News & Views

Monitored fire alarms and lift phones are safety-critical services and there are serious public safety, personal injury and property damage risks if they fail to operate in an emergency situation.

nbn operates a mix of network access technologies, each with different power requirements. As with any telecommunications service, service continuity cannot be guaranteed at all times.

While there are some limited circumstances in which nbn services may not work, the amount of time a service will continue during a power failure will be dependent on the presence of battery backup in a premises and the availability of the nbn™ network itself during a power outage.

The Department of Communications, in conjunction with the Fire Protection Association Australia and the Australian Elevator Association, have released a ‘Migration of monitored fire alarm and lift phone services good practice guide’, which outlines a number of solutions to ensure fire alarm and lift phone services continue to operate during a power failure.

This guide recommends that regardless of the nbn™ technology being deployed to your new development, a 3G or 4G cellular connection is installed for your lift phone and fire panel service. 

To do this, contact an Equipment Provider to purchase and install the 3G or 4G hardware and then contact a Retail Service Provider to arrange a connection.

For further details on the 3G/4G solution and available providers visit www.communications.gov.au/fireandlift.

For those with existing fire and lift phone services, register your service (including the Full National Number (FNN)) for migration at www.nbn.com.au/fireandlift or call 1800 687 626.