Readers’ comments
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Phone a dragon
I have just been reading your guide “Which Home VoIP service is best for you?” (see issue 369, p38) but I didn’t find the information I was looking for. As both sets of parents don’t own a mobile nor want one, when we changed from copper to fibre we had no choice but to keep our landline phone. Although I actually find a landline phone easier to hold and to tuck under my chin while writing notes or typing during a call.
Our parents have been told that their copper line will be replaced with a new fibre supply. However, they have an emergency contact button that at present only works on copper; in power cuts, this would fail, and this is possible when an emergency could happen.
But hang on a moment: this should be an easy fix as the fibre line works on light, so assuming that the exchange has power (mains or backup) a signal would still come down the fibre line. Surely all that’s required is for a battery backup at home for the fibre router, and the short in-house copper from the router to the landline phone will then work? Quick, someone get it on Dragons’ Den!
Michael Ashworth
Copper lines being replaced with fibre is causing problems for many