Voice vs. Alpha Dispatching (or both?)

[RadnorCo15 0]

There has been a big push in PA to switch to an all alphanumeric paging dispatch system which allows the integration with the county's CAD system. I know alpha paging hasn't caught on it Westchester but I believe Purchase was experimenting with 60 COntrol on this... I personally feel its a great supplement to the voice paging over the minitor, but don't think its reliable enough as a first alerting device. What are everyones thoughts? And do you miss your Minitor II since you've gotten a III or IV? They don't make em like they used to!

[CM36 4]

I think it should be both because thier are times when i get her my pager go off plus it is better because their are time when i just hear the page but do not here where we are going and stuff or what the call is. I wuld have to say i would say that both would be the best. the voice because it wakes you up at night and alpha because it has a greater range

[Guest x901]

Yonkers EMS-> over air dispatch followed up by text page thru nextel.

[x635 4,066]

I like both.

Voice is good because it's what were used to, and we can monitor other communications with our alerting device enroute to the incident, plus I feel the dispatchers voice often helps with alerting.

Alpha is good for when you are out of range/out of town/mowing your lawn/etc......also good because you can reference the information (whats the cross/house # again?) and relay additonal information (Building hazards,preplans,etc)

Alpha can also be used to notify members of meetings, drills, apparatus changes, weather conditions, etc etc such as Yorktown does.

Both systems compliment each other nicely.

[Guest DG795]

as stated, Ytown is using text messaging to give out non emergency info, such as OOS apparatus, meeting announcements, etc. As most departments do, we also utilize the county's i-page system. having an alpha dispatch system is an excellent supplement to voice dispatch, but not a replacement. additional information can also be given out over the text dispatch, like alarm history, special concerns, etc...especially if it is of a sensitive or private nature.

[DRD 0]

What is the deal with County i-page over Nextel? Do u have to be dispatched by them full-time to get that service? The Town of Mamk FD gets paged on 33.96 by 60, Re-paged by thier paid staff, and i-paged by 60. Its a lot but the Nextel text message is great when they are out of pager range. Any other way to get this service other than the county?

[mikeinet 37]

I think there used to be a company somewhere that would do it for $$.

I think i/page is a great idea... but the program needs to be expanded/upgraded. Right now the entire system has to be restarted to institute a change.

What would be great is if there would be some web-interface that could be setup so that departments could manage it themselves and it be real-time... not a max of say 5 per dept that can only be changed once a month.

it doesn't cost 60 anything to use (besides the cost of the software) so I don't see what the big issues is (besides upgrading the cad of course)

I most definetly support text paging though. Especially in parts of westchester that have issues with hills causing pager signal issues.

[CM36 4]

Does anyone know what the coast of installing a Alpha dispatching system and how much does it coast to maintain the system.

[mikeinet 37]

I'm not sure how much it would cost say 60-control... but I can give what I know:

Somewhat involved with an orginization in Syracuse (EMS) that is looking to do this. The cost to unlock the "paging" feature within our CAD is ~$3,800. This records when pages are made, allows pages to be made to ceratin 'groups' (ie: a group can be setup for a crew on a veichle, or to all drivers... etc.)

I'm not sure the actual exact numbers on pagers and stuff but I know we had some sort of a deal worked out to get the pagers for a pretty decent amount and a pretty decent montly fee.

It isn't cheap, but I think the outcomes are better and more worth it.

We currently had a nextel system setup (in addition to pagers) for certain paging... we're moving away from it because of problems with the nextel network in the Syracuse Area and just various issues with phones breaking and such. (We have the skinny black phones that we got for I think a few bucks a shot).

[DRD 0]

If anyone can provide information regarding i-page or any other feature that can be used with nextels to put into place an alpha paging network on the local level, please contact me asap. My dept wants to explore the option, but cant switch to 60 control. we thought of using a mass email in outlook using nextel phone numbers, or nextel online, but it all involves having someone doing the work when a 10-75 is transmitted or mutual aid requested. It would only be for "serious" incidents and dept messages and not every call. Any update on that local company that may do that? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...

ddelborgo@hotmail.com

[mfc2257 464]

Millwood Officers currently paged via nextel aprox 5-10 seconds after voice dispactch. It's great... No missing calls b/c your pager didn't go off. Can't tell you the amount of times I've been in dead Minitor areas where I've gotton the nextel page. Even if you don't have cell service if it's 2 minutes after dispatch when the cell gets service again, you get the call. You don't have that luxury with a minitor.... IF you miss the dispactch you're toast until they re-dispatch or you hear it randomly on a scanner.

[x635 4,066]

DRD-

Text paging is a great supplemental method.

There are a number of different ways you can text page.

However, the problem you face with this is that you are at the mercy of the company's network, and if its running slow or down for maitenence, etc. For these reasons, it should't be relied on 100% and alternative methods always need to be in place and maintained.

If you don't have a CAD system capable of this or can't be dispatched by 60, then your best bet would be to send a mass email in Outlook. This way, you can page everybodies phone, not just those who have Nextels. You would probaly need to make SOP's, and a template with abbreviations, etc and remember charecter limits on people phones.

Also, you may want to contact Arch Wireless (www.arch.com), they will work with you to provide paging solutions however at a cost and it probaly will require carry a seperate pager.