Concerns for safety of elderly people as landline issues drag on

Nearly 1000 ACT residents have complained to the ombudsman about issues relating to their landlines in the past two financial years.

The problem does not appear to be going away and raises concerns about the safety of vulnerable, elderly people, many of whom are cut off from contact with the rest of the world without a landline because they do not own or know how to use a mobile phone.

Several people have contacted the Sunday Canberra Times to share their stories after reading last weekend about 98-year-old Red Hill resident Avis Parry, who took to the streets at night in her dressing gown to find help when she was unable to contact her carer during a landline outage that took Telstra 17 days to rectify.

Kaleen resident Colleen Spellman, 86, had no landline service from January 15 until February 15.

Optus partially rectified the issue after a complaint to the ombudsman, but while Mrs Spellman could make calls from the landline, it wasn't until March 15 that the issue was fully resolved and she could receive calls from all providers.

"It was pretty horrible [while the landline was down] because I was here at home with no way to make contact with anyone while [son] Tim was at work," Mrs Spellman said.

"I had an issue where I needed an ambulance, but it was at a time when Tim was home and it was only lucky that he was here."

Mr Spellman, who lives with and cares for his mother, said he worried about what might have happened had he not been home that day.

"It's OK for people like me when [the landline] doesn't work, because I've got my mobile, but [the landline] is pretty important for these old folks," he said.

"I had to keep explaining to [Optus] that this was an elderly, extremely frail lady who can't drive anymore and whose only way to make contact with people is the phone."

An Optus spokeswoman said the company had been in "regular and frequent" contact with Mrs Spellman about the issues. She said Mrs Spellman had been offered an apology and credit to cover her bill.

Data from the telecommunications industry ombudsman shows ACT residents made 2466 complaints last financial year, with 251 of those relating to landlines.

In 2016-17, Canberrans complained to the industry ombudsman 2612 times, with landlines to blame for 669 of the issues.

Charles Steele is another Canberran who has been frustrated by landline issues recently.

In October, the Spence resident's landline started dropping in and out intermittently, and he said for the past two months it hadn't worked at all.

He and his wife Margaret, both aged 84, had made a complaint to the ombudsman but the issue was not yet resolved.

Mr Steele said they were using mobile phones in the meantime, but that came with challenges.

Council on the Ageing ACT chief executive Jenny Mobbs said access to a landline was critical for the elderly.

"Contact with older people is essential for their health," she said.

"A lot of older people are resistant to mobile phones, so the landline is a critical link to the world for them.

"If it's not there, sometimes they might not talk to anybody for a week and nobody knows if anything goes wrong."

Ms Mobbs said telecommunications companies should show more urgency in restoring landline services in cases involving elderly people, given landlines were more important to that demographic.

She said it was often difficult for elderly people and their relatives to convey the urgency of a situation to telecommunications companies because they were so rarely able to speak to the same person who had handled any previous contact.

"Telcos are notoriously bad for their service," she said.

Asked whether cases involving elderly people were given higher priority, the Optus spokeswoman said all customer issues were treated as a priority.

A Telstra spokesman said last week that it offered priority service for customers with a medical condition and documentation from their doctor.