This article and Q&A about your lift emergency phone lines and the requirements in Australia due to the NBN has been provided by Rex Henning, Equity Elevator Management.
Question: We are advised that due to NBN the lift emergency phone lines will have to be switched over and the quotes to do this have been huge. We feel lift companies are taking advantage of the situation.
GET THE LATEST STRATA NEWS / ARTICLES DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX HERE
We have a new lift and yet the emergency phone has never been working!
We are advised that due to NBN the lift emergency phone lines will have to be switched over and the quotes to do this have been huge to date plus they want to charge a monthly fee to check the battery!
It sounds like the lift companies are taking advantage of the opportunity to upgrade and people’s lack of knowledge on the topic.
Answer: As an alternative, you may wish to obtain quotes from a telecoms provider rather than the lift company.
As an alternative, you may wish to obtain quotes from a telecoms provider rather than the lift company that installed and now maintains the lift. The only company we know that operates nationally is VoIP.
This post appears in Strata News #252.
How about a few hours in pitch-dark solitary confinement?
The idea may appeal to the yogis amongst us, but no one wants to be trapped in a pitch-dark lift with no light or emergency phone. The chances of this happening to you are not as remote as you may think. As lift consultants, more than 20% of lifts we inspect have no emergency light and/or phone that works when the mains power goes down, this despite it being legally required and a critical safety feature too!
To add to this, your lift emergency phone connection will need to change ahead of the NBN arriving in your building.
The worrying truth about your lift emergency phone lines ahead of NBN Roll-out.
Most lift phones aren’t compatible with the NBN, so new Australian guidelines recommend that building owners install a dual path communication system when Telstra disconnect your existing lift emergency phone lines.
Sensing the business opportunity, phone companies and some major lift companies have come up with solutions along with their sales pitch and marketing jargon. Navigating through all this can be confusing and may not result in the best, safest or most cost effective option getting selected for your particular situation.
In most cases, the safest and simplest solution is a dual sim, dual modem 3G wireless device which simply replaces your old phone line connection. These devices can be supplied either by a phone company or your lift company. Be wary if you are offered more than this and bear in mind some of the suppliers’ will use proprietary technology, meaning you will have issues when you need to upgrade (4G will replace 3G in a few years) or if you decide to change your service provider down the track.
We have come across certain situations where a more complex solution is appropriate, for example, where mobile signal strength is poor or the layout of the lifts within a building is unusual. In most cases, the dual sim, dual modem 3G wireless device is all you’ll need.
Please visit our website for more information or contact us for an obligation free chat.
This post appears in Strata News #149
Rex Henning
Director – Lift Consultant
Equity Elevator Management
P: 0450 927 909
E: [email protected]
Read next:
- Lifts: A Guideline to Strata Owners’ Responsibilities
- NSW: Q&A Reducing the Cost of Our Lift Maintenance Contract
For more updates on your lift emergency phone lines or matters concerning strata in your state or territory, visit Maintenance & Common Property and Strata Information Pages by States
After a free PDF of this article? Log into your existing LookUpStrata Account to download the printable file. Not a member? Simple – join for free on our Registration page.
Have a question about lift emergency phone lines or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.
We used Connected Buildings. They were by far the most professional, and also very competitively priced.
Thanks Tony for the insight and thanks Nikki!
Our Body Corporate faced the same questions when faced with the need to convert our lift phones in preparation for the changeover to the NBN. As members of the Unit Owners Association of Queensland (UOAQ) we had access to excellent advice for contacts to help with this question and ended up with a considerable saving on our conversion compared with the price quoted by our lift maintenance contractors. Our chosen suppliers used the dual sim, dual modem setup. This is just one of recent experiences where advice from UOAQ has saved us substantial amounts in the employment of service contractors, recouping the modest membership fee many times over. Help is out there if you know where to look.
Tony Thurbon.