AZVendor Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 The integrated data collection in the Media machines uses the same Crane backoffice that their add-on card readers use. They just also have the ability to communicate with other Media machines in the same room and then send the data over one shared cell connection. This uses LAN technology like the Mars Easitrax units have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 I'm just interested that someone is doing it. Hopefully USAT will follow suit and offer a similar solution so that we can save money. I have had the idea of using an HR-40 with a slaved satellite CB-300 so I can install one reader to vend both products. I can't see why it wouldn't work, and it would be a great idea to allow us to have an option of slaving equipment like that in some way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZVendor Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 You will only need one card reader for any pair of slaved machines because they will both run off of the single logic board in the snack (master). This is really advantageous with slaved machines like the AP frozen slaved to a snack. There used to also be an ability to slave an AP non-coinage snack to a Bevmax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paveitall Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 To answer your question I pay one monthly fee of $12.95/mo for machines that are connected (meshed). So an example of this is at one of my locations I have two snack machines on opposite ends for the facility (separated by approx. 200'). I pay one monthly connection fee of $12.95 and get telemetry and CC service on both. I also pay a 5% transaction fee on CC sales. I think my USAT accounts I pay $9.95/Mo and the is a scale for the transaction fees (lower price Higher Fee). In the end I think the costs basically wash in most cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paveitall Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 I'm curious AZ, what issues have you had with the support? I have had to call them once on an issue I was having and they were very attentive and followed up with me twice to make sure the issue was resolved. We also had an outage earlier this week (first one I can remember), within 30 minutes of the unexpected service outage we had a email from Streamware explaining the issue, service was restored within an hour. Maybe I haven't had to call them enough to have any bad experiences. USAT I have had very few issues with as well and there service is great, but I really don't like there reports. If I had to chose one provider it would be Crane/Streamware hands down, just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchligVend Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 I'm curious AZ, what issues have you had with the support? I have had to call them once on an issue I was having and they were very attentive and followed up with me twice to make sure the issue was resolved. We also had an outage earlier this week (first one I can remember), within 30 minutes of the unexpected service outage we had a email from Streamware explaining the issue, service was restored within an hour. Maybe I haven't had to call them enough to have any bad experiences. USAT I have had very few issues with as well and there service is great, but I really don't like there reports. If I had to chose one provider it would be Crane/Streamware hands down, just my opinion. Crane/Streamware I believe has a different department for each and every different device they offer, In your case the media machine has a much better support team then they do with other devices like the standalone "navigator" which I was using, in my case the services that were promised with the navigator were not given to me and streamware explained to me it was a problem on their end and they did not have any timeframe when it will be fixed, I setup these devices in june and still the issue has not be resolved nor anyone has tried to call and help even after at least 20 or so emails to every email I could find and about 15 phone calls most of those attempted contacts still have not been replied to. and if you need tech support after 2pm pacific time to bad they wont answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paveitall Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Well that's seems crappy, I don't have any experience with the Navigators. Crane is really pushing the integrated cashless, attached is an attachment to an email I received from them this AM (for those of you that have not seen the Media Bevmax and snack machines). The one thing about Crane that has really upset me is the Curenza line of bill acceptors and coin mechs, after having them in several machines I have realized that they totally suck. The last two machines I ordered I had them install MEI equipment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 To answer your question I pay one monthly fee of $12.95/mo for machines that are connected (meshed). So an example of this is at one of my locations I have two snack machines on opposite ends for the facility (separated by approx. 200'). I pay one monthly connection fee of $12.95 and get telemetry and CC service on both. I also pay a 5% transaction fee on CC sales. Is there a delay in processing credit card payments on your meshed machine? I would guess that it would take a little bit longer as there would be an extra step in the process for the meshed machine to have to communicate to the connected machine.. I was also wondering what happens when two credit card payments are made at the same time? Is it possible for both payments to be processed together or does the connected machine override the payment coming from the meshed machine.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonkw Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Well that's seems crappy, I don't have any experience with the Navigators. Crane is really pushing the integrated cashless, attached is an attachment to an email I received from them this AM (for those of you that have not seen the Media Bevmax and snack machines). The one thing about Crane that has really upset me is the Curenza line of bill acceptors and coin mechs, after having them in several machines I have realized that they totally suck. The last two machines I ordered I had them install MEI equipment Just curious -what do you find wrong with the currenza line? I've never had a problem with either the NRI mech or Cashcode validator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paveitall Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 I haven't noticed any delay in processing from the meshed machine, I think the communication is so fast there isn't a noticeable delay. Yes there a delay in processing simultaneous transactions, but its a matter of two seconds. I was curious about this same this so we tried it, the initial transaction is processed first (doesn't matter which machine), the second is put in a queue and processed as soon as the initial transaction is completed. You really wouldn't notice but their is a minor delay of 2-3 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paveitall Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Just curious -what do you find wrong with the currenza line? I've never had a problem with either the NRI mech or Cashcode validator. The majority of issues I have experienced is with the bill acceptor. I really think its due to the speed of which they accept the bills (it sucks it out of your hand at light speed), I have had noting but problems with them at high volume locations. Another issue is if the bill is slightly damp it will get jammed again I think due to the speed at which it sucks the bill in. I replaced them with MEI and haven't had any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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