Vertel and Ondacomms deliver wide-area radio solution for Grasshopper Environmental fleet
March 31, 2020 – Vertel, Australia’s largest privately-owned telecommunications carrier, and Ondacomms, an Australian wireless communications company, have partnered to supply Grasshopper Environmental with a wide-area radio solution for its fleet vehicles.
Grasshopper Environmental has supplied waste management services for over 40 years to construction, demolition & infrastructure industries, and commercial and industrial organisations, such as warehouses and manufacturing, nursing homes, medical institutions, restaurants and retail. It operates across the greater Sydney area, with bases in Arndell Park and the Blue Mountains, and is committed to environmental sustainability.
Because of the size of the area their fleet covers, it needed a quality voice communications radio solution with a wide coverage area. Grasshopper Environmental approached Vertel channel partner, Ondacomms, to provide a solution.
Ondacomms partnered with Vertel to formulate a solution using Push-to-Talk over cellular (PoC) to meet these requirements. PoC is provided on a mobile device, using both mobile cellular networks and Wi-Fi networks to communicate.
Gavin Jenkins, business owner, Ondacomms, said, “Grasshopper Environmental was not able to find a two-way radio system that could offer voice communications across a large area for its fleet. When Ondacomms and Vertel introduced the PoC system to the Grasshopper Environmental team, it was quickly apparent that the advantages the system could provide far outweighed those of a standard two-way radio solution.”
The Grasshopper Environmental fleet was fitted with Telo M5 in-vehicle mobile devices with the PoC application installed. The dispatcher also uses the mobile phone application to communicate with the fleet.
Tony Hudson, commercial director, Vertel, said, “Working with Ondacomms, Vertel provided Grasshopper Environmental with a service to ensure its fleet would receive coverage across its entire area of operations with high quality communications. The PoC service also provided them with additional features making communication with drivers and non-vehicle staff simpler and more streamlined.”
Some of the additional features include: portable, hand-held devices for fleet vehicles; secure device management using MDM; application scalability to incorporate further features onto the devices; individual and group call capabilities; and a phone application for non-vehicle staff that lets them remotely track fleet trucks and to communicate with drivers without being confined to their desk.
Ryan Noble, asset and driver manager, Grasshopper Environmental, said, “Grasshopper Environmental offers timely support and services to customers, so it’s essential to keep in touch with the fleet at all times regardless of whether a driver is within range of mobile service. Using the PoC service provided by Ondacomms and Vertel, communication is now clearer between staff members. Dispatchers can quickly and easily advise job specifications, updates and changes, and can reach all drivers regardless of their location. Likewise, drivers can contact dispatch instantly to ask questions or provide updates. The PoC service provides Grasshopper Environmental with efficient and effective communication to meet customer and staff needs.”
About Grasshopper Environmental
Established in 1978, Grasshopper Environmental Pty Ltd have been providing sustainable, professional and tailored Waste Management services and Waste Data Reporting for over 4 decades across two major sectors in Sydney – Building, Demolition & Infrastructure and Commercial & Industrial.
Their clients range from Tier 1 Construction and Government to Hospitality, Retail, Manufacturing, Medical & Industrial Premises with a portfolio that consists of partnerships across major projects such as Sydney Light Rail, Central Station upgrade, Sydenham Station, Hornsby Hospital and the new Sydney Zoo.
About Ondacomms
Ondacomms is a wireless communications company based in Sydney, supplying quality products and software solutions to all industries. It specialises in two-way radio, PoC solutions and offers full duplex communications solutions. Ondacomms is an approved reseller of Vertel.
About Vertel
Vertel is a wholly-owned, Australian national telecommunications carrier with over 40 years’ experience and have built a reputation as fixed and mobile critical network experts. With a broad range of fixed and mobile network and cloud services, underpinned by excellence in delivery and on-going operations, we specialise in serving customers with high availability, performance, management and security requirements for business, mission and life-critical operations.