After more than a year of searching for options for the impending analog cellular network shutdown, and many months of navigating through the Government regulations regarding radio signal transmission, we are very proud to announce that Provident’s BLINK monitoring service is now on-line and available to Provident clients in Vancouver.
BLINK is the fastest and most secure method of transmitting alarm signals.
Over the past couple of weeks, our team of Alarm Technicians and Installers have been working very hard establishing the BLINK network throughout Vancouver. This included installing both a primary and back-up network and the configuration of more than a dozen boxes of control equipment in our Operations Centre.
Last week, our BLINK system received certification and is now fully operational. Certification involved bringing a mesh-radio specialist in from Kansas City who spent all of last week reviewing our connections, testing signals and working with our Installation, Customer Service and Sales teams… ensuring they are all up to speed on how BLINK works. Most importantly, he ensured that our BLINK system met all relevant ULC regulations.
We are very excited to be able to offer BLINK service in Vancouver, as it offers several very important security features that have been unavailable in BC until now… some of these features include:
- BLINK eliminates the need for a landline to act as the primary communication method for an alarm… this means that clients can choose to switch to Shaw DIgital Telephone, Rogers Home Phone or any other VoIP provider without creating a risk for alarm signal transmission;
- BLINK can eliminate the need for your landline to disconnect any active call each time the alarm is used;
- Because BLINK is a wireless network, it eliminates the threat of telephone lines being cut;
- BLINK is a very secure mesh radio network… which means that every installed BLINK transceiver acts as a repeater on the network. As a result, there is no single point of failure on the network. It also means that there is no reliance on any third party network provider.
- Most importantly, BLINK is incredibly fast.
Because BLINK does not need to dial a number, and is always online,
signal transmission is up to ten times faster than either a landline or
cellular back-up. In most cases, that is a difference of almost an
entire minute… which, when coupled with Provident’s guaranteed five
minute response, is a really big deal.
We are installing BLINK systems on a priority basis for our existing cellular back-up clients. Within the first 72 hours of sending a note out to those clients, more than 200 had already placed an order…. needless to say, we will be very busy with BLINK for the next little while.
New clients, or existing clients (without cellular) wishing to upgrade to BLINK are being placed on a wait list…. given the nature of how the BLINK network works, we are giving priority based upon both date requested as well as geography.
The reason for geographical preference is because we are upgrading all of our existing cellular clients in tight groups to ensure that the network strength is maximized from Day 1. If a new client has made a request for BLINK and lives in the same area that we are already installing in, we will likely have that unit installed much sooner. The more BLINK units installed in a neighbourhood, the stronger the network becomes.
So… if you are interested, be sure to let us know as soon as possible so that we can get you on the list.