What is the Connect-CTY
service?
How does the service work?
What types of messages will be sent using the service?
Does the Connect-CTY
service replace other systems that have been used to provide
time-sensitive information to residents?
Is my telephone number included in the notification
database?
May I use a cell phone as my notification database listing?
What precautions are being taken to protect personal
information?
Will there be a way to positively identify incoming
calls which are made by the Grayslake Fire Department?
Will the Connect-CTY
service work if I have a call screening system on my
phone?
If I am a non-resident home or condominium owner, what
phone should be listed in the notification database?
If I have provided more than one phone number, when will
they be called?
My primary phone or my
second listing is a cell phone with a non-local area
code. Will the Connect-CTY
service call numbers outside the area?
How does the Connect-CTY
system respond to busy signals or no-answer situations?
I am receiving town notification calls at my fax or my
secondary phone line. Can I switch to have the system call
my primary phone number?
I was not able to listen to the entire call. Is there a
way to repeat the message?
I answer the phone but the “Hello” message repeats. It
then hangs up, calls back, and the same thing happens
again. How can I hear the entire message?
What is the Connect-CTY
service?
The
Connect-CTY
service allows authorized
civic leaders to create and rapidly disseminate
time-sensitive messages to every telephone number stored in
the notification database. With the Connect-CTY
service, authorized
users can send thousands of messages in minutes. Only
authorized officials are allowed access to the system.
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How
does the service work?
Authorized officials record a voice message that is then
delivered quickly to individual phones in the notification
database.
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What types of messages will be sent using the service?
Any
message regarding the safety or welfare of our community
would be disseminated using the Connect-CTY
service.
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Examples would include severe weather warnings and updates,
hazardous traffic or road conditions inside the town or
affecting local routes, and any other situation that could
impact the safety, property, or welfare of our citizens.
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Does the Connect-CTY
service replace other systems that have been used to provide
time-sensitive information to residents?
This
system is a significant enhancement to existing means of
communication and is supplemental to, not a replacement for,
the systems we have used in the past.
TV,
radio and our web site will continue to broadcast important
announcements.
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Is
my telephone number included in the notification database?
It is
our intention and hope that every residence and commercial
facility in our community be included in the notification
database. For businesses, we only store one main phone
number. For residents, we may have more than one number
that belongs to you in the database. Additionally, you may
request to have a secondary number be entered into our
database for priority calling.
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May
I use a cell phone as my notification database listing?
Yes,
we can accept cell phones as secondary phone numbers in the
database and encourage you to request that your number be
included.
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What precautions are being
taken to protect personal information?
Connect-CTY™
is a service of
The NTI Group, Inc. (NTI).
NTI
takes security and privacy concerns very seriously and does
not sell, trade, lease or loan any data about our clients to
any third party. From a technical perspective, we utilize
multiple physical and virtual layers of firewalls to
maintain data security.
NTI
only utilizes secure
transmissions with its customers. No confidential
information is ever transmitted between
NTI
and its customers using
e-mail or FTP, but rather always utilizes either a VPN
tunnel or SSL. Data is hosted in state-of-the-art
facilities which require photo identification, thumb-print
recognition, keyed access, and are manned 24/7 with
full-security personnel. All data is encrypted prior to
being placed on tape for offsite storage. NTI also retains
an external, independent security firm to perform annual
security audits.
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Will there be a way to positively identify incoming calls
which are made by the Grayslake Fire Department?
The
caller-ID number for calls generated by the Connect-CTY
service
will be the same as the fire department office number:
(847)-223-8960.
In addition, every message will begin with the same standard
announcement: “Hello, this is the Grayslake Fire
Department calling with an important message”. The
message content will follow this standard introduction.
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Will the Connect-CTY
service work if I have a call screening system on my phone?
There
are several varieties of call screening devices which use
differing protocols for screening. In general, the system
has been found to work with these devices; but, some may
require some type of pre-programming to allow our town’s
telephone number to pass through. We may conduct periodic
test to assure that messages are being delivered to numbers
in the notification database.
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If
I am a non-resident home or condominium owner, what phone
should be listed in the notification database?
For
non-residents or owners who reside out of our town/city, you
may provide an additional phone number to be included in our
database to contact during certain situations. In general,
calls are sent to the primary number only, but we also have
the ability to call multiple numbers for each resident or
business when requested by the resident or business. Please
contact the fire department at
(847)-223-8960
to provide us with that information.
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If I have provided more
than one phone number, when will they be called?
Should a situation arise
that requires us to contact you at multiple phone numbers,
we can activate the system to place a simultaneous call to
all of your numbers. In most cases, we will be sending calls
only to one phone number.
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My
primary phone or my second listing is a cell phone with a
non-local area code. Will the Connect-CTY
service call numbers outside the area?
Yes.
The area code does not impact whether or not a call is made.
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How
does the Connect-CTY
system respond to busy signals or no-answer situations?
For
busy signals, the call will be repeated several times in an
attempt to reach you. The same is true for No-answer and
Call-waiting. If the phone is answered by a message
recorder, the message will be left on the answering device.
If, after several attempts the call does not successfully go
through, the system will stop attempting to call.
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I
am receiving town notification calls at my fax or my
secondary phone line. Can I switch to have the system call
my primary phone number?
Yes.
Please contact us at
(847)-223-8960
to change the phone number in our notification database.
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I
was not able to listen to the entire call. Is there a way
to repeat the message?
Yes,
at the end of the message playback, simply press the star
(*) key on your telephone to have it repeated in its
entirety.
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I
answer the phone but the “Hello” message repeats. It then
hangs up, calls back, and the same thing happens again.
How can I hear the entire message?
Repeating or looping of messages happens when the system
detects excessive noise in the background. This can be
caused by loud radio/television volumes, people talking, or
busy traffic noise. When you receive the next call, say
“hello” once and turn down the volume of your
radio/television or press the mute button on your telephone
to allow full message delivery.
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