Merlin wifi issue

It seems that I am part of an ever growing population of people that do NOT have a landline phone.
It is well know that voip phone lines are not very good at being able to transmit data, so they are not an option.

Like many others, I refuse to get the cell phone adapter for the Merlin transmitter.
I think it is asinine that a whole new cell line is needed. The simple solution here would be to use blue tooth to have Merlin connect to my cell phone and use it to transmit the data.
OR, if they are going to require a dedicated cell line, why doesn't the company negotiate a package deal with one of the cell providers. I am pretty sure they could do a LOT better than $16/month.

I refuse to be robbed of $450 to buy the wife adapter. I am outraged at their blatant disregard of the patients with their insulting wifi "solution".

One person pointed out in a previous thread that after buying that $450 wifi package he discovered the same components were being sold at Best Buy and Amazon for around $100. And that the 2 items are obsolete!
The 2 items are a usb wifi adapter and a router that plugs into the home internet modem/router.

One person claimed to be able to use an off the shelf usb wifi adapter. But he did not provide details, and others have said they were not able to replicate his results.

It is clear that if people can find these very same items for $100 or less that the markup by SJM is borderline criminal.
It also shows they are gouging their patients.

Secondly, you do a google search for usb wifi adapters, and the price of them has gotten pretty cheap. Even for the ones with antennas to be able to provide better range. These can be bought for less than $25, with many of them in the $15 ballpark!

The only reason you would need a router would be if you already don't have one with your home network. If you already have a router, (which I would say just about everyone already has) then all that is needed is for the usb wifi adapter to connect to your network. That really is not hard to accomplish.

Heck, recently I bought a wifi SD card so I could pull the data from my Bi-Pap machine to my pc without having the take the card out of the bi-pap machine each day.
It works GREAT! And this is a small SD card that I paid $25 for!

So for SJM to say it takes $450 for their "equipment" to be able to connect to wifi is pure BS!!!!

I hereby openly challenge SJM to pull their heads outa their arse and implement some MODERN communication methods into Merlin.
Add bluetooth where a persons cell phone can be used. If needed a bluetooth USB adapter would be fine. These can be bought for less than $25. (I even found one for $3.15 with free shipping.....)

Use a decently priced (Less than $25) USB wifi adapter. It is not "rocket science", as so many commercial products are wifi capable and easy to set up on home networks, such as printers.

If SJM really cared about their patients and wanted to get the home monitoring to be usable for the patients, these approaches would be implemented IMMEDIATELY!

I personally am forwarding this message to SJM to let them know I am displeased with the Merlin transmitter, because without these approaches it is completely WORTHLESS to me.

ps, to save time here are the links to some of the other threads about wifi with Merlin.

http://www.pacemakerclub.com/public/jpage/1/p/story/a/storypage/sid/29303/content.do

http://www.pacemakerclub.com/public/jpage/1/p/story/a/storypage/sid/30785/content.do

http://www.pacemakerclub.com/public/jpage/1/p/story/a/storypage/sid/31659/content.do

http://www.pacemakerclub.com/public/jpage/1/p/story/a/storypage/sid/34262/content.do

http://www.pacemakerclub.com/public/jpage/1/p/story/a/storypage/sid/32555/content.do

http://www.pacemakerclub.com/public/jpage/1/p/story/a/storypage/sid/31192/content.do

8 Comments

Thanks for the info

by Theknotguy - 2015-06-18 01:06:08

Thanks for the info. As a past computer tech, I fully understand what you are saying and agree with your conclusions. I'll be facing the same issues in a couple of months and won't be surprised if things don't work.

The only other thing I would suggest is to write to your medical insurance with the same complaint, and to write to your congressman. (Seems like a good problem for the government to waste millions of dollars.) Obama care is supposed to make medical issues affordable and this would be a good place to start.

My Merlin

by Artist - 2015-06-18 02:06:03

When I received my PM implant, I was asked whether I prefer to use my land line or a WiFi connection in my home for my Merlin transmitter. I opted for the land line since my internet service is occasionally unpredictable. It was my understanding that I would receive a complete set up to include any necessary equipment for either option and my insurance would pay for everything. I assume that if I had opted for a WiFi connection, I would also have received all of the necessary equipment for my Merlin to connect to the internet and my insurance would have covered the entire cost for that set up option. Is the problem that you do not have WiFi service in your home and can only connect via a cell phone?

re.

by estgad - 2015-06-18 03:06:07

good points Theknotguy. Perhaps filing a complaint about it might spark a fire under sjm to do what is right.

@Artist.
My insurance isn't going to cover the $450 for the wifi adapter, nor will they pay for a landline.

You might want to double check on what you were told. The "connection" to a landline is just a basic phone cord that comes with the merlin box. So ya, that connection is included.

The cell adapter and wifi are extras. Perhaps your insurance might cover it. Seems from the comments in the threads I linked to, that for quite a few people the insurance will not cover it.

BTW, I have wifi in my home. Did you not see the comment I made about recently buying the wifi SD card to pull the data from my Bi-Pap.

And I am a bit tech literate. I learned programming 35 years ago......
Perhaps that is why I am so outraged with sjm, I know just how much they are screwing the patients for both the cell and wifi adapter solutions they offer.
And is why I will not buy either of those current solutions from them. :)

land line option

by zawodniak2 - 2015-06-18 10:06:10

At one time I used a limited land line service which for about $14/mo. provided me with unlimited local calls and unlimited 800 calls. I used my cell for almost all my calls since I had unlimited nationwide and I used the land line for PM interrogation reporting. This also came in handy when my cell phone shot craps. My SAMS calling card came in handy at that time for long distance calls. To me, this was a reasonable, inexpensive alternative which came in handy at times. Just another way to skin the cat if available,,

re:

by estgad - 2015-06-19 10:06:49

@zawodniak2

long story short. I dropped my landline a very long time ago for VOIP. I went with 8X8, which became Packet8. This was long before Vonage was around or became well known.

A couple of years ago I realized that on the "house" phone all I was getting was telemarketers. Friends and family would call me on my cell. So I parked the phone number for a while and had it transferred to my cell. Eventually I dropped the parked number.

I have no desire to go back to a landline.

As to cost, because of how many people have dropped landlines, there is now only 1 company that offers it in my town. The cost of it, even for medical purposes would run $25+ per month. (gotta add those taxes and fees in so the advertised rate is not what you pay.)

Also, the landline does not help much when you travel. The landline does not work at hotels/motels where you have to dial 9 to get a dial tone.
And if visiting someone that does not have a landline,,,,

For today's world it is very simple, the bluetooth or wifi are the best ways for patients to be able to connect the Merlin where it would be worth using.

some technical comments

by estgad - 2015-06-19 11:06:07

The Merlin device is a computer.
( http://www.qmed.com/mpmn/article/teardown-look-inside-st-jude-medical-merlinhome-transmitter )
There is the printed circuit (pc) board with a processor and other components. There is the RF (radio frequency) component to communicate with the icd/pm, and then there are the phone jack and usb port for transmitting the data to the doc.

When Merlin communicates with the icd/pm it stores the data in a file on the pc board.

What I want to focus on here is the transmission of the data to the doc.

The phone jack and usb port are basically just a "water hose". They are the conduit for the data to "flow" through.

The processor determines which port to use. If there is a dial tone detected on the phone jack, then the processor dials the stored phone number, and when it recognizes the connection signal it begins to stream the data over that connection. The phone line does not do anything to the data, it does not encrypt it or change it in any way, it just provides the path for the data to "flow".

If there isn't a dial tone, then the processor checks the usb port. It looks to see if there is a cell phone adapter plugged in. Without seeing the code, nor doing any diagnostics on it, I don't know if the Merlin uses the cell adapter to dial the phone number. I really doubt it, because it is much more practical to use FTP (file transfer protocols) to transfer the file over the mobile data system.
So the processor readies the data file and then transmits it over the cell modem.

Pretty much so the same thing happens with the wifi adapter. The processor detects a connection to the destination server, and FTP's the file.

All the cell adapter does is provide the "hose" to make the connection between Merlin and the destination server.

All the wifi adapter does is connects to the wifi router that is connected to the modem, which connects to the ISP and allows for the connection to be made to the destination server.

Using a Bluetooth adapter would not be hard to do. It would just require some simple programming to have the processor recognize the Bluetooth connection, and transmit the file over it.

They already have the coding in place to recognize a wifi connection. The problem is they were pretty stupid to hard code it to use only 1 wifi adapter. They then solved the "problem" of the connection to the home wifi network by making that adapter work with their router. This eliminated the "problem" of the end user having to connect the wifi adapter to the home wifi network.

They really chose the wrong way to handle that, because it would not have taken much for them to integrate WPS to allow the patient to connect the Merlin to the home network.

The only other issue would be the drivers for the USB Bluetooth and wifi adapters. There are several ways to solve this.
They could use a generic driver. They could specify a specific brand of bluetooth or wifi adapter. They could even provide those adapters with the Merlin box. As I have pointed out, the cost of them is pretty cheap.

Or, they could just build the bluetooth and/or wifi adapters into the Merlin box. The cost of that is also very cheap.

It is really sad at how SJM is letting such of a small cost create such of a large problem for so many of their patients. It is tarnishing their reputation and name.
Sad, because it is something that could be fixed so quickly and very cheaply.

re.

by estgad - 2015-06-20 01:06:30

@PJinSC

Glad to hear that your voip works. It seems to be a hit or miss proposition.
I remember back when I was using voip that there were times my fax machine would send out faxes just fine, and other times it wouldn't.

Personally I have problems with the idea of being forced into a monthly bill for the data transmission of the monitor, ESPECIALLY when it is so unnecessary.
I already have a cell phone, so the blue tooth would work with it.
I already have broadband and a home wifi network, so a wifi adapter would work with it.
Both of those would use existing communication methods that are already being paid for.

"I have heard a lot of complaints here about the Merlin setup. Glad I went a different path."

In hindsight I wish I would have researched it before hand. I guess the dr. would have followed my desires had I specified a brand.

One thing SJM needs to be aware of is that as more people get educated about these issues it can adversely effect their business.
Right now if anyone were to ask me, I would strongly recommend that they look at other brands instead of SJM specifically because of the crappy transmission options on the Merlin transmitter.

Boston Scientific Latitude Monitor

by PJinSC - 2015-06-20 12:06:02

I was given a Boston Scientific Latitude Monitor to accompany my Boston Scientific Inviva PM. I inquired early about its compatibility with VOIP and they said it will work. It has done just that. I plugged it between the cordless phone and the cable modem using the phone jacks, and except for when our crappy cable croaks, it works just fine. I can see the answering machine "in use" light blinking when it is sending. I keep the monitor near the modem and router in the front room. This precludes me from having the monitor in my bedroom, but it picks me up in the morning and downloads what it needs and sends it off to BS and the cardiologist device lab. One lime the device lab called me that they were not receiving a signal, so I unplugged and re-plugged and it started back up. BS does have a cell phone adapter so the box can be set anywhere and taken anywhere, but I have not forked out the $13 per month for it. I have heard a lot of complaints here about the Merlin setup. Glad I went a different path. I do agree that this whole system needs to get with the times and modernize.

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