The clock is ticking on the great UK analogue telephony switch-off – but there’s more to this digital revolution than just voice.

How many are ready for the impact on network-reliant alarm systems?

Tens of thousands of sheltered and semi-sheltered housing schemes depend upon the ability for elderly and vulnerable residents to push a help button when they are in need of assistance. Also, businesses everywhere rely on analogue technology to connect their intruder alarm systems to their security and protection providers.

Free hardware provided by the carriers will seamlessly convert voice, but its ability to reliably send complete and uncompromised alarm tones upon which those systems depend is perhaps less certain.

Alarm communication is different from voice communication

“For residential voice users, the analogue switch-off will mean that the new digital replacement will provide enhanced clarity and reliability, and the operators are providing broadband telephony gateway plug-ins to facilitate that – but for alarm systems, the adaptation is not as straightforward,” says Gunnar Reinholdsen, Founder at leading real-time communications platform provider iotcomms.io.

“There are a lot of different types of alarm devices out there and they rely on the sending and receiving of a string of tones. If just one tone is missing or there is an echo on the line, the alarm information is either not received by the alarm receiving centre (ARC) at all, or it might not deliver the entire information an ARC agent needs to handle the alarm efficiently. Think of it as a handshake of alarm information that’s needed between the device and the ARC. It is important to be aware of these challenges as they are extra relevant in the PSTN switch-off context.”

An inexpensive bridge from the old to the new

One way to tackle the analogue network switch-off is to invest tens of thousands of pounds in new, root-and-branch digital communication hardware. However, another is to leverage the inexpensive smarts of subscription-based services that cleverly provides alarm systems with an invisible bridge from the old to the new.

For Solution Providers, it is an opportunity to not only instantly solve alarm-reliant customers’ PSTN switch-off challenges, but also to retain customers who may otherwise have felt the need to shop around for a new technology partner.

All those providers have to do is seek out a solution that delivers on both fronts.

Keeping the analogue alarm infrastructure

“There are around 25,000 sheltered housing schemes in the UK and we estimate that 90% of them are reliant on analogue connections,” says Reinholdsen. “Many will not be able to invest, say, tens of thousands of pounds in a new digital care alarm communication system, so our pay-monthly cloud service, which we call Alarmbridge Connect, is a more economically viable option.

It provides an end-to-end cloud service with no capital investment; it is an operational expense like a broadband subscription under the terms of a Service Level Agreement.”

Alarmbridge Connect reliably delivers encapsulated analogue alarm communication over the internet and converts it to a digital format which is delivered to the ARC, effectively creating a bridge between the two technologies. It allows users to retain existing analogue alarm infrastructure at their premises.

“It is a powerful message to share: why replace all of the alarm equipment when there is a better alternative?” says Reinholdsen.

“There are so many benefits to keeping what they have, in addition to the financial benefits it is also good for the environment to continue to use equipment which works fine and may only be a few years old.”

Ready for the all-digital telecare environment

Additionally, it’s not an interim fix either. Being based on a modern cloud-native platform, it makes sheltered and semi-sheltered housing schemes digital-ready and able to easily add functionality or solve future problems in the telecare environment.

Crucially, iotcomms.io have valuable experience of an analogue-to-digital switch-over as the same thing occurred recently in Sweden, where the company is based.

“As citizens and businesses, we have been through it all here and we know what it means,” says Reinholdsen. “Consequently, as a facilitator of an analogue switch-off, we have added experience to our existing expertise in the building of cloud-based services for critical alarm communication.

“That represents added value not only to solution providers, but also to their customers for whom peace of mind is critical.”

  • To learn more about how iotcomms.io can help providers of alarm services to sheltered housing schemes navigate the UK PSTN switch-off, visit its website.


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