Emergency phone call line not working reliably

[mancmum]

I am posting here to alert people to a problem I encountered with MIL as I have seen a number of people talk about the security that a phone care line can provide.

We tested MIL's pendant today after doing a battery change. Seemed sensible thing to do. First call only got through to a BT message saying number I had dialled was not available. Second and Third call did go through. Needed to test it again in afternoon and fourth call again got BT pre recorded number not available.

Talked to company's tech engineer who said that this problem was experienced quite frequently due to newer phone line technology not talking to older phone dialling equipment.

He said it was an industry wide problem and that people were aware of it.

Unfortunately the customers and purchasers aren't told this when they set the equipment up.

 

[loveahug]

Each time mum's equipment was needed to work, it didn't, through technical faults with the equipment or the phone line. it was one of the reasons we ended up finding a care home for her

 

[Quilty]

Alert works Ok in the early days

I did not find line faults, but as mums disease progressed she did not remember she had the alert and did not press it even when it was around her neck. She was an the floor all night twice with no help. With the falls out of bed she knocked the phone off the hook making the alert useless anyway.

This was a big part in the decision to move her to a care home as she was no longer able to get help if she needed it.