Using telecare or care alarms with a NOW Broadband line

Telecare alarms or care alarms are devices that are connected via a working telephone line to a monitoring centre or nominated contact and used by the elderly or vulnerable to raise an alarm in an emergency. These include panic buttons, pendants or wall-based communications consoles.

Soon, all landline phones will be switching to digital, which could stop telecare alarms from working. If you or someone you know uses a telecare alarm, please let us know, so that we can ensure your alarm keeps working through the switchover.

Tell us you use a telecare or care alarm, and/or have poor mobile coverage

If you have a care alarm and haven't already told us about this, fill in our online form. You can also use the form to let us know if you don’t have another way to contact the emergency services, such as a mobile phone with good signal strength. This will help us to ensure your devices continue to work when landline phones switch over to digital.

Tell us you have an alarm

Which alarms are compatible with my NOW Broadband line?

We’ve worked with a number of major alarm providers to test the most common alarm units on our network. The following alarms are compatible with a working NOW Broadband line:

• Tunstall – Lifeline Connect+, Lifeline 400, Lifeline 4000+ and Lifeline Vi/Vi+
• Tynetec – Sayphone2 and Reach
• Chubb – CareUnity and Intellilink
  
  

How do I make sure my alarm is set up correctly?

Incorrect setup is the most common cause of issues with Telecare alarms.

Step 1:

First, make sure your alarm is connected properly according to the instructions in the user guide.

Step 2:

Next, make sure your alarm is connected to your phone line via a microfilter.

A microfilter is a small white box that connects to your phone socket. Two microfilters are supplied with your NOW Broadband Hub. These stop interference between your broadband and other devices that use your line. For more info, see How do I set up my microfilters?

I'm having trouble using my telecare alarm

If you’re having issues with your phone line and it’s affecting your telecare service, get in touch by phone and we’ll look into it for you.