Simplisafes Security at home. & When Away Safety Options

Sorry, long winded, skip if not interested.

When out of the house and beyond Simplisafes offers & features, outside & away from home or perhaps like us, no monitoring at home. Options?

I would probably still be monitored if someone had called quickly. I'll skip the major details. I believe the 30 second grace delay was in play at that time.

At that time last year, I believe Simplisafe was also just transitioning from COPs to their own call center. Might have been just a ball dropped temporarily. COPs was actually pretty fast to call.

I could put the monitored system in test mode, trip something and the automated Bot call would come almost as fast or equal to a text message. However it was done at the time. Maybe just selecting Test Mode in the keypad.🤔

Now, there's some added delays for calls, perhaps longer grace periods, cross zone local ordinance requirements (more delay) in some locals etc. etc. Other threads explain it.

I just saw NYPD police response is 15 minutes averaged. Fire unknown. Unverified, TV fodder. Other cities claim to vary also in response times from dispatch.

The amount of delay from actual alarm to actual dispatch of officers, plus travel time, may vary greatly.

It could be quite a few to several minutes burned. Options and/or two or more repeated 911 calls... nothing wrong with backup and redundancy.

We're in the country boonies, local police response in 2+- minutes or less to a 911 call, State Police would depend on how close an officer might be patrolling for dispatch and reasons. Same for local, where are they?

Automation seems like a possible help/solution, if SS alarms, Bot/Ai calls immediately, gives the person some comfort. Maybe SS does that now, but doesn't read that way in other threads.🤷 In addition to texts.

They could press 1 for human help, 2 for cancel etc. similar and in addition to cancel/help texts etc. or until a human agent can pickup. Some folks still use landlines. My SO, will never have a cell phone, so we also have a landline. She couldn't receive texts.

Humans "may" be busy when new SS options are released, checking live view powered cameras of subscribers etc.

Numbers of powered SS camera owners & quantities, potential subscribers unknown. Added security employees required probably. Pure speculation on my part.

I get the texts part, modern day communications. False alarms etc. etc.

But it ticked me off and so I'm self with cameras for a while yet. No biggie.

Anyhow, what I did in instead or in addition as you prefer;

May be useful to you or family with monitoring or without, and may not for many reasons.

Phone Settings;

Most moden day phones have Emergency SOS. Click the power button 5 times rapidly, it calls 911 or a number you choose and has setup delays, setup features, in phone settings if desired. Develop habits.

Being old and a heart attack waiting to happen, I also setup a Medical app (Play Store) which allows Emergency Responders access to my emergency contacts info, some medical info as I desire at home or out and about, in case I'm unconscious in my car & in a ditch & texts to my preferred contacts etc. etc. if desired.

Even if my phone is locked. Standard Emergency symbol on the screen when power button is pressed allows access. Plays a warning sound you specify (Android anyhow) if accidentally triggered etc.

Samsungs and similar Androids offer similar SOS etc. features, usually built in the emergency settings.

iOS , no idea whats offered.

Either way, might work for when you're out and about in an emergency. Other phone brands probably do also.

There's also an app called Noonlight, that "free for now, might be useful", for capable elderly, women out alone, college students, children with phones, etc. etc. currently this part is free (for farming your information.) Is available for iOS 9 and above.

Paid plans available. (Of course) (GPS must be on, Data or Wifi for connection) location accuracy unknown. GPS is pretty accurate these days though.

Now for transparency, in a small way they're a Simplisafe competitor, in that Noonlight offers an API for do it yourself folks like me. Monitoring in Home Assistant for example.

(If I wanted monitoring, I don't) And they are suppliers of monitoring for some other inexpensive company/camera brands. No cellular option (DIY). Owned by Alarm.com or the majority stake holder I think.

The point was, the free Noonlight app option might comfort someone, somehow. Been around several years. 3.5 million supposed users. I have the app, haven't tested response. Might test it.

Some old 911 call centers might still be slow to locate someones GPS location via cell phone, what with cell tower bouncing, still in the landline world etc. Many are getting modernized.

If one feels in danger, a stalker etc. when out and about or anywhere I suppose.

You open the Noonlight app hold down or tap a big button if urgent, and let it go if it's an emergency, and don't enter your pin.

If not an emergency, let go, enter your pin to cancel. Crash protection etc. features (if paid.) as mentioned, GPS must be on, cellular data or a WiFi connection. Some phones and.smart watches may also offer fall & crash protection. Works with some smart watches.

This app could be used inconspicuously when being watched, spouse abuse, lost child etc.

Or as mentioned tap the power button 5 times rapidly for a 911 call.

I haven't tested these options and probably won't. I assume they work. Self research needed.

And obviously if you can, open the phone and dial 911. Nothing replaces whatever works best when urgently needed.

There's one more recent device I viewed. Switchbot find my wallet. I haven't lost mine in 70 years.

But YMMV. Anyhow, credit card size device, tracks with iOS find my device or Android using their app, find my device in development for Android. Could be used like many tracking devices for good or nefarious. Research required.

Not useful for me personally.