BT pushing digital home phone lines

TELECOMS giant BT is contacting full fibre broadband customers who have yet to switch to a controversial digital home phone service.

It is part of a widely criticised project to get 29 million households off traditional handsets and on to digital lines that plug into an electricity supply and need a broadband connection.

Money Mail exposed flaws in the ‘BT digital voice’ rollout a few years ago — that it could leave vulnerable people at risk as they might be unable to call 999. About six million people do not own a mobile phone and 1.5million households are not connected to the internet. Also, health pendants and many burglar alarms would not connect to emergency services.

We alerted regulator Ofcom, which forced BT to halt the scheme. But BT has re-started the rollout, claiming it has addressed our concerns — by providing free handsets that switch from the internet to mobile signals in power cuts and battery packs for isolated areas.