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

The analogue phone network is retired on 31 January 2027 and every landline in Peterborough becomes digital. A pendant alarm plugged into the phone socket in Werrington, Stanground or Bretton may not be able to call for help afterwards. Peterborough City Council does run an alarm service, and the date shown on its own web page needs correcting.

What is changing in Peterborough, and when?

Openreach is retiring the analogue telephone network by 31 January 2027. A home phone in Peterborough will then run over the broadband connection, with the handset plugged into the router rather than a wall socket. The number is unchanged and an ordinary call sounds the same.

What changes is anything else that used the line. Openreach reported roughly 2.8 million lines still on the old network in February 2026. Across the older streets of Eastfield and Fletton, and in the newer estates at Hampton and Orton, a share of those lines still carry an alarm nobody has thought about since it was fitted.

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

Only if it is digital ready or works over the mobile network. Analogue base units signal using audio tones down a copper line, and digital lines do not carry them reliably. The Telecare National Action Plan from DHSC and DSIT commits that no telecare user will be migrated to a digital landline without the communications provider, the customer or the telecare provider confirming that a compatible and functioning telecare solution is in place.

Power cuts are the second issue. A digital line runs through 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. That backup comes from the phone company and protects a 999 call, not the alarm.

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

1. Look at the leads. A thin cable into a white phone socket means analogue. A cable into the broadband router means it has already been changed. A power lead alone usually means a mobile unit.
2. Identify the service. A council supplied unit in Peterborough is monitored under the Lifeline service delivered with Careium. Anything else will carry a company name on a label.
3. Press the button. Say clearly that it is a test, then check the operator can hear you and holds the correct address and keyholders.

What about alarms provided by Peterborough City Council?

Peterborough City Council runs its alarm offer under Technology Enabled Care, with the Lifeline unit and sensors provided by Careium and calls answered at a 24 hour response centre. The council sets out how to get it: ring the Adult Early Help team on 01733 747474, or send a completed self-referral form to adultsocialcare@peterborough.gov.uk. The first six weeks are free, after which the published charge is £17 a month excluding VAT.

The council has published something about the switchover on that page, which puts it ahead of many. It explains that the analogue telephone system is being gradually replaced with a modern digital system, tells residents to expect contact from their phone provider offering an upgrade, and promises to communicate any changes required to Lifeline services.

There is one problem with it. The page says the transition is planned to be completed by the end of 2025. That was the original industry target, and it was pushed back to ensure protections for vulnerable customers. The correct date is 31 January 2027. If you have read that page and concluded either that the deadline has already passed or that nothing more is coming, neither is right. The work is live now and there are roughly six months left.

What should Peterborough residents do now?

Ring the landline provider and tell them somebody in the household relies on a personal alarm. That single fact on the account is what triggers the national protections before an engineer arrives to convert the line.

Then ring 01733 747474 if the alarm came through the council, and ask two things: is this particular unit digital ready, and if not, when is it being replaced. If the alarm was bought privately, the seller is the only organisation that can answer. A mobile connected alarm avoids the landline question entirely, which suits the many Peterborough households in bungalows and flats where broadband is not in the resident's name. Any replacement should be 4G, because 3G mobile networks are now switched off.

Frequently asked questions

Where to start: tell your phone company an alarm is in use, ring the council on 01733 747474 if the alarm came from Lifeline, and work to 31 January 2027 rather than the older date. See our SOS pendant alarms in Peterborough page, our digital switchover guide, or read what the 2027 landline switch off means for personal alarms. Openreach sets out the national timetable on its digital phone lines page. 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.