High speed fibre optic broadband rollout & landline phone services for the elderly

Kemet

Having spent the whole of yesterday on and off the phone to Virgin  Media, I felt it was important that I let people know of potential problems to anyone with elderly friends/neighbours/relatives who rely on their landline but do not have an internet connection.

I got in touch with Virgin (finally) as my parent's have had interruption to their landline since the beginning of the year when this upgrade was first rolled out.
It leaves them with no phone contact when both have had doctors and hospital calls scheduled.

Age UK warns " Because the new system runs off the internet, you won’t be able to make calls without an internet connection at home".

I don't believe that this has been publicised enough and is impossible for those without internet access to organise alone.
It has left me deflated as my parents are both vulnerable, the costs have increased and all for a service which they haven't asked for but is an upgrade by the provider.

KxMx

Are you referring to Digital Voice? This is happening nationally over the next few years, it isn't just Virgin Media. 

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/broadband/article/digital-voice-and-the-landline-phone-switch-off-what-it-means-for-you-aPSOH8k1i6Vv

Did Virgin give your parents warning of what was going to happen and what they needed to do? 

littleboo

"Age UK warns " Because the new system runs off the internet, you won’t be able to make calls without an internet connection at home".

Just quoting part of the paragraph isn't very helpful. The second part of that paragraph clarifies the position better by saying:

"If you already have broadband, you can use that. If not and you don’t want a high-speed internet connection, you should be given the option to use a simple internet connection just for making calls."

If you don't want an internet service,  just a phone service, then the fact that a data connection will provided for the service to run over is largely irrelevant to the customer. They don't need to understand how it works, just as they probably don't understand how the current PSTN works. The part that is important is that local power is required for it to work, and it wont work in a power cut unless some sort of UPS is provided either by the service provider or the customer.

Robin9

@Kemet - do your parents use a mobile ?

As @littleboo   Have your parents been given a "simple internet" option ?

Kemet

Thanks for your reply, we are looking into it for them and yes, mum has a mobile but we want to cause her  as little stress as possible.

Kemet

In reply to KxMx;

"Did Virgin give your parents warning of what was going to happen and what they needed to do?"
No! They did not. 

littleboo

Robin9 said:

@Kemet - do your parents use a mobile ?

As @littleboo   Have your parents been given a "simple internet" option ?

My parents are not on full fibre so still have a copper pair, but even in the absence of full fibre they will migrate to VOIP as part of the PSTN closure 

southsidergs

Kemet said:

In reply to KxMx;

"Did Virgin give your parents warning of what was going to happen and what they needed to do?"
No! They did not. 

That is actually impossible, are you sure there wasn't something sent/told which was ignored as they didn't understand?

MalMonroe

Kemet said:

Having spent the whole of yesterday on and off the phone to Virgin  Media, I felt it was important that I let people know of potential problems to anyone with elderly friends/neighbours/relatives who rely on their landline but do not have an internet connection.

I got in touch with Virgin (finally) as my parent's have had interruption to their landline since the beginning of the year when this upgrade was first rolled out.
It leaves them with no phone contact when both have had doctors and hospital calls scheduled.

Age UK warns " Because the new system runs off the internet, you won’t be able to make calls without an internet connection at home".

I don't believe that this has been publicised enough and is impossible for those without internet access to organise alone.
It has left me deflated as my parents are both vulnerable, the costs have increased and all for a service which they haven't asked for but is an upgrade by the provider.

Excuse me but I'm what may be termed 'elderly' and I resent the implication, nay assurance, that we don't understand technology, or that we may not have or want internet connections. As someone in my 70s with many friends of the same age, I have to say that we are all internet savvy and we can manage our own broadband/landline deals/packages/whatever. Some people may, of course, be vulnerable but not all of us. Just as with the younger generations. 

I think we, as a nation, do have to try to come to terms with the fact that elderly people are just as (and in some cases more) capable as anyone else. I have two younger friends in their 50s who have both separately declared war on IT and won't have anything to do with it. Which is a shame as it stunts their connectivity.

Doesn't Virgin still offer a service for vulnerable customers, as BT does and if so, why haven't they offered that to your parents?

Can't your parents just leave and go elsewhere, since the service they originally signed up for is no longer being provided and they are being totally inconvenienced by Virgin?

Stuart_W

Any landline-only customers on the PSTN can still be landline-only customers when the PSTN is turned off. The "end-user" doesn't need to be too concerned about what background changes to the technology that allows them to make a phone call might happen. Some people are getting confused into thinking they must take a high speed broadband package.

The below website explains everything quite clearly. A landline only customer will be contacted when their local PSTN exchange is about to be converted, and will be able to keep their existing number, and most likely their existing phone (a conversion device may be required if the phone is particularly old) but the service provider is required to liase with the customer. An engineer visit may be required to reconnect a wall socket, or a small basic router may be provided to plug the phone in to, and a back up power supply (battery) may be offered if the customer has no mobile phone. 

If Virgin are not interested in continuing to supply landline only, as I don't think they are under and obligation to, BT and Direct Save Telecom are two companies that are taking on landline only customers.

Home Phone Users – Future of Voice – Homepage

   

Kemet

OK everyone , I feel I need to explain my original post in more detail.

Firstly it was not my intention to insult anyone.
My parents are in their mid and late eighties and while my mother is otherwise fit she has cancer and is vulnerable, dad has heart, breathing and mobility issues and so is likewise.

I only posted to make other people (who don't already know), about possible implications.

We were only aware of problems when mum and dad's landline kept going dead and when we looked it up it said engineering was taking place in their area.

We did not realise that this meant they needed to install internet to receive landline services as, from all the paperwork I have seen, they were not made aware.

Mum has a mobile phone which she only uses to make calls or send texts and the whole idea is to cause both of my parents as little stress as possible.

Thank you for everyone who tried to advise me but I don't think I'll post again as I seems to have upset some.