It gives my mum peace of mind and gives me peace of mind.

From Steven, a Fall Alarm customer

I purchased the Telecare24 system for my mother, after she’d had a bad fall and struggled to call for help.

There are a number of similar systems on the market and I was unsure which one to trust. I did a lot of research and narrowed it down to 3 systems.

Telecare24 was the cheapest of the 3 which is great. It was £100 less than either of the other 2 systems I was looking at.

The option I chose provides a base device and fall alarm (worn on the wrist). The equipment came within 48 hours and was really simple to set up. The base unit has a built in SIM that connects onto tge strongest mobile signal it can find and it also has an Ethernet connection so that you can plug it into your broadband router. The literature says that it will use the broadband connection if it’s connected and it will use the SIM if you have no internet. It has an internal battery that should keep the base unit powered for up to 48 hours in the event of a power cut and as it has the internal SIM that ensures you’ll still be able to call even if you have no power and no internet. One slight issue I found is that the Ethernet connection is under the device and points downwards. The cable supplied in the box has a flat profile and works fine, but if you need a longer cable (as I did) you’ll either have to buy one with a similarly flat profile or run a longer cable to a wall box or inline connector and then use the supplied cable from there to the base unit.

The watch has a fall detection device built in. Thankfully, my mother had not fallen recently so I cannot comment on how well that works, but I have tested the call button on the watch. It says that it has a 200m range to the base unit (longer than many of its competitors). That’s probably a lot further than we require but I wasn’t sure how well it would perform outside in the garden/garage etc when it had to connect through walls etc. I carried out a couple of tests from the farthest points and it connected both times.

The watch has a plastic case so should not cause irritation for anyone that reacts to nickel etc. Telecare24 encourage a monthly test call, which is great because it allows the user to gain confidence in how to operate the device and assurance that it’s working. We’ve made about 6 calls I all and every call was answered within 30 seconds. The speaker on the base unit is loud but the literature says the operator can adjust the volume remotely if the caller cannot hear.

My mother took a little convincing at first but she now says that she feels safer knowing that she is wearing the watch and can summon help if she needs it. She usually carries a phone around with her but she sometimes forgets and if she’s in the shower she won’t have it nearby so having the watch (which can and should be worn in the shower), gives her peace of mind and gives me peace of mind.