mobile pendants have fall detection versions. The wrist devices do not include fall detection. If you depend on your wrist button, you will not have fall detection coverage.
Fall detection systems are a great safety net but must be used with the understanding that they’re not perfect. They can calculate a fall when one has not happened. They can miss a fall that has happened. If you fall, push the button, just in case the automatic fall detection doesn’t work. No one has perfected fall detection as of this article’s publication. But it’s 95% of so accurate.
Alert1 Location Detection
Alert1 mobile alerts contain GPS software. This is the same technology you use in the car to get automated directions.
When you use an Alert1 mobile device, the operator can pinpoint your location. You do not need to know where you are to get help.
The GPS technology gives your location to the Alert1 operator. The operator then communicates your location to your caregivers or emergency services.
Who Buys Alert1 Medical Alert Devices?
Children buy Alert1 medical alerts for their parents. Older adults buy Alert1 protectionfor themselves and their spouses. Caretakers are often involved in the purchasing decision along with the end users.
My mother researched and bought her own medical emergency package. Had she not done that, I would have done it for her.
Where Do Alert1 Devices Work?
Alert1 home call boxes work only within the home. You can press the button in the yard, but the call box will probably not be able to hear you. In this case, the operator will assume you’re having an emergency.
Alert1 mobile pendants work as long as you have a cell phone signal. If you get a home-only device, you will not have emergency coverage away from your home.
Home Coverage Communication Diagram
Below you see the steps in getting help using an Alert1 call box.
- You press your pendant or wrist button, sending an activation signal to the call box. Or, you have “fall detection,” and the pendant senses a fall and so activates the call box.
- The call box calls Alert1. You and Alert1 communicate through the call box microphone and speaker.
- Alert1 calls your caregivers or emergency services. Who they call depends on your situation, and your instructions on file.
Mobile Coverage Communication Diagram
Below is a diagram showing the mobile Alert1 calling for help.
- You press your mobile pendant. Or you have fall detection, and the device automatically makes a call when you fall.
- You communicate with Alert1 over the pendant’s phone connection. Alert1 contacts your caregivers or emergency services, depending on your situation and your instructions on file.
Using a Landline or a Cellular Phone System
You connect an Alert1 home call box base station either to your landline phone system or to Alert1’s cellular service.
If you choose cellular service, the device is still limited to the call box range. So a home call box with cellular service is not a mobile device. It’s a home device that communicates over mobile technology.
Alert1 mobile pendants always use Alert1’s mobile signal. They buy from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, and then include that service in your mobile monthly fee.
How to Ensure Two-Way Communication with an Alert1 Emergency Operator
The home base station is a two-way communication device. If you push the base station button, you initiate a call to Alert1.
You can be up to 600 ft. away from the call box. You will be able to hear it, and it will be able to hear you and send your voice to Alert1.
The mobile pendant is a two-way communication device. If you push that button, you initiate a conversation on the mobile pendant.
At home, the call box is the telephone communication device. The pendant just activates it.
With a mobile device, the pendant is the communication device. It has phone technology built into it.
Default Emergency Mode
Alert1 knows that you might summon for help but not be able to talk. If you initiate a call but do not speak, Alert1 will send emergency help. The default is to assume you are having an emergency that is preventing you from talking.
The Alert1 operator sends emergency personnel or caretakers to your home, depending on your written instructions on file.
Pendant and Wrist Buttons
You can activate the home call box with a pendant button or a wrist button.
If you have fall detection (which I do recommend), then you must wear the pendant button.
For fall detection to work, the button must be around your neck. It cannot be on your wrist or in your pocket or a purse.
Fall detection pendants contain gyroscopes to detect falling motion. This technology works well when hanging from your neck, but not well when held stationary on your body.
You can activate the Alert1 button from your pendant button. The two-way communication technology and the fall detection trigger are both built into the pendant.
How to Choose an Alert1 Package
You can take our exclusive Medical Alert Quiz to find the exact right medical alert for your situation. Take the quiz here, it opens in a new window.
View All Alert1 Medical Alerts
You can view each Alert1 medical alert below.
The Alert1 On-the-Go and Home Fall Detection Bundle
Learn More
The Alert1 Home Fall Detection Medical Alert
Learn More
The Alert1 Home Medical Alert
Learn More
The Alert1 Pro On-the-Go Fall Detection Medical Alert
Learn More
The Alert1 On-the-Go Medical Alert
Learn More
The Best Alert1 for Full Protection (Especially for Wanderers)
The best Alert1 package offering full protection is also the best package for seniors who wander.
The Alert1 On-the-Go Fall Detection is a mobile medical alert with both fall detection and location detection. It works everywhere there’s a cell phone signal.
To get all the protection in the smallest package, get the Alert1 On-the-Go Fall Detection mobile alert. Use the On-the-Go both at home and away. This package gives you fall detection, location detection, and coverage everywhere you go.
This is also the best choice for someone who wanders.
No device will work if the wearer takes it off. The advantage of the On-the-Go alert is that there’s only one device to wear.
With a home-away bundle, you need to switch off wearing the home pendant at home, and the On-the-Go pendant away from home.
If you get the On-the-Go for the wandering senior, he or she will always wear this one device. If you can get him or her used to it, then there’s no need to change out the device for home use and then for away use.
View the Alert1 On-the-Go Fall Detection medical alert on the Alert1 website.
The Best Alert1 for Protection at Home
The best Alert1 device for a homebody who does not want to pay for mobile coverage is the Alert1 Home Medical Alert.
This is the fall detection Alert1 home call box model. It connects through either your landline or the provided cell phone network.
I would not get the other Alert1 home call box device (the Home model) because it does not come with fall detection, even as an optional add on.
The Home Medical Alert call box can hear you from up to 600 ft. away. It activates a call to Alert1 when you press your pendant or wrist button.
In order for fall detection to work, you must wear your pendant button. Wrist buttons do not detect falls well so they don’t include the technology. This is true for all fall detection devices, across all brands.
You can wear your fall detection pendant in the shower, and it is compatible with pacemakers.
This is the Alert1 medical alert to get for home service with fall detection included.
