The Digital Switchover in Bournemouth: What It Means for Your Personal Alarm

Analogue phone lines are being retired on 31 January 2027 and every landline in Bournemouth turns digital. If a relative in Winton, Boscombe or Southbourne has a pendant alarm plugged into the phone socket, it may not be able to call for help afterwards. BCP Council runs the local alarm service and has published switchover information.

What is changing in Bournemouth, and when?

Openreach is retiring the analogue telephone network by 31 January 2027. Every home line from Talbot Woods to Pokesdown moves onto a digital service carried over the broadband connection, with the handset plugging into the router rather than the wall socket. Numbers are unchanged. This is an industry led programme rather than a council decision, although Ofcom and government both have formal roles in protecting customers through it.

Openreach reported roughly 2.8 million lines still on the old network in February 2026. In a town with as many retired residents as Bournemouth, a good share of those remaining lines belong to households that have never changed provider, and often to the same households that have a personal alarm by the phone.

Will my personal alarm still work after the switch-off?

Only if it is digital ready or works over the mobile network. Analogue alarms signal using audio tones down a copper line and digital lines do not reliably carry them. The Telecare National Action Plan from DHSC and DSIT commits that no telecare user should be migrated to a digital landline without someone first confirming a compatible and functioning telecare solution is in place. That safeguard only works if the phone provider knows the alarm is there.

Power cuts are the other risk. A digital landline runs off the broadband router, so it stops when the electricity does. Ofcom requires providers to give at least one hour of access to emergency organisations during a power cut and says providers should offer battery backup free of charge to customers who depend on their landline to call the emergency services. The backup comes from the phone company, not the alarm supplier, and it protects 999 calls rather than the alarm itself.

How do I check whether my alarm uses the phone line?

1. Look at the back of the base unit. A thin cable into a white phone socket means analogue and at risk. A cable into the broadband router means it has already moved. A power lead alone usually means a mobile unit.
2. Identify the monitoring service. A BCP Lifeline unit is monitored by the council team. Anything else should carry a company name on a label.
3. Test it. Press the button, say clearly that it is a test, and confirm the operator can hear you and has the correct address and keyholders.

What about alarms provided by BCP Council?

BCP Council provides Lifeline, described by the council as a 24 hour emergency contact system for people living in their own home, helping them live independently with help at the touch of a button. The service brands itself BCP Lifeline, covers Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole across most BH postcodes, and can be reached on 0330 123 3293 or at lifeline@bcpcouncil.gov.uk. The team offers a free demonstration with no obligation before installation.

For a Bournemouth household this matters because the same service covers the whole conurbation, so a unit installed in Southbourne is administered exactly as one in Poole. It also means the switchover is a single programme for the council rather than three separate ones, which should make the answer to a direct question clearer.

BCP Council has published a digital phone switchover article in its own news hub. That puts it ahead of many councils, which have published nothing at all. It is still worth ringing 0330 123 3293 and asking the specific questions that a general news article cannot answer: is the base unit in this house digital ready, when is it due to be changed, and what should we do if the phone line is upgraded before that happens.

What should Bournemouth residents do now?

Ring the landline provider and say that someone in the household uses a personal alarm. That one fact recorded on the account is what triggers the national protections before an engineer arrives.

Then check the alarm. If it is BCP Lifeline, contact the Lifeline team. If it was bought privately, perhaps years ago as a present, treat it as suspect until confirmed. A mobile connected alarm removes the landline question altogether, which suits the many converted flats and retirement blocks around Westbourne, Boscombe and Queens Park where broadband is not always in the resident's name. Any replacement should be on 4G, as 3G has already been switched off.

Frequently asked questions

Where to start: ring BCP Lifeline or your alarm provider, tell your phone company an alarm is in use, then plan a digital ready replacement. See our SOS pendant alarms in Bournemouth page, our digital switchover guide, or read what the 2027 landline switch off means for personal alarms. BCP Council's own digital phone switchover article is on its news hub. Call our UK team on 01704 332840.

Holden Grange is a UK telecare provider based in Southport, a TSA member and certified under the TEC Quality Standards Framework. Our alarm receiving centre is UK based and operates 24 hours a day.