INSTALLATION GUIDE — FOR VENUE OPERATORS

Site requirements for a fixed-price installation

What your site needs to have in place before we can install a Recorder Unit and give you a fixed, guaranteed price

Overview

We can offer a fixed, guaranteed price for professional installation when your site meets the three requirements below before our installer arrives. If your site doesn't meet them, we can still install — but pricing will be based on a site survey rather than fixed in advance.

The three requirements

1. Power — a 13A mains socket within 1 metre of the installation location.
2. Network — an RJ45 network socket within 1 metre of the installation location.
3. Audio — the installation location within 1 metre of your PA amplifier or audio mixer, or a PA speaker if you're using the microphone route.

All three need to be reachable from the same spot — see Mounting & security below for what that location itself needs to offer.

Power supply

The socket needs to carry a stable, continuous supply — not on a switch, a timer, or shared with equipment that's regularly turned off.

Power cuts are outside our control. Our equipment resumes automatically as soon as power is restored after an outage, but we can't be held responsible for any announcements missed during a power cut at your site.

Network connectivity

A wired RJ45 connection is strongly preferred. Wi-Fi is accepted as a fallback, but it must be a private, secured network with a reliably strong signal at the installation location — not public or guest Wi-Fi.

Minimum speeds: 1Mbps upload and download, with a ping (latency) of 100ms or less.

Brief outages are fine — total loss is outside our control. Short connectivity gaps of two to three minutes, such as a train passing through a tunnel, are expected and accepted. We can't broadcast announcements during a total loss of connectivity, and your visitors should be aware of that.

We strongly recommend — though don't require — that our equipment sits on its own VLAN, separate from your other devices, for your own network security.

Audio

The installation location needs to be within 1 metre of your PA amplifier or audio mixer — or, if you're using the microphone fallback route, within 1 metre of a PA speaker instead (see our Connecting the Recorder Unit to a PA System guide for more on each connection type).

We only capture what reaches your connection point. Whether we connect at your mixer, your amplifier, or via a microphone near a speaker, we can only pick up announcements that reach that point. Any audio source added further downstream — after a mixer, for example — won't be captured.

Mounting & security

The installation location needs to be secure against tampering or accidental damage — not in a high-traffic area, and ideally inside a locked network cabinet, a covered enclosure, or on a secure shelf.

Our equipment is generally wall- or shelf-mounted using two screws; please make sure that fixing area is available and accessible.

Outdoor installations

All of the above still applies outdoors: the same power, network and security requirements need to be met, and the installation location still needs to be within 1 metre of a PA speaker.

If you're using the microphone fallback route (the least preferable of our connection options), the PA speaker itself needs to be positioned outside conversational range of anyone nearby, so the microphone only picks up announcements, not passers-by.

Mobile installations — trains, buses & boats

For installations in a moving vehicle, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons are mandatory in every carriage or section — sometimes two per carriage, depending on its size and layout. See pricing for BLE Beacon costs.

Other things worth knowing

• Please keep the power circuit permanently live — not controlled by a wall switch, a timer, or shared with equipment that's regularly turned off.
• If your network uses a firewall, please allow outbound connectivity for the Recorder Unit — we'll confirm the exact ports and destinations before installation.
• Please have a technical contact available on the day of installation, and make sure our installer can access the site and the installation location at the agreed time.
• If your network setup changes after installation — a new Wi-Fi password, a replaced router, new firewall rules — please let us know. Reconnecting the Recorder Unit after an unannounced change may fall outside standard support.

If your site doesn't meet these requirements

That's alright — we can still install professionally. We'll carry out a site survey first, and pricing will be based on what that survey finds rather than fixed in advance.

Important This page summarises the practical conditions for a fixed-price installation. It doesn't replace our full installation terms and conditions.