VOIP arrangements for vulnerable customers.

[RichardCoulter]

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.

On the Telecare (pendant) service, if contact is lost with the landline, an alert is raised at the monitoring centre, who then contact the emergency contact - I would imagine it’s the same process with VOIP.

(My 90 year old mother-in-law has the pendant/Telecare system).

[Matthew]

I would suspect a battery backup of kinds had to be installed. I saw a BT Fibre install that came with a battery when a landline was run over the fibre too.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Hugh

On the Telecare (pendant) service, if contact is lost with the landline, an alert is raised at the monitoring centre, who then contact the emergency contact - I would imagine it’s the same process with VOIP.

(My 90 year old mother-in-law has the pendant/Telecare system).

I wonder what would happen if all service users were on VOIP and it went down. Would they realise it was a technical problem and ignore it or would they take no chances and contact hundreds of people? I would hope the latter!

---------- Post added at 11:59 ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 ----------

Originally Posted by Matthew

I would suspect a battery backup of kinds had to be installed. I saw a BT Fibre install that came with a battery when a landline was run over the fibre too.

That covers the issue of the customers power goimg off, but what about if it was VM who had lost their power supply? Also, this wouldnt help if it was the broadband that had gone down.

I fear that someone could eventually lose their life over this and all because businesses like it because it's cheaper to run.

[jfman]

It’ll end up like the airlines. They fly around knowing that every once in a while there will be a failure and the insurance companies cover the compensation when the worst happens. It’s not cost effective to maintain the old network for such a small number.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by jfman

It’ll end up like the airlines. They fly around knowing that every once in a while there will be a failure and the insurance companies cover the compensation when the worst happens. It’s not cost effective to maintain the old network for such a small number.

Exactly. It looks to me as though they are prepared to put profit before lives/discomfort.

[BenMcr]

Currently there is a battery back up unit that sits in between the Hub and the landline handset for those customers that need it. The need for this is identified during any conversation for a customer in an area where their phone will be provided via the Hub - including during the online ordering process.

If the power goes down to the Hub for any reason this will allow calls to the emergency services via the mobile phone network from the landline handset.

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Exactly. It looks to me as though they are prepared to put profit before lives/discomfort.

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Currently there is a battery back up unit that sits in between the Hub and your normal handset for those customers that need it. This is identified during any conversation for a customer in an area where their phone will be provided via the Hub - including during the online ordering process.

If the power goes down to the Hub for any reason this will allow calls to the emergency services via the mobile phone network

So, no...

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Currently there is a battery back up unit that sits in between the Hub and the landline handset for those customers that need it. The need for this is identified during any conversation for a customer in an area where their phone will be provided via the Hub - including during the online ordering process.

If the power goes down to the Hub for any reason this will allow calls to the emergency services via the mobile phone network from the landline handset.

Many thanks Ben, this is the reassurance that I was looking for. Will this back up system also kick in if the broadband goes down too?

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Will this back up system also kick in if the broadband goes down too?

No. That's a separate issue.

The backup units are there to replicate the current phone availability to contact the emergency services where there is a power loss. They don't (and can't) guarantee there won't be a fault of some description for services provided via the Hub.

However due to the way the phone service works via the Hub, the line can work even where there is separate fault with access to the internet. That's obviously dependent on what the fault is.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

No. That's a separate issue.

The backup units are there to replicate the current phone availability to contact the emergency services where there is a power loss. They don't (and can't) guarantee there won't be a fault of some description for services provided via the Hub.

However due to the way the phone service works via the Hub, the line can work even where there is separate fault with access to the internet. That's obviously dependent on what the fault is.

Thanks for explaining. So if I or VM lose their power supply the battery backup should sort it out, but if the BB goes down it might work anyway depending upon what the fault is. Have I got that right?

Do you know when VM are likely to roll this out to existing customers?

[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

So if I or VM lose their power supply the battery backup should sort it out, but if the BB goes down it might work anyway depending upon what the fault is. Have I got that right?

Yes, pretty much.

Do you know when VM are likely to roll this out to existing customers?

Nope

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Yes, pretty much.
Nope

Thanks, I feel a lot better about it now

[BenMcr]

Actually I need to correct myself on the above - in a good way for customers.

I've just double checked how it works, and some network faults outside of a direct power loss will also trigger the backup unit too.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Actually I need to correct myself on the above - in a good way for customers.

I've just double checked how it works, and some network faults outside of a direct power loss will also trigger the backup unit too.

Thanks once again for taking the time to look into this.