Analogue PSTN lines are often used in lifts to provide the emergency communications necessary to meet the needs of British Standard EN 81-28, a standard for remote alarm systems on passenger and goods passenger lifts. It ensures trapped users can summon help, mandating 24/7 monitoring and emergency battery power.

These devices use DTMF signalling for call set up and mid call. With PSTN switch off, replacement products need to be provided to ensure ongoing compliance to the standard.

FTTP products may be available, and an availability check will be necessary to confirm that an order can be taken for the point of use, which is often the lift comms. room.

Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC)-based products, like Openreach’s Single Order Generic Ethernet Access (SOGEA) may be available, but the power back up arrangements at the FTTC cabinet need to be risk assessed, as SLAs/SLGs are not currently provided to cover the scenario of a localised (to the cabinet) power failure for this product.

Solutions using IP products connected to an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) or an Analogue to Digital (A2D) converter should be treated with caution, and generally wouldn’t be recommended, unless rigorous testing had been successfully concluded. The reason for this is that they have been shown to work inconsistently, if at all.

Whatever the solution offered, it is recommended these are thoroughly tested in conjunction with the supplier of the emergency lift device.

For consistency of operation across the UK, the best option is to move to a Cellular-based solution.

As PSTN switch off gets nearer, checks should be made with the end customer in order to determine the use-case of the lines, as simply migrating a PSTN line to, for example SOGEA, is not appropriate.

Care must be taken to ensure that the emergency lift line continues meet the needs of the standard through the migration. Communication Providers should be aware of the need to protect life and limb, and the question of legal liability.

Lift alarm lines typically show low usage patterns with periodic automated test calls. Reviewing line purpose before migration helps prevent unintended service disruption.

Unexpected communication failures can lead to emergency engineer dispatches, reputational impact, and contractual risk if emergency services are disrupted.

A managed approach, like SENTINEL from Memco by Avire, centralises monitoring, SIM resilience, and battery oversight, reducing reactive support and providing proactive fault visibility.

No. Managed lift connectivity is designed to integrate alongside existing managed voice portfolios, extending service capability rather than replacing core infrastructure.

Lift emergency communication should maintain a continuous two-way voice path, operate during power loss, and support automated testing aligned with EN 81-28 requirements.

Yes. Managed lift connectivity enables providers to extend critical communication services into safety-regulated environments while reducing migration-related risk exposure.