Telecare device

[#1]

I currently have a Plusnet FTTC and ordered a FTTP upgrade.

When ordering I selected the box that stated “I don’t use my landline-I don’t use my landline for telephone calls or a telecare device”

I have a Telecare device but a not one that is dependent on a landline or my broadband as it uses its own built in 4k/3k to work.

When the engineer arrived he told me he could not do the install as I had a telecare device and I should take it up with Plusnet.

I then called Plusnet who despite my trying to explain refused to complete my order and transferred me to BT.

BT tried to talk me into signing up with them, complete with a digital phone. I declined.

After several years of being a Plusnet customer I have now had to migrate to another provider.

I hope this post helps anyone else with a similar Telecare product.

[#2]

Welcome to the forums, @Saxa . One day, BT Group will work out that a telecare device that uses mobile data does not preclude the installation of FTTP. Until then, many people will be conned into signing up with them.

[#3]

@Saxa 

Presumably you told the installer that you had the telecare unit or the he/she saw it when they visited? Can you confirm that the selected option actually included the words: -I don’t use my landline for ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, a telecare device”. Not: I don't have a telecare device?

I'm afraid that you have fallen foul of BT group policy. Only BT are judged competent to decide whether one of these devices is acceptable to work alongside a BT installed product. One must assume that this is a diktat from the PR gurus who dread the implications of someone's lifeline being disconnected at a critical time.

[#4]

Thanks for the welcome jab1, yes i did feel I was being conned by BT I have no need nor desire for a digital phone that they tried to push. 

also re my first post I meant 4g/5g (senior moment)

[#5]

Yes the installer saw the Telecare device. and yes the selected option included the words 

I don’t use my landline-I don’t use my landline for telephone calls or a telecare device,

please see attached screenshot.

[#6]

@Baldrick1 I think we have had this 'discussion' before, but I will reiterate: If the telecare device is not plugged into the master socket, it clearly has its own communication network, and is therefore not an obstacle to the installation of Full Fibre, to be supplied by whichever ISP a customer (End User) decides.

[#7]

@jab1 

I am more than aware of the reality of this. This is all about BT policy around having a specialist team taking extra care when there is one of these devices on the premises.

[#8]

Fair enough, @Baldrick1 , but if the telecare device is not reliant on a 'phone' connection - which is obvious if it is not connected to a phone - then to my mind, it cannot be grounds to refuse to install FTTP. 

[#9]

I would understand if the engineer saw something that looked like a Telecare base unit plugged into a phone-type socket that they should immediately abandon the install and call in specialist help.

I wonder if some engineers (and more their managers) are creatively over-cautious if they see anything that they are not 100% certain is NOT a telecare device. “This unit here looks like it’s plugged into the wall — I gotta follow the rules.  I mean, you may say that I’m looking at the mains plug and socket, but I’m not an electrician I’m a fibre installer, so I’m going to have to escalate this.”

[#10]

I wonder if some engineers (and more their managers) are creatively over-cautious if they see anything that they are not 100% certain is NOT a telecare device.

and that's the crunch of it! I'm guessing that the installation engineers aren't competent to decide what type of telecare device it is. One assumes that BT have a specialist team who are trained to ask the correct questions to establish whether a telecare device uses the landline or not, maybe even arrange a survey by a trained engineer if uncertain?  Presumably having established that its not dependant on the landline, that is conveyed to the engineer doing the installation , relieving him/her of any responsibility.

[#11]

@Saxa You did the right thing. The only thing that that could have been better would have been hiding / obscuring the telecare base unit while the installer was there.

Sorry you had to migrate to another provider — PlusNet’s loss. And given that you are probably still on an Openreach connection, it’s a shame that between BT Group and Openreach they have lost nothing more serious than a cancelled visit. (Probably still cheaper than training the installers and the sub-contracted installers not to be idiots, though.)

[#12]

I can picture the scenario: 

Elderly vulnerable person has telecare service installed.

Told that they have to give up their phone, not bothered as they use their mobile.

They don’t appreciate that the telecare unit is plugged into the PSTN. “A man turned up and installed it, I don’t know what he did”, so ticks the wrong box.

Elderly person tries to use emergency call, this does not work, elderly person dies.

Loved one needs someone to blame for their demise.

Headlines in sensational press/social media: ‘Granny dies because (enter ISP of your choice) disconnected their care alarm.’

[#13]

I'm not a telecoms engineer, but I can tell if there is a care alarm/whatever connected to the PSTN  system, or if said alarm is merely plugged into a power source, with the communication via a mobile connection - as was the alarm I temporarily had when I came out of hospital after my accident last year.

[#14]

BT corporate have taken a zero risk approach here to avoid any potential corporate manslaughter charges.
Iirc there was a widely publisised incident with virgin a few years back.
Installation engineers are not going to make that call

[#15]

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@Baldrick1 wrote:

I can picture the scenario…

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As already noted (by @Protech) it actually happened (story came out in summer 2024?) and led to a big fine and a 13-month delay because ISPs and care alarm people hadn’t got their act together across the previous decade.

And there have been more stories since. The press always mis-reports these stories because editors haven’t got their act together either.

I think the latest one was someone who never used their landline, had a stroke, pushed the button, and unfortunately had had no idea their care alarm was connected to the PSTN.