Does anyone know what the heck these things are? I’ve seen them in several rooms at the hotel, including my own.
No alt text on these, but it’s a white box with two US 120v outlets plugged into the wall. It is screwed into the wall plate. It has no USB ports, but does seem to have two slotted holes for mounting something to it. There is a power LED and reset hole on the top along with a mystery hole.
@duncandahusky @EddiKat huh! yeahm never would have guessed that!
I'm not clear on the use-case though; I wouldn't have thought a bluetooth alarm/locator would offer better functionality than a standard network app or something. I assume the hotel industry has it's reasons.
@garrwolfdog @duncandahusky @EddiKat Bluetooth lets you locate people indoors pretty accurately, something like gps would be pretty useless in a multi-story building
@garrwolfdog @duncandahusky @EddiKat when you hit a panic button you don't want to have to type in a room number
@garrwolfdog @duncandahusky @EddiKat it also tracks equipment, occupancy, allows management to issue safety alerts, a bunch of really convenient stuff https://www.business.att.com/content/dam/attbusiness/infographics/att-staff-alert-infographic.pdf
@noiob @duncandahusky @EddiKat interesting! Personally, i'd have routed it throughte existing mesh wifi network, but I guess having but maybe this is easier to retrofit in some cases, or osmoething.
The need for apanc button just isn't something i've heard from hotel workers before. That's all been from workers in the EU though. Maybe there's more call for it in the US.
@garrwolfdog @duncandahusky @EddiKat wifi goes through walls. BLE is much more localized
@noiob @duncandahusky @EddiKat True. It just seems like over engineering given the building is already divided up, labeled, and signposted to be easy to locate and ID specific rooms. Seems like a lot of effort to automate that last step of what could otherwise be handled by radios or a phone app.
I wonder if it does BT beacon tacking too; to keep t rack of room occupancy via guests phones and similar. That would eb creepy but justify the tech, I guess 😅