Broadband and landline package for vulnerable elderly person with council emergency alarm

Rich2808

Have an elderly parent who lives on her own. She has an emergency pendant alarm supplied by her council and is in an area with very poor mobile signal - so cannot rely on mobiles if there is a power/internet outage.

She is currently with Sky and is on their international extra landline package - as she has friends and relatives abroad she likes to call regularly. She is very reliant on her landline - both for social contact and also for her alarm. Currently paying £69 for that all in (including the £18 international extra cost) which seems a little high to me.

Are there many providers left that support non VOIP landlines - for now - bar BT/EE, Sky and Vodafone which also provide inclusive international/mobile call package options?

The cost is important - but the security of service (especially for vulnerable customers in case of emergencies) is as key.

Sky has offered her a 24 month contract renewal for £3 off - which seems a poor offer - which is offset by the planned April price rise anyway.

Any thoughts on alternative providers meeting this criteria?

iniltous

If her Sky service is still via the phone socket on the wall rather that the phone port on the router , if avoiding a VoIP type service is essential ( ones where the phone instrument connected the router and therefore vulnerable to power outages ) then staying with Sky is the only real option , paying whatever they are asking , even then ,  potentially she could get  a communication from Sky saying they are being moved to ‘Internet calls’ and advising to connect to the router , unless your parent has a Sky telephone service only ( so Sky phone without Sky broadband ) but if that’s the case it’s extremely expensive for a phone only service and makes you wonder why that phone  service was ever taken in the first place.

The WLR stop service means basically that no traditional phone services are for sale (via a phone socket on the wall )  and have been for quite some time, moving to another provider will almost certainly come as IP ( internet protocol ) telephony 

Rich2808

iniltous said:

If her Sky service is still via the phone socket on the wall rather that the phone port on the router , if avoiding a VoIP type service is essential ( ones where the phone instrument connected the router and therefore vulnerable to power outages ) then staying with Sky is the only real option , paying whatever they are asking , even then ,  potentially she could get  a communication from Sky saying they are being moved to ‘Internet calls’ and advising to connect to the router , unless your parent has a Sky telephone service only ( so Sky phone without Sky broadband ) but if that’s the case it’s extremely expensive for a phone only service and makes you wonder why that phone  service was ever taken in the first place.

The WLR stop service means basically that no traditional phone services are for sale (via a phone socket on the wall )  and have been for quite some time, moving to another provider will almost certainly come as IP ( internet protocol ) telephony 

Her package does include fast Sky broadband - and yes she still has a phone socket on the wall which is also linked to her council supplied alarm. She lives in outer London - but the mobile reception is dreadful in the entire area. And her phone is an essential lifeline given her age. Without the international extra (includling inclusive UK calls/mobiles at all times) package add on it costs c£50 a month.

I didn't think there were non VOIP options left - but I thought I would ask. Price isn't everything - but we might give Sky a call anyway (which can be hard work).

As a vulnerable customer with an alarm in an area with a poor mobile signal - avoiding disruption is the most important factor. Eventually she will need to switch over to VOIP/an alternative alarm but mandatory switches are currently suspended for vulnerable customers with alarms.

p00hsticks

Rich2808 said:

iniltous said:

If her Sky service is still via the phone socket on the wall rather that the phone port on the router , if avoiding a VoIP type service is essential ( ones where the phone instrument connected the router and therefore vulnerable to power outages ) then staying with Sky is the only real option , paying whatever they are asking , even then ,  potentially she could get  a communication from Sky saying they are being moved to ‘Internet calls’ and advising to connect to the router , unless your parent has a Sky telephone service only ( so Sky phone without Sky broadband ) but if that’s the case it’s extremely expensive for a phone only service and makes you wonder why that phone  service was ever taken in the first place.

The WLR stop service means basically that no traditional phone services are for sale (via a phone socket on the wall )  and have been for quite some time, moving to another provider will almost certainly come as IP ( internet protocol ) telephony 

Her package does include fast Sky broadband - and yes she still has a phone socket on the wall which is also linked to her council supplied alarm. 

What do the council say about how they plan to continue this alarm service going forward ? 

iniltous

Personally I think this issue is entirely the alarm providers to solve , presumably the existing alarm is either compatible with IP telephony or it isn’t , if it isn’t it needs to be replaced by the alarm provider, if it is compatible and it’s the possibility of no service during a power outage that’s stopping the migration to IP telephony, then a battery back up for the router is required, although I’m not sure why the ISP has to be responsible for the power company having an unreliable supply , what’s more the existing ‘copper pair’ telephone service isn’t infallible, so a line fault would present exactly the same problem , no alarm during a fault ,

Many  of these type of alarm systems don’t even use the ‘landline’ phone service but mobile technology, and much like a mobile are effectively battery powered , the battery charger connected to the mains so a seemless transition in mains fail situations, although I appreciate that in this case mobile reception isn’t very good .

M25

Rich2808 said:

Any thoughts on alternative providers meeting this criteria?

Just leave the account alone.

There's no bargains out there and since the present supplier is providing everything that's needed why mess around with that?

If there's a forced change to VOIP then look at things again. 

Some suppliers may be forced to provide battery backups soon so hopefully that'll be ironed out by the time it gets to your parent.

In the meantime, have a look at BT's charges for international calling deals as that may be an option if/when VOIP rears its head.

Rich2808

Thanks for all the advice above.

Local council have still to update on the changeover of the emergency alarm - as a vulnerable customer with an alarm the enforced switchover of her (and other similar people's) landlines is suspended for now by the government for all operators.

ScratchyCat

Having just had to have a lifeline installed for someone. I was worried as we are on very poor connection and havent swapped to digital voice yet.
On contacting our council i was informed our council now use lifelines that work on mobile only. The sim is supposed to search for the best available network. The sim therefore uses all the 4 main ones.

The council told me they are slowly swapping anybody that already has a landline based lifeline installed over to mobile lifelines. 

Rich2808

ScratchyCat said:

Having just had to have a lifeline installed for someone. I was worried as we are on very poor connection and havent swapped to digital voice yet.
On contacting our council i was informed our council now use lifelines that work on mobile only. The sim is supposed to search for the best available network. The sim therefore uses all the 4 main ones.

The council told me they are slowly swapping anybody that already has a landline based lifeline installed over to mobile lifelines. 

Useful to know.

Problem in my mother's area - which is widespread for a mile or more around - the mobile signal is very poor on every network (family who visits/I have all the networks). You need wifi calling on your phone to make a reliable call - so relying on a mobile/4g/5g lifeline alarm won't work everywhere.

How this can be the case in a densely populated London suburb in 2025 is beyond me - it is hardly Dartmoor or the Highlands - but it is.