Virgin Media O2 and Telecare Cardiff, which provides services on behalf of Cardiff Council, have launched of a new trial that will support telecare customers in and around the city to safely and easily move to digital landline services.
The project, carried out in collaboration with telecare advisory body, the TEC Services Association (TSA), is part of Virgin Media O2’s wider plans to test new and improved ways of helping its most vulnerable customers safely move to improve digital landlines ahead of a wider ramp up of migrations.
Work is being carried out by all UK networks to move customers to digital landlines. This long-planned cross-industry programme will safeguard landline services and is essential given the decades old copper phone network can no longer be maintained.
For the majority of customers, switching to digital voice is a simple process and all they need to do is change how the landline phone is plugged in. However, enhanced support is available for vulnerable customers and those using telecare devices such as pendant and fall alarms to ensure the switch is as smooth as possible.
Alongside the existing measures that Virgin Media O2 already has in place and implementing knowledge and learnings from previous trials, the trial has been developed to provide enhanced support for telecare device users, including:
• Using Virgin Media O2 and Telecare Cardiff dual-branded letters, emails and texts to reach customers.
• Ensuring Virgin Media O2’s UK-based customer care agents arrange switching appointments, with Telecare Cardiff providing follow up calls, if necessary.
• Telecare Cardiff and the TSA providing training sessions for Virgin Media O2 engineers to familiarise them with their specific in-home equipment and advise on how best to support shared customers. Engineers have committed to never leave a customer without a working landline or telecare device, with monitoring of the landline service continuing after they leave the property.
The customers who will be contacted as part of this trial have been identified by using of a secure data sharing agreement between Virgin Media O2 and Telecare Cardiff, helping identify people who use both services.
With migrations due to continue and ramp up towards the end of the year, Virgin Media O2 is renewing its call for all remaining local authorities and telecare providers to step up and establish essential data-sharing agreements to ensure all vulnerable customers can be identified and supported.
In Cardiff, one in 10 telecare users were previously unknown to Virgin Media O2, but have been identified after signing the data sharing agreement.
In addition to working with Telecare Cardiff, customers of other private telecare companies in the area who have been identified via alternative means – including self-identification directly to Virgin Media O2 – will also be taking part in this trial. Virgin Media O2 is calling on anyone who may need additional support, particularly in the Cardiff area, to contact them as soon as possible and let them know they are using a telecare device.
Gareth Lister, director of connectivity at Virgin Media O2, said, “With our decades-old copper network rapidly reaching end-of-life, it’s essential we move to digital voice so we can continue offering reliable services for years to come in Cardiff and beyond. We know how important it is to get this right for our customers, particularly those who rely on landline services and who use care alarms.
“Working closely with Telecare Cardiff, we’ve been able to better identify and communicate with our shared customers, offering the on-hand support they need for a smooth migration today, while also giving them the confidence and reassurance they deserve both now and in the future."
“With the network becoming more fragile day by day, there has never been a more pressing time for all local authorities and telecare providers to step up and play their part. We urge others to follow Cardiff’s lead and sign data sharing agreements to ensure no one is left behind.”
Alyson Scurfield, chief executive officer at TSA, said, “Over two million people in the UK rely on telecare services to lead independent lives and we want to make sure they can still count on their devices after landlines have switched to digital. Following the success of our collaboration with Virgin Media O2 and Carecall in Stockport, we’re now working with Virgin Media O2 and Telecare Cardiff in the Cardiff area. When telecare service providers collaborate with telecoms providers in this way, their customers experience a safe, smooth, speedy digital migration. TSA is also developing guidance, training and quality standards that can be used by other telecare services to support the migration process.”
The trial builds on Virgin Media O2’s trial with Stockport-based telecare provider Carecall last year, which resulted in 90 per cent of vulnerable customers contacted agreeing to migration appointments and almost all (96 per cent) being migrated. The trial helped inform Virgin Media O2’s approach to the work in Cardiff, where processes are now being tested on a larger scale.