Chances are that you’re using something much more modern than a 2G or 3G phone. Even those who’ve recently been issued a free government phone in Oklahoma are probably using 4GLTE or 5G technology in spite of the fact that they received these phones a part of a safety net lifeline program. Residents who rely on alarms and medical devices, however, are still tied to an older technology that stretches back to at least 2001.
Alarms that monitor medical patients and others who are at-risk are often tied into 3G networks. It’s important for healthcare providers to use devices that are tied to time-tested technologies so that they won’t ever offer something that isn’t going to hold up in a mission-critical situation. However, that means the technologies they opt to work with are always under threat of eventually being replaced.
It seems like that could be happening since many healthcare providers still don’t have anything to replace the existing 3G alarms. Assuming that they’re able to adopt the same 5G standards currently used by those issued a free government phone Oklahoma, there’s always the risk that cellular technologies could change in the future. When that happens, any next-generation alarms in use would ultimately have to be upgraded again.
Fortunately, the use of a mobile phone can help to alleviate most of these problems by providing an additional method of asking for assistance.
