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Author Topic: Walkie Talkies Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-04-2005 02:50 AM                     quote: Now program in "BOX OFFICE" and "MANAGER 1" and MANAGER 2" and "PROJECTION", etc into each phone's speed dial and just issue the phones instead of radios! ..kinda what the company that I work for did: signed up on a family plan with Verizon so that a bunch of us could get on a "network" so to say to have free calls between the ones who were issued phones (mainly the office people, managers, and myself in the technicial dept.) and others on the Verzion network. Before hand, we had NexTEL phones with the "direct connect" thingey (which I thoroughly loved),but a couple of managers were using their NexTELs as a personal phone and racked up the minutes horribly making the rest of us have to suffer. And with a couple of other people in the company having Verizon, was the main reason for the switch from NexTEL to Verizon (which I now can't stand due to dropped calls and no "direct connect" feature...) to get on this so-called "family plan" BS. Now, I have to watch my minutes during the day or get a whining out from the office on excessive phone usage if I go over.....(go figure..about ready to throw the phone back at them at times..) Plus, thinking about dumping land line connection to save money due to the packages that celphones now offer (family has Cingular). Probably do that when we get ready to move sometime in the future. quote: Brad Miller Given the average lifespan of a radio in a theater environment, I think the cell phone would probably be a cheaper and superior solution. Got that one dead right. Seen so many Motorolas - the better, multichanneled ones - be all busted up within a year due to massive abuse from the employees since the employees love to think that they're important or something else. My big problem with those big Motorolas that, with being clipped on the side, I'd sometimes brush against a console or something and knock that silly thing off and watch it hit the floor, knocking the battery cover and battery pack out. Thus, I would just have the damned thing in my pocket so it wouldn't fall out. Kids, on the other hand, would toss them from one individual to another who needed one and would miss catching it, thus seeing it splatter on the floor quite often. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 09-04-2005 09:02 AM                        I had Six Motorola units and one Icom. The Motorolas lasted over 8 years! When you keep on top of your staff, things go better... Sure, I'd have to replace a 'pl' board twice a year ($100), but, given the effectiveness of the units, I'd say the cost was WELL worth it! Now, only five months after leaving, ther are two functional radios.. from what I heard, the HO says the units are too costly to repair and will be providing telephone units that have paging capabilities built in.. Who knows... I like the cell phone plan myself... I thin that's about the smartest thing I've heard in a LONG time!  |  IP: Logged Jon Morgan Film Handler Posts: 60 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Mar 2005 posted 09-04-2005 10:35 AM                     I just use cheap Motorolas from Best Buy. They're not the best walkies ever, but for the price they're definitely worth it. The cell phone thing wouldn't work well everywhere. The theater's I've worked in get terrible signals on the inside.  |  IP: Logged Brandon Willis Expert Film Handler Posts: 216 From: Richmond, VA, USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 09-04-2005 12:43 PM                     Businesses that employ large amounts of teenagers, like theatres, need to be careful about having nice or expensive electronic equipment for the employees to use. Like Jason said, you've got to keep on top of your staff. If you work for a chain, your company's discipline form should have a category for "abuse of equipment" - we recently put an employee on his final warning using this, because he left 2 walkies unattended and they got stolen. You can also make them pay restitution when a piece of equipment gets broken or goes missing on their watch. That will get the message out fast. The FRS radios are designated "managers only" for 2 good reasons. First, as I previously stated, we can use them to communicate things we don't want the employees to hear. For example, if I counsel a concessionist for not greeting the customers properly, I can notify the other managers on duty who might not be near a phone about this, and use the employee's name, so that they can keep an eye on him/her. Also, Cory can communicate to me that he just watched so-and-so do a walk through improperly or auditorium # whatever wasn't cleaned right or something like that. It's also because we know they'd be gone after a day or two if we let the employees use them! They can fit in your shirt pocket, so they can be easily heisted from the building if they fall into the wrong hands.  |  IP: Logged Steve Scott Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1300 From: Minneapolis, MN Registered: Sep 2000 posted 09-04-2005 12:49 PM                     We used motorolas at Lakeville for years, then somebody in upper management decided to dump them & go for these POS Cobra FRS radios. After a good four months with those, most of the buttons were useless & the batteries had started to lose their charge, then they used the Motorola FRS radios, to no improvement. As of the time I left, they struck a deal with a wireless company in the area to lease these kenwood radios & charger bases, along with the hands free kits. Those were the quietest, but they were nowhere near as durable and chargeable as the original motorolas.  |  IP: Logged Alexander Smith Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Registered: Jun 2003 posted 09-06-2005 02:13 AM                     We also tried Motorola radios (wasn't my idea), within 12 months the batteries were "worn" (they are NiMH chemistry), due to people not taking the radios off charge from the dumb trickle chargers bought by the [dumb] manager. Naturally, no-one listens the technician when he talks about maintenance of company gear, ho-hum. Now the radios are never used and we have reverted to relying on the internal telephones. The manager and projectionist each have a DECT radio telephone which work fine in all parts of the building. The system fails once in a blue moon when one of the other projectionists neglects to take the phone out of his pocket before leaving at the end of the day. He knows who he is. ;-) Alex.  |  IP: Logged

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