Left unable to phone for help in a power cut

sir – I took little comfort from the letter (February 28) from Chris Howe, the Customer Care Change Director at BT. Judging by the volume of letters about the “digital voice system” replacement for landlines, there will be many like me up and down the country.

My community has no mobile phone signal. I have to travel more than nine miles to secure one. My community is also reliant on overhead power lines that have been susceptible to the recent storms. We have experienced outages of well over an hour, so even if one-hour battery back-up packs were available (and many local people have been told that they are not) they would not be much help.

It is perfectly likely that during a power cut somebody will experience an accident, a stroke, a heart attack or other medical emergency and, without a landline, will have no way of summoning help. Those dependent upon health alarm systems are particularly worried.

Mr Howe states that BT will be delaying the “upgrade” for landlineonly customers until “late 2023”.

Does he have inside information that the nation’s mobile black spots will be eliminated by that date?

How many avoidable deaths is BT prepared to tolerate before it takes the problem seriously?

Keith Benning

Tregeiriog, Denbighshire

sir – I have some sympathy with BT, even though we will be adversely affected by the move to phone via internet. (My wife relies on a Telecare personal alarm system.)

The Government has decided that homes need fast broadband. This cannot be delivered over the existing copper wiring, most of which is reaching the end of its life anyway. Installing fibre optic and putting the telephone service over it is the only sensible business option.

John A Landamore

Lutterworth, Leicestershire

sir – The provision of reliable communication by landline should be made mandatory by law. If homeowners had no running water or electricity there would quite rightly be an outcry. Withdrawing landlines is akin to ripping up railways and then wishing the tracks were still there. Robert Taylor

Ruddington, Nottinghamshire