Worried about elderly mums landline

[#1]

Mother aged 83 lives in village in outskirts of Leeds West Yorkshire only about 5 or 6 miles, she has to rely on landline as mobile signal is very poor, as soon as I enter her village just 5 miles from my home, I lose my mobile phone signal and internet on my iPhone. If she wants to use her mobile phone has to walk to a nearby pub not good for her especially on winter days/nights even then signal is hit and miss. We (all family) have tried to encourage her to use her landline but she unplugs it says she can’t afford to use it. As Peter Kay says “If it’s not one thing it’s your mother)

[#2]

Hi there, sorry to see that there's an issue with your mum's line. I've just sent you a private message asking for a few details. 

Adam

[#3]

Mum not with Plusnet think landline is BT but she just unplugs as says can’t afford to use it tried explaining that we would find it easier to phone her on it as mobile signal is very hit and miss with Tesco 

[#4]

I rather think there may be a fair few people in a similar situation, likely to be a significant problem when landlines close down in 2025.  We're in a similar situation, no mobile signal unless I drive about half a mile up the hill behind the house.  My mother in law (late 80's, partially sighted) lives around 120 miles away from us and also can't get a mobile signal in her house (and she's not mobile enough to be able to get to somewhere where there is a signal).

Luckily, she's with BT, and they are due to install a new home hub, battery backup unit and a VOIP phone that plugs into the home hub.  We're still waiting for confirmation that her fall alarm (thing she wears around her neck all the time) will work with the home hub (at the moment it connects to her landline to call out).

Having seen first hand the sort of issues that we need to overcome when the landline phone system closes down in 16 months time I've tried to get ahead of the game, whilst I'm still fit enough to do the necessary work.  I've found that I can get a mobile signal using a directional antenna array on the top of a long pole, connected to a 4G gateway.  I've had this up and running for a couple of weeks now, and it's good enough to allow our old landline phones to make calls using an analogue to Ethernet adaptor.

One thing I've found is that the outdoor mobile antenna picks up a massively better signal than my phone.  I can just about get one bar on the phone, leaning right out of an upstairs window, but get a solid four to five bars on the 4G gateway with the big external antenna.  I can see these gateways becoming a useful way to retain connectivity when the landline phone system is shutdown.  If you're fortunate enough to have a mast nearby that has a backup power system then so much the better.  Our fibre cabinet stops working after about 35 minutes now (had a power cut a couple of days ago, and another one this morning).  That means I can't rely on the broadband connection for an emergency phone.

[#5]

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@bryanfan wrote:

Mum not with Plusnet think landline is BT but she just unplugs as says can’t afford to use it ...

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@bryanfan 

If your mum is receiving any means tested benefits such as Pension Credit Guarantee Credit she's probably eligible for one of BTs 'social tariffs'.

AFAIK the BT Basic one is still available which covers the landline (rental and a limited amount for outgoing calls) for just over £5 per month.

If she wants to make more than a few calls there's BT Home Essentials with a choice of telephone only or two packages which include Internet, for AFAIR £10, £15, £20 per month respectively,  They have generous inclusive call plans with the £20 option being unlimited.

[#6]

Any idea what happens to these plans when the PSTN shuts down in 2025

It would be great if there were something equivalent to these plans after December 2025, when we are all reliant on either a mobile phone or a VOIP system.  My major concern with VOIP over ADSL, VDSL or FTTP is that my experience has been that it's not even vaguely robust.  Half an hour or so after a power outage and all ground-connected broadband here fails.  That also means no phone connectivity when the PSTN is shutdown in 16 months time.

Ideally I'd like to see the big players in the telecoms industry come up with a solution that is every bit as robust as the PSTN.  It seems clear to me that normal broadband (ADSL, VDSL and FTTP) cannot meet the robust voice call  functionality of the PSTN, given that cabinets only have a very limited battery back up system.

Some mobile masts seem to be as robust and reliable as the PSTN, mainly those that are earmarked to provide the ESN (Emergency Services Network  - the replacement for the radios that the police, fire service and ambulance service use). 

If you're fortunate enough to be able to get a way to connect to a mast that is scheduled to provide ESN services then this is probably the most reliable way to ensure you have an emergency phone connection.  Based on my experience I'd not wish to rely on normal broadband for this.  Losing phone connectivity half and hour or so into a power cut (when you live somewhere like we do where power cuts are frequent) becomes more of an issue as we get older and may well have need to call 999.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Full quote of preceding post removed as per Forum rules.

[#7]

At the moment she doesn’t receive any benefits as she has small pension from my dads from when he passed away, she has a little dog which is only thing she has to get up for on a morning (her words) when anything happens to him she has told one of her grandchildren she will pack a bag and leave but hasn’t said where to which is so worrying for all of us. We have all had some serious illness issues this year, from cancer, diagnosis and surgeries, so worrying about her and what she is going through is unbearable. Can’t seem to get through to her about getting help, she has piles of paperwork she has written to different departments in local housing she is resident in older person accommodation one bed cottage, every winter heating stops working when the boiler outlet freezes caught her climbing up step ladder with kettle boiling water after boiler engineer from housing showed her how to do it ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE showing a lady in her 80s how to fix her boiler, also kitchen exterior wall has no insulation and a hole where cold air blows through no heating in kitchen either. Thank you for your suggestions.

[#8]

Thank you for information about BT Home Essentials will try to explain about it to her.

[#9]

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@JSHarris wrote:

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Any idea what happens to these plans when the PSTN shuts down in 2025?

It would be great if there were something equivalent to these plans after December 2025, when we are all reliant on either a mobile phone or a VOIP system.

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@JSHarris 

I can't see any reason why those plans*** won't continue as they're not reliant on the PSTN now.

A couple of Three friends I can think of are on BT Home Essentials; one on the £15 plan with 700 minutes of inclusive calls (and 40/10 Mb/s), another on the £20 plan with unlimited minutes (and 80/20 Mb/s), the third I think are also on £20 plan.

All are on FTTP with Digital Voice (BTs proprietary VoIP service) so no PSTN (or copper) involved at all.  All retained their original PSTN numbers when transferred to DV.

Edit:  typo

Edit2: *** IDK about BT Basic though 

[#10]

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@bryanfan wrote:

At the moment she doesn’t receive any benefits as she has small pension from my dads from when he passed away, 

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@bryanfan wrote:

Thank you for information about BT Home Essentials will try to explain about it to her.

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Being in receipt of one of the benefits listed on the info pages linked in my earlier post is a prerequisite to qualify for those schemes.

AIUI, if her income is less than £201.05 per week according to https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/what-youll-get , she would probably be eligible to claim Pension Credit.  There may be other factors which would come in to play but I'm not going to claim to be an expert on the benefits system. 

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also kitchen exterior wall has no insulation and a hole where cold air blows through ... 

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Depending on the size and shape of the hole, maybe you could block it with some expanding foam.