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Dementia and don't want upgrade

watercool — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:10:29 GMT

My grandmother's phone and broadband bill is £95 per month, which is crazy. This is because we're 'out of contract'....however, when I tried to get on a new contract (I have power of attorney) that was a quarter of the price they said she would have to go digital and it was part of the conditions of going on a new contract. Ok. I guess we have to do that then.

With much difficulty an engineer was booked and I took the day off work - but he couldn't carry out the digital upgrade due to her fall alarm. They asked about this when I booked the engineer and I told them she had a fall alarm.

She has deteriorated badly now and there's no way we can change ANYTHING in the house or have engineers coming in.

What have BT got in place for the elderly customers who have dementia? Why do we need to agree to these upgrades?? It's happening over the next few years so why pick the most vulnerable customers to change to digital?

Re: Dementia and don't want upgrade

licquorice — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:26:46 GMT

I would be very surprised if the fall alarm doesn't work with Digital Voice. Alarm suppliers have been aware of the change for years and have made provision.

Have you spoken to the alarm provider?

BT are not picking on the elderly and vulnerable, the change to DV has been ongoing for over 2 years now and the whole country needs to be changed over by next year.

Re: Dementia and don't want upgrade

WSH — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 14:45:50 GMT

I’m not an expert in this area, but I am aware of a recently introduced system called PDPL, (Pre-Digital Phone Line), where the switch to digital occurs at the exchange.

As I understand it, this arrangement was specifically developed for situations like this and ensures that the phone continues to look and work the same as before for residents in this type of situation.

It might be worth enquiring about the availability of this approach.

As Licquorice says, it will also be worth talking to the fall alarm provider about this. For example, there are systems now that will automatically switch to a mobile phone signal if the landline fails.

Re: Dementia and don't want upgrade

iniltous — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 17:48:36 GMT

A PDPL isn’t appropriate in this situation as the customer already has BT broadband, migration to DV for thus customer is literally just moving the phone cord from the wall socket to the router socket….the fall alarm is the alarm providers responsibility.

Re: Dementia and don't want upgrade

licquorice — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:12:10 GMT

Exactly