BT halts removal of landline phones following customer backlash
Telecoms firms want to move all 29 million UK homes off the old copper landline.
JCS
BT halts removal of landline phones following customer backlash
- Thread starter jcampbellsmith
- Start date
JCS
They also freely admitted that in the event of power outage or broadband failure (as during the recent storms which left large swathes of NE Scotland without power for days) you would be unable to make any calls including 999! Great plan
shakey jake
Well-Known Member
at some point people have to move on
long_range_rob
Well-Known Member
The exchange’s are all at least 40 years old and spares are like rocking horse poo. So long as everyone is prepared to pay ever increasing line rentals to cover propping up this ancient technology then so be it.
FYI apart from mobiles this is the only phone in my house and I can make it work with an IP analogue adaptor.
FYI apart from mobiles this is the only phone in my house and I can make it work with an IP analogue adaptor.
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I decided to do that four months ago. £70 including the telephone adaptor and transferring my BT number to Sipgate, which paid for itself in the first two months. Mainly use my mobile anyway and so far calls via Sipgate have cost £1 per month. BT was just a ripoff given technology has moved on.
Sheesh, I don’t think anyone has my landline number. Just had it because it came with the internet.
We had a nightmare with mum's Careline when the Gigaclear optical network was installed in the village...both the local authority and Gigaclear said the careline would work, but it didn't.
I had to buy a GSM base unit and SIM and it ran over the mobile / GSM network...then the local council changed provider and we had a new box installed which did work with VOIP for a year...then they changed monitoring provider again. I didn't hear that they had changed for a month, as soon as I did I tried a test call and it failed to work...the council and new provider tried to reprogram it and couldn't, and so they rushed around and provided another GSM base unit (wouldn't use the one I had paid £150 for
) Luckily they got it sorted because three days after it was delivered and I set it up, mum had a fall and broke her hip and used it to get help.The council have changed monitoring provider yet again, and we are now actually with Tunstall who make a lot of the Careline land line units...but even they could not get their latest unit to work with VOIP so we now have our third GSM unit, this time one made by Tunstall.
I got fed up with it, and at one point tried to put her back onto copper landline, but was told for some reason you can't transfer your old number back to landline once it has been assigned to VOIP.
Pah!
Alan
paul o'
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear that mty .
One of my hats within palliative care is to install Tunstall monitored by careline falls ,help ,panic, door ,bed oh so many devices within the home . Within our Council this service is free! I know the away from home sim gsm falls and help are at a charge but i'd say what price is peace of mind for a loved one.
Number porting is just like drinking it should be that easy .
One of my hats within palliative care is to install Tunstall monitored by careline falls ,help ,panic, door ,bed oh so many devices within the home . Within our Council this service is free! I know the away from home sim gsm falls and help are at a charge but i'd say what price is peace of mind for a loved one.
Number porting is just like drinking it should be that easy .
Whitefront
Well-Known Member
BT - as well as some members of this forum - seem to have completely underestimated the number of rural homes that have no mobile signal. The company should never have been allowed by Ofcom to ditch its service obligation. Where I live, there is no signal unless you climb a hill half a mile away. None of my neighbours (one of whom is aged 88) has a signal. And we have powercuts every few weeks in winter.
Ofcom states: "We consider that all landline customers that do not have an alternative means of contacting emergency organisations in a power outage at the home should be offered a solution that allows them to do so. Individuals that live in mobile not-spots will have no alternative means of contacting the emergency services during a power outage and therefore we consider that they should be eligible for a free protection solution."
Well, BT talk about a one hour battery back-up, but they won't actually give you one unless you can prove vulnerability via a GP's letter (cost: £20).
Ofcom states: "We consider that all landline customers that do not have an alternative means of contacting emergency organisations in a power outage at the home should be offered a solution that allows them to do so. Individuals that live in mobile not-spots will have no alternative means of contacting the emergency services during a power outage and therefore we consider that they should be eligible for a free protection solution."
Well, BT talk about a one hour battery back-up, but they won't actually give you one unless you can prove vulnerability via a GP's letter (cost: £20).
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Whitefront
Well-Known Member
Storm Arwen: Why power cuts left people unable to phone for help
People with new digital phone lines were unable to call for help during the Storm Arwen power cuts.
www.bbc.co.uk
It is certainly a brilliant system...it enables mum to stay in her own home. She has needed it every three or four months for the last three years. They called me last week to go over and pick her up, but they also called the ambulance because she had told them she had hit her head on the way down...she was okay, so I picked her up and after being checked over by my SRN sister we cancelled the ambulance because they weren't going to get there for 7 hours.
I hasten to add that when she has actually needed it in emergency, the ambulance service has been brilliant, we ended up with three outside the house for various logistical reasons last year!
The photo shows the now defunct telephone kiosk...no telephone in it any more...but it still has power for the light coming over the Landline copper...and there is now the village defibrillator installed within it.
Alan
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