Elderly over 90 years old

[brian_thorogood]

Will you either please stop wasting my time or provide a sensible answer     The options when ringing the phone number do not provide any choice for the issue.     Asking for a call back does not happen.....   i.e. phoned this afternoon, wait time was 40 minutes....  asked for a call back (AGAIN)    now over 90 minutes later and NO callback   AGAIN   

[NeilO · Accepted solution]

Hi Everyone, 

Please keep it friendly, we want everyone to feel comfortable when both asking and answering questions. 

@brian_thorogood have your in-laws been told they are due to be moved to digital voice?

Moving to Digital Voice | BT Help

We provide one free digital voice adapter so you can keep the phone in its current location, more of these can be purchased if needs be.

There is only one number for customer service if you can't find the right option, ignore them and don't choose anything. You'll be put through to a guide who will be able to help or put you through to someone who can.

Thanks 

Neil

[nithsdalenoddy1]

"Despite what you may think, it isn't the end of the world."

Spoken like a true optimist

I live in a rural area with no mobile coverage. When Storm Arwen hit the other year we had no power for 5 days - so no internet and there would have been no digital voice phone.

Fortunately  I keep an "old" landline handset that I can still use on the "old" BT landline in a power cut.

In the brave new not-the-end-of-the world I won't presumably be able to report the outage or contact emergency services  unless I have a spare carrier pigeon

[iniltous]

How fortunate that in your rural area that had its overhead power supply disrupted by a Storm Arwen didn’t also have it’s overhead phone lines disrupted by it

[djenson2000]

You will be able to backup your phone line, albeit, in a different, more complicated way. 

You can utilize something called a UPS. Admittedly, this is certainly costly. EE sell the produce here - https://store.ee.co.uk/products/cyberpower-back-up-for-bt-digital-voice-service--smart-hub--115476-H...

I honestly believe that produce is overpriced and outdated, it uses old battery technology. There is more modern and compact options such as the Eaton 3S Mini 36W BS - but those are not as plug and play as the EE/BT product and may need additional adaptors 

The last option of the top of my head is the BT FW500 Hybrid Back Up Phone - but this uses the EE mobile network. I would recommend that you get a cheap pay as you go EE sim and double check you have absolutely no signal if that's of interest. 

Worth noting that these back up options give hours, rather than days of backup. 

I honestly don't know what it is with people on this forum, very knowledgeable, but unfortunately, either very toxic or lack communication skills. 

Hope this helps 

[nithsdalenoddy1]

thanks for the link

I've seen these on offer via BT but they offer only an hour or so's connection and as you say they're expensive for what they offer. I'll look at the others

I have to drive at least 5 miles to get a mobile signal

I suspect this is going to be a problem for many in rural areas 

[djenson2000]

You can get a car battery of tayna that will give ~3 days runtime and put an automatic charger on it- but at this point we are looking at a quite a complex little arrangement for a phone line. A you say, for extreme dead spots in rural areas, the analogue switch of does pose an issue to the older generation.  I would suggest a generator with a ATS but we are talking ££££ there. 

Just to double check on the mobile front, When you have no signal, do you mean that you can't text and call anyone (but potentially still have emergency calls available), or do you have a definitive no signal sign. To check, the next time you go there, see if you can get "emergency calls only" - this means that one of the 4 providers potentially has a signal there, even if your provider doesn't. I went down to Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall the other week, and there was just a random EE tower there - i'm guessing for emergency calls. 

[nithsdalenoddy1]

thanks

It's a "no signal" message on the mobile

[imjolly]

as emergency calls on mobile use any network do you know if other mobile networks have a signal in your area even if you mobile provider does not?  have you checked?

[nithsdalenoddy1]

nearest network appears to be EE (a few miles away).

None of the other networks show up