The Digital Switchover in Warrington: What It Means for Your Personal Alarm
The analogue phone network is retired on 31 January 2027 and every landline in Warrington becomes digital. Alarms that dial out through the phone socket can stop reaching help. Warrington is further ahead than almost any council we have looked at: it is already exchanging every CareCall unit for a digital one.
Key facts
- The analogue phone network (PSTN) is retired on 31 January 2027, a date the council itself quotes correctly.
- Warrington Borough Council, a unitary authority, runs CareCall, used by more than 3,800 people.
- Affected postcodes are WA1 to WA5 plus WA13 at Lymm, covering Stockton Heath, Culcheth, Birchwood, Great Sankey and Penketh.
- If your provider gives you a changeover date, ring CareCall on 01925 458000 and your equipment exchange is prioritised.
What is changing in Warrington, and when?
Openreach is retiring the analogue telephone network by 31 January 2027. From then a Warrington landline runs over the broadband connection, the phone plugs into the router rather than the wall socket, and the number stays the same. Openreach has said there will be no cliff edge on 1 February 2027.
Warrington Borough Council states the position plainly on its own website: between now and 31 January 2027, all telephone lines in England will be transferred from analogue to digital lines. It is one of the few councils that quotes the current date rather than a superseded one, which is a good sign about how closely the service is tracking the programme.
Will my personal alarm still work after the switch-off?
An analogue alarm may well not. Older units reach a monitoring centre by sending audio tones down a copper pair, and digital lines do not carry those tones reliably. Nothing announces the failure. The base unit still shows a light, and the problem only surfaces the first time somebody presses the button for real.
Nationally, the Telecare National Action Plan 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. That protection is only as good as the information the phone company holds about your household.
Power is a separate issue. Digital lines carry no power of their own and stop in a power cut. Ofcom requires providers to give at least one hour of access to emergency organisations during an outage and to offer battery backup free of charge to people who depend on the landline for 999. That covers emergency calls, not telecare equipment.
How do I check whether my alarm uses the phone line?
- Look at the connection. A lead into a white phone socket means an analogue unit. A lead into the broadband router means it has already been changed. Only a power lead usually means a mobile unit.
- Check who monitors it. There should be a name and number on the base. In Warrington that is usually CareCall, sometimes a housing provider, sometimes a private company arranged years ago.
- Run a test call. Press the button, say it is a test, and confirm the operator can hear you and holds the right address and keyholders. Repeat straight after any engineer visit.
What about alarms provided by Warrington Borough Council?
The council's community alarm service is CareCall, and it describes the current unit as a portable alarm linked to home broadband or a mobile sim card rather than to the old phone line. More than 3,800 people use it. The team is a substantial operation, with operators, installers and support workers on call 24 hours a day, and it also answers the council's out of hours emergency calls. You can sign up online through the My Warrington portal, or ring 01925 443322 if you would rather speak to somebody. At the time of writing the unit costs £5.77 a week including maintenance and monitoring, with a one off installation charge of £10.
On the switchover, the council is doing the thing most councils only talk about. It says it is exchanging all customer units for digital alternatives, and it asks residents to help it prioritise: if your telephone provider gives you a digital changeover date, ring the CareCall team on 01925 458000 and your exchange will be brought forward. That is a rare and genuinely useful offer, and it costs nothing to take up.
What should Warrington residents do now?
Ring your phone provider and tell them a personal alarm is used in the house, asking to be recorded as dependent on the line. When they give you a changeover date, ring CareCall on 01925 458000 with it. Those two calls, in that order, are the whole job for a CareCall household.
If the alarm came from anywhere other than the council, the council's exchange programme does not cover you. Treat it as needing replacement until the supplier confirms in writing that it works on a digital line. A mobile connected alarm removes the landline question entirely, which is useful in the older terraces of Latchford and Orford as much as in Grappenhall or Lymm. Choose 4G, since 3G is already switched off.
The single most important point for Warrington
Warrington will swap your CareCall unit for a digital one, but it is working through more than 3,800 of them. The way to get to the front of the queue is to ring 01925 458000 as soon as your phone company tells you when your line is being upgraded. Do not wait for the council to guess your date.
Not on CareCall, and not sure what you have?
Our UK monitoring centre in Southport answers alarm calls 24 hours a day, and 99.6% of alarm calls are answered in under 60 seconds. If you bought an alarm privately and cannot get an answer from the supplier, describe it to us and we will tell you honestly whether it is at risk.
Telephone 01704 332840 | info@holdengrange.com
Book a free call with HannahFrequently asked questions
CareCall. It is run directly by Warrington Borough Council and supports more than 3,800 people. You can sign up online through My Warrington or ring 01925 443322. The current charge is £5.77 a week, with a one off £10 installation fee.
Yes. The council says it is exchanging all customer units for digital alternatives ahead of the 31 January 2027 deadline. If your telephone provider gives you a changeover date, ring the CareCall team on 01925 458000 and your exchange will be prioritised.
No. Warrington is a unitary authority and runs its own adult social care and its own community alarm service, so CareCall is the local service rather than anything provided by Cheshire East or Cheshire West and Chester.
Yes. Our alarms work anywhere with 4G coverage, so WA1 to WA5 and WA13 are covered, including Lymm, Culcheth, Birchwood, Stockton Heath, Penketh, Woolston and Burtonwood. Alarms are posted out and set up at home, with no waiting list.
Where to start: tell your phone company an alarm is in use, then ring CareCall on 01925 458000 with your changeover date so your unit exchange is prioritised. If the alarm was bought privately, see SOS pendant alarms in Warrington, our digital switchover guide, or read what happens if a telecare alarm stops working. More on the council's team is on its CareCall team 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.