Cable Forum - View Single Post - VOIP arrangements for vulnerable customers.

RichardCoulter · 03-02-2019, 20:23

I believe that some new customers now have to have VOIP instead of a landline delivered by traditional methods and that, eventually, everyone else will be converted to the new system too.

A thread about scam phone calls brought up the question of what happens if either power or broadband go down and the phone is needed for an emergency.

After looking on the VM website, it does say that there are measures to ensure that vulnerable customers can continue to use VOIP should the service go down. Does anyone know what this is? It doesn't go into any detail on their website and the VM Community Forum has a post where a customer thinks that a battery is supplied in case the power goes off and some kind of system where the mobile phone service can be linked to the VOIP phone in order to make 999 calls.

One person rang them and was offered a second landline as a back up (with extra line rental to pay), but was told that this too would be VOIP, so would be completely useless! I called them myself earlier today and was told that "as a registered vulnerable customer, they would do everything possible to get my landline back on again, be it VOIP or otherwise". He had no idea about the arrangements to make VOIP work when the power and/or the internet was down.

My worry is that, after VOIP is installed I could be in a position where I would be unable to ring the emergency services. I assume that it's not just VM that are doing this, so changung supplier would be fruitless.

Will we still be charged line rental? I assume that VM won't want to lose this income, but it does seem unfair that we are already paying for the maintenance of the broadband service.

I do have a mobile phone that I may be able to use, but these can go faulty (as mine is at the moment) and, particularly when i'm very unwell, it sometimes runs out of power. I know that I would be able to use it by plugging it into the power supply, but it's all extra time, particularly if i'm panicking and on my own in the house if anything happens. Also, I couldn't do this if the problem was that the power has gone off in my own home.

Many disabled or elderly people use a pendant that's put round their neck to alert social services, but these work via the landline connection!

I'm just lookimg for reassurance really that I won't be left high and dry.

03-02-2019, 20:23	#1
RichardCoulter cf.mega poster Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 10,719	VOIP arrangements for vulnerable customers. I believe that some new customers now have to have VOIP instead of a landline delivered by traditional methods and that, eventually, everyone else will be converted to the new system too. A thread about scam phone calls brought up the question of what happens if either power or broadband go down and the phone is needed for an emergency. After looking on the VM website, it does say that there are measures to ensure that vulnerable customers can continue to use VOIP should the service go down. Does anyone know what this is? It doesn't go into any detail on their website and the VM Community Forum has a post where a customer thinks that a battery is supplied in case the power goes off and some kind of system where the mobile phone service can be linked to the VOIP phone in order to make 999 calls. One person rang them and was offered a second landline as a back up (with extra line rental to pay), but was told that this too would be VOIP, so would be completely useless! I called them myself earlier today and was told that "as a registered vulnerable customer, they would do everything possible to get my landline back on again, be it VOIP or otherwise". He had no idea about the arrangements to make VOIP work when the power and/or the internet was down. My worry is that, after VOIP is installed I could be in a position where I would be unable to ring the emergency services. I assume that it's not just VM that are doing this, so changung supplier would be fruitless. Will we still be charged line rental? I assume that VM won't want to lose this income, but it does seem unfair that we are already paying for the maintenance of the broadband service. I do have a mobile phone that I may be able to use, but these can go faulty (as mine is at the moment) and, particularly when i'm very unwell, it sometimes runs out of power. I know that I would be able to use it by plugging it into the power supply, but it's all extra time, particularly if i'm panicking and on my own in the house if anything happens. Also, I couldn't do this if the problem was that the power has gone off in my own home. Many disabled or elderly people use a pendant that's put round their neck to alert social services, but these work via the landline connection! I'm just lookimg for reassurance really that I won't be left high and dry.