A mobile button device (10) comprises a call button (12), a local wireless link (20) to a communicator (30), and a cellular connection (22). The mobile button device is programmed to perform an alarm reporting method including: originating an alarm by sending the alarm via the local wireless link to the communicator for alarm reporting by the communicator; after sending the alarm to the communicator, monitoring alarm reporting status via the local wireless link to the communicator; and reporting the alarm via the cellular connection in response to the monitoring determining that the communicator failed to report the alarm. For example, the monitoring may include polling the communicator via the local wireless link and the monitoring determines that the communicator failed to report the alarm if the polling indicates the communicator is unavailable (70) or a timeout condition (72) is reached.