I bought my mother a phone that dialled three possible numbers should she press the alarm button which was supposed to hang around her neck. 

After a couple of false alarms where she had nodded off and somehow triggered it it seems she took to taking it from around her neck and leaving it on a coffee table. She went to the kitchen to make a drink leaving it on the table. Then she collapsed and couldn't get up. It took 12 hours or more before the neighbours investigated the tapping on the wall with her stick. With some houses she wouldn't have been found at all. There was no happy ending even after she was found.

I'd advise against false alarms.

Apologies for my misplaced attempt of humour. 

Those alarms sound a good idea BUT, don't they only work on landlines? No good if you only have a mobile.
 

If you've got a mobile with Wi-Fi or data, then there'll be apps and Bluetooth/wifi connected emergency buttons available.  Possibly more useful if you're out and about since gps tracking will probably make your whereabouts known.

Over to Klondy for clarification....

Not really investigated. The phone I gave to my mother was landline based but could dial any number. Monitored ones would probably be landlines but I don't see that they would have to be.

Not done anything about it for myself but I am usually more careful to have a mobile in my pocket these days - mostly because I gave up on a landline. I mostly get begging calls on it but sometimes it's somebody other than my childen 

There are probably sign of life devices that can send alerts and those alerts could be to something like Whatsapp which is pretty ubiquitous these days. As I said though I haven't investigated.

Ok.  I was wondering about the technical plausibility of these things existing.

Well a  mobile phone can dial out so a purpose built box triggered by a wireless panic button could too. Whether there are any that do I couldn't say.

The most reliable way would be some sensors around the house that monitor movements and are linked up to a smart device that sends an alert if there are no or only limited movements for a prolonged period. Cheap PIR devices could do the detecting. I already have some - a burglar alarm. It would just need different logic.

Damp old day today.. Went out for a coffee.. 
School break , so there were many children in town .. The coffee shops were busy.. Picked up a Greggs sausage roll and coffee.. Sat on a bench inside shopping area and did a bit of people watching.. 
A man sat next to me and told me about his poorly leg..
 

You're getting to be the proper floosie.   
There was something else just the other day but I forget exactly what.

Saw daughter today. She'd dug out an old laptop that somebody gave her years back. She thought it was bust. It's just clunky and the battery was flat. Dodgy copy of windows and runs like a dog.

I'm installing Linux on it which has been fun. It's too old to boot from usb so I needed to put the install on a dvd. My ancient usb dvd writer just kept throwing errors. Then I realised the laptop has a dvd writer. Trouble was it wouldn't recognise the pen drive I put the install on to make the dvd. Ended up doing it over the network.

It's all so incredibly slow. Once it's all done she probably won't like Linux. 

Good job we have a boring thread.

Quote from: klondike on February 14, 2024, 07:04:02 PMYou're getting to be the proper floosie. 
There was something else just the other day but I forget exactly what.

Ahh!! Was it about the Amazon guy behind the bins.. !!

Quote from: klondike on February 14, 2024, 07:29:53 PMSaw daughter today. She'd dug out an old laptop that somebody gave her years back. She thought it was bust. It's just clunky and the battery was flat. Dodgy copy of windows and runs like a dog.

I'm installing Linux on it which has been fun. It's too old to boot from usb so I needed to put the install on a dvd. My ancient usb dvd writer just kept throwing errors. Then I realised the laptop has a dvd writer. Trouble was it wouldn't recognise the pen drive I put the install on to make the dvd. Ended up doing it over the network.

It's all so incredibly slow. Once it's all done she probably won't like Linux.

Good job we have a boring thread.

You could try putting Linux Mint on it to make it look like Windows. That's what I did for my old netbook laptop. The machine was and is still sluggish, but still usable (not that I still use it), it was just an exercise to get Linux on it via a USB key which I loaded up with a working version (live) of Mint before transferring the program to the netbook. A useful learning experience, but not any real good in use due to the age and restricted processor/hardware on the netbook.

Quote from: Scrumpy on February 14, 2024, 05:48:45 PMDamp old day today.. Went out for a coffee..
School break , so there were many children in town .. The coffee shops were busy.. Picked up a Greggs sausage roll and coffee.. Sat on a bench inside shopping area and did a bit of people watching..
A man sat next to me and told me about his poorly leg..
 

That sounds just like our little precinct! Greggs, Home Bargains, Chinese Doctor, vape shop, really upmarket! 😄 all the oldies have a little sit down and a chat. 

Quote from: klondike on February 13, 2024, 06:43:15 PMWell a  mobile phone can dial out so a purpose built box triggered by a wireless panic button could too. Whether there are any that do I couldn't say.

The most reliable way would be some sensors around the house that monitor movements and are linked up to a smart device that sends an alert if there are no or only limited movements for a prolonged period. Cheap PIR devices could do the detecting. I already have some - a burglar alarm. It would just need different logic.

Alarm companies are moving away from landline technology as the rollout of digital voice / VOIP gathers pace.

There are 'man down' alarms that combine fall detection with no movement.

https://personalalarms.org/products/suresafe-fallsafe?gad_source=1#features

Quote from: klondike on February 14, 2024, 07:29:53 PMSaw daughter today. She'd dug out an old laptop that somebody gave her years back. She thought it was bust. It's just clunky and the battery was flat. Dodgy copy of windows and runs like a dog.

I'm installing Linux on it which has been fun. It's too old to boot from usb so I needed to put the install on a dvd. My ancient usb dvd writer just kept throwing errors. Then I realised the laptop has a dvd writer. Trouble was it wouldn't recognise the pen drive I put the install on to make the dvd. Ended up doing it over the network.

It's all so incredibly slow. Once it's all done she probably won't like Linux.

Good job we have a boring thread.

I'll second that 😉