4 minute read
You may have heard about the digital telephone switchover in the media. BT has announced that by 2027 all analogue telephone lines will be upgraded to the new ‘Digital Voice’ service.
These digital lines will use the internet to carry telephone calls, similar to how services such as Skype and Zoom work. You can find out more about how this will affect your telephone landline by contacting your telephone provider e.g. BT, Virgin, EE, Sky or on the Ofcom website.
The digital telephone switchover is happening due to increasing demand for faster networks and connectivity and will create a network fit for today’s demands. The upgrades will create opportunities for new and exciting services in the future.
If you have one of the following digital personal alarms, you won't need to do anything because they do not use a telephone line:
If you have a personal alarm that connects to a telephone socket
You should retain your analogue line and ask your telephone provider to exclude your telephone line from the upgrade. This is the recommendation after the major telephone providers signed the Government's Public Switched Telephone Network charter.
If you have already been upgraded to a digital phone line
Taking Care recommend you upgrade to a digital personal alarm. Digital personal alarms are unaffected by the switchover because they do not use a telephone landline. Instead, digital personal alarms have a roaming multi-network SIM that will automatically switch to the strongest available mobile network.
In some instances, your analogue landline personal alarm may work on a digital phone line but this should be considered an interim measure and you may need an adapter called an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA).
The switchover to digital telephone lines will not happen all at once. When a region has gone through the digital telephone switchover process, BT and other providers will provide a Home Hub that will be equipped with an adapter called an Analogue Telephone Adapter.
The Analogue Telephone Adapter is designed so that you can continue to use your existing telephone equipment by plugging it into the back of the Home Hub.
Most personal alarms that use a telephone landline will likely not work on the new digital system without one of these adapters because older analogue equipment is not compatible with the digital lines.
Read on for further information about how you may be impacted if you want to keep an analogue alarm and the options available to you..
One impact of digital lines will be a lack of power backup in an outage. Currently with the analogue network, if there is a power cut, your telephone line is generally unaffected, and your landline personal alarm unit will have a battery backup so that you can make an emergency call if needed.
With digital lines, all calls will go through a Home Hub which is connected to the mains power. If there is no power, no call will be able to go through.
Even though your landline personal alarm unit has a built-in battery backup, you will still not be able to contact the Emergency Response Team as the alarm unit would be connected to the Home Hub, which would not be able to make or receive calls over the digital line during a power outage.
Digital Personal Alarms are unaffected by power cuts because they do not connect to the telephone network and if they have a base unit, this will have a built-in battery backup.
Telephone landline customers who are considered vulnerable should ask their telephone provider to be excluded from the upgrade and continue to use their existing equipment. However, this should not be considered a long-term solution as analogue telephone lines will no longer be maintained after 2027.
The best and most reliable solution will be to change your personal alarm to a digital model. Taking Care have a range of devices that are fully digital and do not require a telephone landline:
These devices operate using a multi-network SIM, similar to how a mobile phone works.
If you would like to find out more about changing your personal alarm equipment, and to find out which digital device would best suit your lifestyle, please call Taking Care on 0800 085 8032, Monday – Friday, 8am – 6pm, who will be happy to answer any questions you have.
Age Co Personal Alarms are provided by Taking Care (PPP Taking Care Limited). AgeCo Limited is a trading subsidiary of Age UK (registered charity no. 1128267). AgeCo Limited donates its net profit to Age UK. AgeCo Limited registered office: One America Square, 17 Crosswall, London, EC3N 2LB (registered in England and Wales, no. 03156159). Taking Care is the trading name and brand of PPP Taking Care Limited, a subsidiary of AXA Health. Registered Address: 20 Gracechurch Street, London, EC3V 0BG. Company Registration Number: 01488490 | Registered VAT Number: 243 6741 60
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