Digital Switchover - Telecare

[terrymatt]

My partner is with Virgin media (home phone tv and broadband) and the telephone system is soon being changed to the fibre network. She currently has a fall alarm and a Telecare system plugged into the phone line which is essential for her. I am concerned whether it will work with the new set up and have received differing answers from both Virgin and Telecare. The latest email received from Telecare states

“We have held meetings with Virgin, and they have been able to confirm some details of the digital switch over they currently have in operation. 

Firstly, Virgin will provide notice of any intended changes, and then if you let them know there is a care line in place they will offer additional support during the switch over. 

Some hubs virgin have in the field are fully compatible with the existing alarms. Others require adaptors that Virgin can supply, which enable use of the alarms. BT digital and Sky digital customers all have hubs that support our alarms. 

However, current plans within the Telecare Service,  are for all systems to be digital, in line with the UK government schedule, for 2025.”

With our area due to change over in the very near future we are obviously concerned about this - can anybody put my mind at rest please to confirm that this is feasible to work and do I need to take any action ahead of the installation.

Thank You

[newapollo]

Hi @terrymatt 

The following page should be able to answer your questions.

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/landline/switchover 

[Roger_Gooner]

Landline for new customers - and all customers by the end of 2025 - is provided from the hub with an RJ11 to BT adapter. You plug the adapter into the hub's RJ11 port and the handset into the other end of the adapter. For the Careline unit you plug it into the adapter and optionally your handset into the Careline unit.

hub --- RJ11 to BT adapter --- Careline --- handset

One thing to note is that a power or network failure brings down the landline, although a more expensive alternative is available which uses a SIM card that connects to a mobile network.

[Travis_M · Accepted solution]

Hi @terrymatt

Thanks for posting on our community forum!

Thank you for addressing your concerns, anything you currently have plugged into the phoneline will work exactly the same once we migrate you over to our 21CV system.

Regards

[terrymatt]

The Virgin engineer came spoke to Telecare who said that their equipment is not compatible unless Virgin can provide an analogue to digital adaptor. Is this the standard adapter that Virgin are sending out in the post ?

[Roger_Gooner]

This is just wrong. Telecare has to work with VM to ensue that their equipment will continue to operate when switched from PSTN, and both Telecare and VM must know if VM provides a suitable adapter.

[Tudor]

The output from the hub is analog not digital, otherwise normal phones would not work. Telecare do not know sharks they are talking about.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @terrymatt thanks a lot for your reply.

As we've mentioned previously, all UK landlines (not just Virgin Media) are going to be changed over to this type of network by 2025, so the chances are high that Telecare should have an appropriate solution to this, otherwise none of their equipment is going to work in the future which seems unlikely.

I think the best practice here is to see if you have the appropriate adaptor first and take things from there - when the technician arrived to help you with the changeover, did they not supply you with the adaptor at the time?

Many thanks

[terrymatt]

Thanks for replying. The technician was very good - rang Telecare to check and told not compatible (even though I had an email saying from them to say should be ok) but that he could try it ! He had more sense than to do that. I rang them again and they said not compatible- I told them they should have known since 2017 and the whole country over by 2025 but Virgin in our area switchover by next month. I said they would lose all their customers with Virgin telephony in our area. They then mentioned the analogue to digital converter but said if not I would have to change to a different care line supplier who could guarantee compatibility. I think this is the course I will be taking