Last Updated on September 4, 2020
The HelpButton.com mobile alert device, Mobile Ally, is a small alert button pendant designed to connect customers to trained emergencies monitoring operators 24/7. This is a quality mobile personal emergency response (mPERS) device that works both in and out of the home. What sets the HelpButton.com mPERS device and service apart from other mobile medical alert products is its combination of relevant and useful features, certified monitoring service and attractive month-to-month pricing.
HelpButton.com is backed by an organization with decades of experience in the providing quality medical alert monitoring services for seniors. The product comes with a 30-day money back guarantee for new customers, and there are no long-term contracts.
Disclosure: We receive referrals commissions for purchases made (details).
Disclosure: We receive referrals commissions for purchases made (details).
How It Works
The Mobile Ally device from HelpButton.com houses an emergency SOS button that can be pushed whenever emergency help is needed. It is small, lightweight, and designed to be worn throughout the day with a lanyard (included in package) around the neck. It works the same way both in and out of the home.
Once the help button is pressed, the device will trigger an emergency call via a cellular phone connection. A monitoring center operator will take the call and provide assistance to the senior customer. Two-way communication between the operator and senior user is possible because of the button’s built-in mic and speaker. The user can directly speak into the pendant to talk to the operator.
Depending on the kind of help the senior needs, the operator will call the appropriate party. This may be an EMT (emergency medical technician), a family member or another party. This works similarly to a traditional Life Alert system, except that it comes with newer features like being mobile without range restrictions, GPS locations info and sharing, fall detection and more.
Additional features like its text-to-locate and auto fall detection and alert are discussed in this detailed review as we progress.
Cost
The Help Button mobile alert pendant costs $34.95 per month for the company’s standard service that includes use of the equipment (device and charger) and access to 24/7 personal emergency monitoring help. There is a $49.95 activation fee.
The $44.95 per month Supreme premium service plan that includes additional features like automatic fall alert, location ping, and a product protection plan. Like the standard plan, the use of equipment (device and charger) and access to 24/7 monitoring is also included. In addition, the $49.95 activation fee is waived when customers sign up for Help Button’s premium plans.
Their pricing compares well with most medical alert monitoring plans. Most quality plans start at around $25 to $30 a month for an in-home only system. A standard Life Alert plan package starts at around $50 a month. With HelpButton, the standard $34.95 per month plan includes monitoring both in and out of the home, and unlimited button presses.
Disclosure: We receive referrals commissions for purchases made (details).
The $34.95 per month entry level pricing is especially attractive for people who want to test things out before buying the premium plan with all the features included. To learn more, please contact the company directly at toll-free 1-855-622-7935.
Contracts
There are no long term contracts. Customers can cancel anytime by sending their mobile Help Button alert device and accessories back and submitting a cancellation request with 30 days notice.
Equipment and Accessories
The HelpButton.com Mobile Ally mPERS system consist of the main mobile alert button pendant, lanyard and a charging cradle.
The small, rectangular-shaped pendant is black with a glossy finish and a rubber help alert button in the middle. It is equipped with a 2-way speakerphone, an emergency SOS help button, a SIM card, and Wi-Fi (WPS) and GPS location tracking technologies. The pendant comes with light indicators for battery power, cellular connection, wifi and GPS signal indicator lights.
Pressing the help button will automatically activate a call via a cellular network. A separate cellular phone line is not necessary to use the device. The cost to connect to cellular networks is already included in the monthly monitoring fee.
Compact and lightweight, the device weighs around 2.4 oz and measures about 3 inches in length. The size and weight is typical of mobile GPS medical alert pendants. It is heavier and more bulky than standard home-based medical alert pendants. However, home medical alert pendants do not have a speaker built into them, and they must be paired with a larger base station console unit in order to work.
Getting Started
To get started, the HelpButton.com alert device should be placed in the cradle and charged for 3 hours. After 3 hours, you can remove the device from the charger. The light should no longer flash, indicating that the device is ready for use. At this point, you can press the help button in the front for your first test call to make that your system is working.
The company recommends recharging the device every night. This is sound advice to ensure that the pendant device does not run out of battery power, as we explain below. What’s great is that it has a long 5-day standby battery life. This provides a backup cushion in case the customer has forgotten to recharge the device the night before.
Certified Monitoring
One of the main concerns people have with any personal emergency response system (PERS) product is the quality of the monitoring service. With HelpButton.com, customers can be assured that all emergency operators are carefully trained. Their US call center is UL-listed and meets The Monitoring Association’s (TMA, formerly CSAA) Five Diamond standards.
Disclosure: We receive referrals commissions for purchases made (details).
Unlimited Range – Works In and Out of the Home
The HelpButton mobile alert device does not have any range restriction. All the system needs is a good cellular phone connection regardless of where the user is – at home, outdoors for a walk, in the mall shopping, or other things. Currently, it is working off the AT&T cellular network. Users are free to move around and get the help they need from medical alert monitoring representatives.
GPS & Wifi Location Tracking
GPS and Wifi location tracking capabilities are built into the system. Thus, the monitoring center operator will be able to locate the user. While GPS technology is efficient in general, it may not function as well when the senior is in an indoor environment. Having WPS data in addition to GPS enhances the system’s accuracy and speed when the location of the device needs to be pinpointed at once.
There is no need for the home to have Wi-Fi in order to use the wifi positioning feature on the mobile medical alert device. The device scans for wifi hotspots without needing to connect to one.
Easy Locate
The HelpButton mobile alert button device can be located using the Amazon Alexa Skill app. One common worry that children of elderly parents have is their parents’ whereabouts when out and about on their own. This is especially so if their parents have mild cognitive impairments or difficulties with finding their way home.
Once the app is downloaded onto a phone, it can be used to link the phone to the HelpButton mobile device. For example, concerned children of customers using the HelpButton device can use the Amazon Alexa app to find the location of their parent’s device. This allows people to find their parents’ location by proxy.
This Easy Locate feature is included in the standard $34.95 plan. In comparison, some companies charge extra to include medical alert GPS data sharing.
Caregiver Alerts Service
Another helpful and unique feature of the HelpButton.com mobile emergency response device is the capability to trigger email or text alerts to the senior’s registered contacts. There is no extra cost for this service. The device will send alerts via email or text to the names on the senior’s each time a triggering event happens.
For example, each time the user presses the help button in emergency situations, the system will send email/text alert messages. The feature makes sure that all concerned family members are always in the loop when it comes to monitoring their senior family member.
Disclosure: We receive referrals commissions for purchases made (details).
Waterproof Rating
With a waterproof rating of IPX7, the Help Button device can be used in showers or withstand rain. What an IPX6 rating means is that when put to test, HelpButton’s Mobile Ally device was able to withstand powerful water jets for as long as three minutes. As this certification is for withstanding water jets rather than for being submerged underneath water without damage, we would not recommend immersing the HelpButton device in water eg. in a bathtub of water.
The senior customer can have his or her mobile device within easy reach anywhere they may be. They can have it with them while showering, where there is a greater than normal risk of falling.
Keeping the Device Charged
HelpButton.com recommends recharging their Ally mobile alert device every night. When it comes to owning a mobile device like HelpButton.com’s Mobile Ally, customers would need to be able to stay on top of the task of keeping their device charged.
There are audio announcements and a battery indicator light on the device that will start flashing if a recharge is needed. However, when all power drains out, the light flashes will also stop. There are no further reminders to recharge the device. By keeping to a daily routine of recharging, it minimizes the chance of the device going out of power. This is much like with keeping a cell phone charged.
One notable feature is that it only takes around 3 hours for the device to charge fully. If the customer wants to recharge the device, they can do so in a few hours, without being separated from their device for a long time.
When it is fully charged, you should not see a flashing light when you lift the device off the charger. The device is ready for use – there is no need to touch the on/off switch. It is automatically powered on when placed in the cradle, and it should stay on when removed from the charging cradle to be used.
Do Frequent Testing – To make sure that the mobile device is working as expected, customers can test by pressing on their help button and speaking with an operator. Most medical alert system companies recommend testing their systems once a month. When in doubt, it is best to push and test, even if you have to do it more frequently.
Long Battery Stand-by Time
Even though daily recharging is recommended, a full battery charge can power up the mobile medical alert device for up to five days on stand-by mode. This is longer compared to the battery life of most similar products on the market today. The majority of mobile alert devices have a stand-by time of only 1 – 2 days at best.
The bigger battery capacity acts as a buffer for the device to continue operating even if the customer missed charging the device the day before. All things being equal, a longer battery life makes for a more user-friendly customer experience. This, along with other top factors to look out for in GPS medical alert systems, are discussed here.
Automatic Fall Detection and Alert
The Automatic Fall Detection and Alert feature offers an additional level of protection for the device’s senior customers. The HelpButton.com mobile alert pendant has an accelerometer motion sensor built-in. It can determine if the senior has fallen down. When it detects a fall, the device automatically makes an alarm call. The feature comes in handy in cases where the user cannot press the emergency button manually after falling down.
This way, even if the fall causes the senior to lose consciousness, the system will automatically activate an alarm call. Likewise, the feature is beneficial for users who have health issues like Parkinson’s disease, syncope episodes, and diabetes, where the senior has a tendency to get disoriented.
Automatic fall detection is not 100% guaranteed to work in all instances. Unfortunately, no system can guarantee that. Although auto fall detection technology has helped others, one should not assume that it will work each and every instance. Whenever possible, customers should still press on their button for help.
The auto-fall detection feature is available through HelpButton’s Supreme plan ($44.95/mo).
In Summary
The HelpButton.com Mobile Ally alert device is overall a high quality and effective device. It comes with an important combination of features like one-click live monitoring help center access, GPS and Wi-Fi location tracking, being water-resistant, having a long-lasting battery, text-to-locate service, caregiver alerts, auto-fall detection and more.
Disclosure: We receive referrals commissions for purchases made (details).
Like other mobile alert devices, it does require that the customer to pay attention to keeping it recharged and working. If that’s simple enough for you or your parents, then this HelpButton mobile alert device is a personal emergency response product well-worth considering.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this review, the information is supplied without warranties of any kind. We advise all readers to do careful due diligence before purchasing. Take time to visit the company’s website and speak with their representatives.
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