BT is pushing digital home phone lines despite relocation leaving customers unable to call emergency services
Telecommunications giant BT is reaching out to all-fiber broadband customers who have yet to switch to a controversial digital home phone service.
It is part of a widely criticized project to move 29 million households off traditional handsets to digital lines that plug into the electricity grid and require a broadband connection.
Money Mail revealed flaws in its ‘BT digital voice’ rollout a few years ago – that it could put vulnerable people at risk as they may not be able to dial 999.
BT is trying to move 29 million households from traditional handsets to digital lines
About six million people do not have a mobile phone and 1.5 million households are not connected to the internet.
Health pendants and many burglar alarms would also not connect to emergency services.
We alerted regulator Ofcom, which forced BT to stop the scheme.
But BT has resumed the rollout, claiming it has allayed our concerns by offering free handsets that switch from internet to mobile signals in the event of a power cut and battery packs for remote areas.