Pensioners and vulnerable customers are STILL in the dark over digital landline ... trends now
Pensioners and other vulnerable people are still in the dark about the digital landline switchover, as bosses are warned by campaigners that many still do not understand how to avoid being left with broadband they don't know how to use.
Amid a national concern over a lack of support for customers, MailOnline can reveal it will take months for telecoms firms and government to develop a definition for 'vulnerable' people in the midst of the national switchover from copper landlines.
At a meeting with leading campaigners, civil servants confirmed that no current customer will be forced to switch to the new internet-based system for the time being, but 'enhanced' protection for vulnerable customers remains far off.
All broadband companies are currently working to switch customers to digital, voice-based landlines, which they laud as a better alternative to the ageing and increasingly less-reliable traditional copper wires.
But the current timetable of completing the change by 2025 across the UK is looking increasingly unlikely amid concerns that older and vulnerable people, who are more likely to rely on landlines for communication, could be placed in danger. Campaigners have slammed the deadline as 'ludicrous'.
It comes after a petition organised by Silver Voices and the Digital Poverty Alliance for the government to review the current timetable gained more than 11,000 signatures and reports that it could be delayed by up to two years.
Head of Silver Voices, an organisation that represents senior citizens of the UK, Dennis Reed said the current timetable is 'ludicrous'
This is when the change from the old copper network to a new broadband-based connection was scheduled to take place across the UK
At a recent meeting between civil servants from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the head of Silver Voices Dennis Reed, MailOnline understands it was pledged that no existing customers at telecoms firms such as BT, Virgin and EE will be forced to switchover to the new digital system.
This includes customers who are set to renew their existing contracts, but new customers are not covered by the agreement, meaning they may have to receive the new digital landline service.
The DSIT also said it was working with telecoms firms to develop a definition of 'vulnerable' customers, who would be in line for 'enhanced' support with the switchover.
It pointed to Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan's work on the issue and said she secured even more measures to protect customers last month.
This followed cases in which vulnerable people who had had the new internet-based service installed finding that personal alarms, designed to automatically call for help in emergencies, no longer worked.
Ms Donelan personally held meetings with multiple telecoms firms after these reports.
But the process to define 'vulnerable' people is expected to take several months, potentially leaving thousands of people who take on a new landline contract without this package of support.
The definition is expected to go beyond simply applying to people with health alarms, although the exact parameters remain unclear.
