As Lifeline home units provide emergency support, they must be able to raise an alarm on the telephone line even when another telephone within the property is being used or has accidentally been left off hook.
Until now the only way to achieve this was to rewire all extension phones via the telephone socket in the Lifeline to allow the Lifeline to seize the telephone line. However this can involve a considerable amount of rewiring, particularly if the property has more than one telephone device sharing the telephone line. This is becoming an increasingly common occurrence with people using multiple telephones, digital television receivers etc all on one line.
The Safe Socket™ is a new concept to ensure that alarm calls are raised even though the telephone line is in use. It allows the Lifeline home unit to seize the phone line from other connected devices on the same line (i.e. extension phone, computer, fax machine, satellite receiver etc).
The Lifeline home unit must be connected directly to the BT wall socket and NOT via a Safe Socket™. All other devices utilising the same line (e.g. additional telephones, fax machines, modems, digital television receivers) must be connected to the telephone line via a Safe Socket™.
When an alarm is raised from the Lifeline home unit, it detects the telephone line is in use and signals to the Safe Sockets™ to automatically cut the line to the connected telephone device. This frees the telephone line for the Lifeline to redial and raise an alarm call.
Where Lifeline home units have not been installed in accordance with their installation instructions there is a possibility that the use of a telephone sharing the same telephone line may stop an alarm from dialling for assistance. In this case the success of the alarm relies upon an audible prompt from the Lifeline for the telephone user to hang up to allow the alarm call to be raised. The Safe Socket™ provides a more reliable and automated process of ensuring alarm calls are raised even when the telephone line is being used or a telephone handset has been left accidentally off the hook.
