Emergency back up line provision for vunerable customers

[Matt4566]

Hello,

I want to switch my Mum from Virgin to Sky due to the upcoming price hikes. As part of her current Virgin package she has an emergency back up line (EBUL) which allows for emergency calls in the event of a power cut.

Do Sky offer the same? She also has a telecare box linked to a button she presses on her wrist if she has a fall or needs help. Recently the Telecare provider updated this so it no longer has any link to the broadband. Instead it uses 2 SIM cards. 

When I recently started the online process to switch her the question was asked about a telecare box and if you answer yes it gives you a number to call for an assisted journey. However this number didn't connect to any specialist team. Just took me through the usual Sky menu options.

So in summary (and apologies for the length) can my Mum have Sky and have 

• An emergency back up line
• Is thr telecare box now not an issue as it uses SIM cards and is not connected to the broadband

Thank you 

Matt4566

[Mark39]

---

@Matt4566 wrote:

So in summary (and apologies for the length) can my Mum have Sky and have 

• An emergency back up line
• Is thr telecare box now not an issue as it uses SIM cards and is not connected to the broadband

---

Sky don't currently have provision for an emergency backup in the event of failure. I'm not sure that any other provider using the Openreach infrastructure does either, with the possible exception of BT. At the moment your Mum would need,to provide her own alternative, perhaps a PAYG mobile, if the signal is OK.

The Telecare box would only be an issue if it required a connection to the phone line, a) because of the failure implications and b) possible compatibility issues.

Sky used to switch customers with Telecare devices etc to standard lines, rather than lines with internet calls, but I'm not sure that's an option any longer.

[Matt4566]

Thank you for the reply. Really appreciated. I  believe the telecare device is no longer an issue as it is not connected to the phone line in any way. However I will need to give careful consideration  to switching as I'm.not sure I want her to rely on rhe mobile for an emergency situation.

[TimmyBGood]

@Matt4566 

Virgin can continue to deliver emergency power to customer addresses over its own private coaxial cable network if it chooses to do so.  Sky uses the national Openreach network: all exchange power over that is due to cease in 2025 alongside the disappearance of analogue PSTN telephony, and in addition, power delivery over purely optical cable is a physical impossibility.

Ofcom does require telcos to identify and 'have a solution' for vulnerable subscribers: so far none of these are particularly convincing....

[TimmyBGood]

@Matt4566 

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/12/solutions-for-battery-backup-of-fibre-broadband-and-vo... 

https://newsroom.bt.com/were-expanding-our-trials-of-digital-voice-for-customers/ 

[cymru123]

@TimmyBGood 

FYI Virgin Media and now a few other (soon BT) refer to a backup line which is actually a handset that will use the mobile network when the main connection is down. 

 Here's Virgin's Emergency Backup Line devices:

[TimmyBGood]

@cymru123 

Which is fine as long as its (very limited) battery lasts, and completely useless after that.  BT paused their Digital Voice rollout after the named storms of February 2022 brought power outages of up to a week, but as I said there's really no good solution.

https://newsroom.bt.com/were-pausing-our-digital-voice-plans-for-consumers-while-we-work-on-a-more-r... 

[cymru123]

@TimmyBGood 

As of this this month BT are restarting their own mass migration to their own VOIP service (now in phases)

https://newsroom.bt.com/were-expanding-our-trials-of-digital-voice-for-customers/

Also remember from September 5th the nationwide stop sell of PSTN comes into force.

There's good resources on tests of different battery solutions linked out from http://landlinesgo.digital/powercut 

[Matt4566]

Thank you to everyone who has taken time to reply. Apologies I haven't been on this forum for a while

[IHateSteps]

I too am a user of a home alarm/pendant system and the question of emergency line alternatives has been quite a challenging one.  I was kind of confused to see Sky still rolling our DV even though most other providers had paused it. 

The key question is one both of technology and expectation.  A battery-backup unit is only good to keep your sky router (and local wired phone working).  That a power outage which required the use of the BBU would also take out the street cabinets (which are not battery powered, unlike the old BT boxes) has escaped many.

My provider is gradually shifting away from fixed line to 4g mobile network systems, avoiding much of the potential infrastructure failure.

The main question is, however, is what services are 'assured' by the ISP backup solutions?  My reading says 999, 101 and 111 only.  For those of us with pendant alarms, our requirements for emergency calls are rarely for 999 services - more likely our calls will range from 'fallen over' to 'I need my carer' or anything in between.

The community alarm companies are built around connecting disabled/elderly people with difficulties with the right person on their prevoiously designated list of emergency contacts.  They do it well.  The 999 operator would NOT do this well.

[cymru123]

@IHateSteps the switch to Digital landlines and moving off PSTN was never actually paused. It was just BT Consumer's mass migration program that they decided to pause, they continued to move customers during this "pause" that were on full fibre or new customers. Each provider is running their own migration programme to move their customers off the current PSTN that is closing.

As for telecare/alarm pendents the telecare industry has been closely working with the telecom industry on the switch to digital landlines (Internet Calls/Digital Voice/VoIP...)

The telecare industry association recommends reaching out to your telecare alarm provider. They should ensure their service is compatible with digital landlines and also recommend to have a secondary path for the unit it alert the monitoring centre such as via mobile network.

[IHateSteps]

Of course when I reached out to my provider, the lovely lady in the call centre did not have a single clue as to what I mean by 'Digital Voice' and was even more confused when I explained using terms like fibre optice connection, VOIP, adapters, etc.  Even the engineer who kindly called me back was rather 'in the dark'.

That being said, for those of use (still barely, 48 hours and counting) with Virginmedia lines, we'd all been bulk-migrated in the thousand to the Virgin version of DV which is, I understand, from the consumer perspective the same solution.  Our devices all continued to work without problem.

What I would caution for those people who retain anallogue lines for now, is that all exsting analogue line suppliers will ultimately do what VM did.  I was forcibly migrated with everyone else, despite promises to the contrary.  In such circumstances there is much warning, but little (qualified) support on the day, and no way to back out should our devices not work.

Be warned.

[cymru123]

OFCOM and the WLR/PSTN withdrawal working group expects providers and various industries and associated bodies  to understand their customers needs and to be prepared for this nationwide digital landline switch over.

If what you are saying that Sky (who I think you are referring to or even your telecare health alarm provider) is not aware of the switch to digital landlines then this needs to be reported to OFCOM the governing body: https://ofcom.in/CCTmonitoring 

There's a wealth of information being provided along with working groups to providers and industries on the matter. Openreach and Virgin Media O2 to name a few of the infrastructure providers have also been working on managed installs to help those that need it. It just needs the communication provider to utilise that offering.

As for end users and customer have a read of https://landlinesgo.digital which details what to expect and what help and support you should receive from your provider while you are being switched.

It's advised to start the conversations with your communication provider and any supplier of equipment that is vital to you, such as telecare alarms and burglar alarms, that uses the traditional phone line today so you and them are prepared for when the switch happens.

From September 5th 2023 a nationwide stop sell of traditional phone voice services comes into force so any new supply,e.g changing providers, or changes to your current package will also mean you will need to move to a digital landline (Internet Calls/Digital Voice/VOIP...) as from that date no new PSTN services can be offered. Also after September 5th providers will be ramping up their migration of current customers off the PSTN.

[TimmyBGood]

---

@IHateSteps wrote:

Of course when I reached out to my provider, the lovely lady in the call centre did not have a single clue as to what I mean by 'Digital Voice'

---

Perhaps it's better to use terminology such as 'voice calling after analogue phone service switch off'

The problem with 'Digital Voice' is that some providers (BT in particular) are using it as a product brand name.