Ability to make emergency calls

iniltous

Contemplation said:

When I say poor mobile signal I mean all networks. I need a landline alternative, but didn't want to pay £26pcm just for an emergency service.

I have no knowledge of how to make a wifi call to 999 on my mobile. Can you let me know what I'll need or link me to something that will explain things further, please? I don't know how reliable our wifi is at the moment- it's a special countryside operator- but hopefully it will prove reliable, although I see posts from other residents about it going off fairly frequently so am dubious it is a reliable solution.

Thanks everyone.

BT offer a discounted line rental scheme for customers that don’t have ( or want ) any type of landline broadband, this is approximately £7-£8 a month cheaper than regular line rental ,  so around £15 / month but it’s not on the website as a click through purchase, it’s only available by calling so checks can be made that it isn’t being applied for fraudulently, or Home Phone Saver  2020 that is £21.99 and includes unlimited calls ( upto 1 hour ) and various calling  features , although if you only want to disturb your communication blackout / isolation for ‘999’ emergency calls ( presumably you are content not to have any other form communication at home apart from letters and broadcast TV )  it’s probably unsuitable in your case.

Although you say you don’t want to pay £26 just for the ability make emergency calls , should the need arise , what would you be prepared to pay ?, if it’s zero , then as  Openreach are not an extension of the emergency services  you obviously have an unrealistic expectation .
OR can provide what you require , if ordered from an appropriate communication company, but not for free , why on earth would they install and maintain a line on this basis , but at least it  is more than  the mobile companies  do , given they apparently have patchy coverage where you are .
Basically it’s a cost/benefit question, if you want the option of calling 999 , versus the saving of around £20 a month , if your health is good , it’s probably an easier decision than someone who is in poor health.

matelodave

When I was with BT and now with Vodafone for my broadband they both transferred my phone number to my FTTP router which allows me to receive incoming calls for free and to make outgoing calls on a pay as you go basis.

This I'm sure would cover your requirement for making 999 calls, except in the case of a power cut.

I dont pay any extra for that facility although I do also have the option of paying a bit extra for unlimited off-peak calls or a bit more for unlimited anytime calls.

On top of that provided my broadband is up and running (which is is 99% of the time - we do get power cuts) I can use wifi calling with my mobile phone, although I don't need to as we've got a pretty decent Three signal on my mobile and EE on my wife's.

prettyandfluffy

Be aware that if you have a power cut, a landline won't work anyway so is of limited use in an emergency - we spent 3 days over one Christmas with no power due to storms, poor ro non-existent mobile cover age and no way of charging them up when they died.

Neil_Jones

prettyandfluffy said:

Be aware that if you have a power cut, a landline won't work anyway so is of limited use in an emergency - we spent 3 days over one Christmas with no power due to storms, poor ro non-existent mobile cover age and no way of charging them up when they died.

That only applies to cordless phones/DECT phones.

Corded phones get their "power" (for want of a better word) from the phone line, so as long as that's working, you can still use those.

iniltous

TBH , the way I read the OP , is that they don’t want to pay for a landline  ( phone or phone/broadband ) so the fact that they could use broadband for IP telephony or WiFi calling for mobiles is a little irrelevant if they won’t pay for a landline , it could be the OP is happy to pay for a mobile but coverage is poor , hence the need for an alternative way to contact the emergencies services , but it seems to me they want something unreasonable, that is for a phone line to be installed so they could if necessary call 999 , but don’t expect to have to pay for it 

Owain_Moneysaver

Neil_Jones said:

prettyandfluffy said:

Be aware that if you have a power cut, a landline won't work anyway so is of limited use in an emergency 

That only applies to cordless phones/DECT phones.

Corded phones get their "power" (for want of a better word) from the phone line, so as long as that's working, you can still use those.

That only applied until last month.
AFAIK all new 'phone' lines are supplied as Voice over IP / Digital Voice, whether the line is FTTP fibre or FTTP fibre to the cabinet. These will all require customer power to the modem/router (and for FTTP, the optical network terminal)

Neil_Jones

Owain_Moneysaver said:

Neil_Jones said:

prettyandfluffy said:

Be aware that if you have a power cut, a landline won't work anyway so is of limited use in an emergency 

That only applies to cordless phones/DECT phones.

Corded phones get their "power" (for want of a better word) from the phone line, so as long as that's working, you can still use those.

That only applied until last month.
AFAIK all new 'phone' lines are supplied as Voice over IP / Digital Voice, whether the line is FTTP fibre or FTTP fibre to the cabinet. These will all require customer power to the modem/router (and for FTTP, the optical network terminal)

Yes but there are still a lot of traditional/copper phone line installations where a corded phone would work.  So my point is still valid.

Contemplation

Thank you to those who have tried to provide a solution. I would point out to a couple of respondents that £26pcm miight be reasonable for a service that is never used if you have spare income, but there are a lot of people that don't have that luxury these days. 

Iniltous's post mentioning a £15 pcm emergency line is the most useful suggestion so far. I would have expected a facility where the emergency services could be contacted for free, or for a much reduced fee, but £15 pcm is much better than the impression given by the website.

I was a little concerned by the post that suggested soon no-one would have access to emergency service calls during a powercut. I guess this is progress

lr1277

About 25 years ago I was told that the signal required for a text message did not need to be as strong as the signal required for a mobile phone call.

For those in the know is that correct?

If so the earlier suggestion about contacting the emergency services by text might be helpful.

This assumes the user keeps their mobile phone charged upto a reasonable level at all times.

Also their phone battery's performance has not degraded too much.

Neil_Jones

A text is more likely to go than a voicecall, because it uses less "bandwidth" (for want of a better word) so it only needs a small window of signal to go, so as long as you have something (other than "no service"), its worth a shot.

Its when you have literally no signal at all or its blocked by something else that nothing can get in or not, which would be the equivalent of airplane mode without actually using that mode.