Households with members using Emergency Alarm System（平安鐘）should check carefully before switching residential telephone line service provider to avoid interruption of services.
In a recent Consumer Council survey on residential telephone services, it was found that not all service plans support emergency alarm system.
The survey covered 34 service plans provided by 8 telephone operators. For the 19 service plans providing residential telephone line only, monthly fees ranged from HK$38 to HK$188. Most of the service plans require customers to sign fixed term contracts for 12 to 24 months. For the 15 residential telephone services bundled with other services, the monthly fees ranged between HK$124 and HK$309, with fixed-term contract of 24 months or 30 months.
Among the 34 surveyed service plans, 7 of the service plans surveyed claimed to support the emergency alarm system. Another 5 service plans might not support the operation of the emergency alarm system if the telephone network at where the user resides was a broadband one. Therefore, consumers who wish to connect the alarm system to their residential telephone line should find out from the telephone service provider how well the system would be supported.
Consumers should state clearly their needs to connect to the alarm system when subscribing for the telephone service. They are also advised to contact their emergency alarm service provider for detailed connection arrangement.
When subscribing to a bundled offer, consumers must take note that the different services included in the plan may in fact under different agreements with the service providers. There are cases that even if one of the services cannot be installed, customers are still obliged to honour the agreements and continue to pay for services involved.
Some of the plans require customers to use particular types of telephone set or other device such as modems. Consumers should find out whether the telephone set/device are to be returned when the subscription expires, and whether accepting such telephone set/device would imply their agreement to subscribe additional services.
Most of the service plans in the survey allowed customers to carry their existing telephone numbers, i.e. number porting to the new service plan. However, consumers are reminded that in order to port the number, they are required to fill out a "Notification of Service Disconnection Form"（「客戶終止服務通知書」表格）requesting number porting. The customer information provided on the form must be the same as that on the record of the current service provider, otherwise the request for number porting may be denied.
Consumers are therefore advised to keep a copy of the service contract or the latest bill for reference. Alternatively they could inquire or update their personal information with the current service provider before applying for the migration.
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