Elderly/vulnerable customers without Broadband - Notification of new Digital Voice service

[rbz5416]

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@iniltouswrote:

TBH , if 7 messages were left during the previous month , presumably  at no time during that month you picked up your phone to make a call , otherwise you would imagine you would  wonder ( and make enquiries ) why is there a funny / different sounding dial tone

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Depends how calls are made. If they were only made from a contacts/calls list then the interrupted dial tone would never be heard. Open the list, select a number & hit dial & the number would be dialled immediately with maybe a second of dial tone heard first. On a DECT handset that would be imperceptible.

It seems that 1571 hasn't really been designed for 21st century use, where you only get a notification if manually dialling in hands free mode, or are using an old handset pressed to your ear. 1571 really ought to send some form of notification in the same way that answering machines have beeped &/or flashed lights for decades.

[c64z86]

There is another way:

If you have the BT big button 200 phone, the 1571 notification light on it still works over digital voice! So it will let you know if you have any missed calls that way, and you won't have to pick up to check the dial tone either.

It also has really big buttons which make it easier to use if you have poor eyesight and also a hearing/voice amplifier built into it.

[RIC9380]

Hello, WSH.

Sorry but I never meant to be rude and I apologise to anyone offended by it. 

My point was that for the vast majority of people the switch to DV will be relatively straightfoward and painless and there is help and assistance available if some people have problems with it.  I imagine that BT aren't doing a massive publicity campaign as, no matter how simple they make it sound, it will instil absolute fear into some people - just look at the some of the overhyped scare stories about it that have already appeared about it in some of the "popular" press.

RIC9380

[RIC9380]

Hi, Tel61.
I have and have responded to WSH. My apologies to you if you were offended by my post.
RIC9380

[WSH]

@RIC9380  No problem.  I don't consider you were rude to me, it's just that the OP seemed to think it was @Colin_London who made the comment, which I thought was unfair.

I'm already on DV and would agree that most people's concerns are unfounded.

[RIC9380]

Cheers, WSH.  

I work for a local authority teaching (mainly basic) Digital Skills out in the Community.  I just find it SO frustrating that so many people are completely freaked out by all the rubbish stories in the tabloids about how every pensioner will lose their traditional landline service by the end of 2025 and likening it to the end of the world as we know it! 

We do our best calm those folk down, reassure them that everything will probably be just fine and make them a nice cup of tea.  Some of them even see the positives and the benefits of technology upgrades and come onboard with us as volunteers to help others who still have doubts and remain terrified of any change.

RIC9380

[blackprince]

I found out about this vision to turn off existing landline service next year yesterday.  I'll be fine. But I am worried about my elderly (94 year old) mother, who has no broadband, and no mobile.

• Is my mother going to need a router just to have a telephone?
• Will all her existing phone sockets and existing phones around the house continue to work?
• What happens about her pendant alarm
• What happens in a power cut?

Assuming she is going to need a router, I assume BT will supply that free of charge.  Will they also do the electric work needed to add an additional socket to keep it plugged in?  Does it have to go right by the master socket?  I am concerned that my mother is going to be stuck with an ugly box with flashing lights on her kitchen table - ideally there'll be a way of boxing it away somewhere so she doesn't turn it off by mistake.

[licquorice]

I guess you haven't bothered to read the thread.

[blackprince]

I have read every message.  I still don't know the answers to my questions.

I called BT today to ask them, but they say they won't answer these questions until they have notified my mother that she "upgrading", which may be only two weeks before the changeover.

[ChrisGee]

@licquorice  Why do you feel the need to pop up like a belligerent jack in the box when people ask personally important questions? Is it really too onerous to go through previous responses or at least give them a reference? This forum isn’t the easiest to navigate. People come on here for help and advice not to be told off.  If you can’t be helpful then all you need to do is nothing.