Overview of the 111 Contact Code
Lightwire abides by the Commerce Commission's 111 Contact Code, which is to ensure that vulnerable customers have reasonable access to be able to contact Emergency Services in the event of a power outage at your property.
The 111 Contact Code requires that Lightwire provide for vulnerable consumers who have no other alternative means of contacting 111 in a power outage.
What services are affected?
Fibre and wireless services will not work in the event of a power failure unless you have a backup power supply. If you purchase a retail phone line from Lightwire, you will not be able to use this to contact 111 in the event of a power failure.
Other devices at your home may also be impacted in a power failure, such as cordless phones and medical alarms without a backup battery.
Please note that the 111 Contact Code does not apply to medical alarms or other services that make use of the phone line.
Also note that the 111 Contact Code does not apply to wide-spread power outages that impact the power to the infrastructure and towers providing wireless services to your area, which would cause your internet and phone service to be unusable. Lightwire's towers all have battery backup systems in place to provide for this, however there may be rare occasions where even these battery backups fail, leaving you without service. The 111 Contact Code only applies to power outages at your property.
We recommend that you think carefully about whether a Lightwire phone line suits your requirements before switching away from an analog copper phone line or mobile service, which can continue to work in the event of a power failure.
Vulnerable consumers
The 111 Contact Code defines a Vulnerable Consumer as someone who has no alternative means to call 111 in a power failure (e.g. no mobile coverage) and who is at particular risk of requiring the 111 service, e.g. for specific medical conditions, personal safety, or disability reasons.
If you wish to be considered as a Vulnerable Consumer, you will need to apply by returning the form below and provide proof that you meet the requirements of the 111 Contact Code to be classified as a Vulnerable Consumer.
This proof can come in the form of either
- A nominated competent person that we can contact to confirm your status as a Vulnerable Consumer (e.g. a health practitioner, police officer, social worker, lawyer, family court judge, etc)
or
- Documents such as a Notice of Potential Medically Dependent Consumer (MDC) Status form, protection order, letter from a health practitioner, documentation of impairment, etc.
The 111 Contact Code allows us to decline your application if we feel your application falls into one of the following categories:
-
Not a retail landline service consumer
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Nominated person does not satisfy criteria to be a nominated person
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Nominated person does not support the application
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Nominated person cannot be reached despite all reasonable efforts
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If provided evidence about vulnerability is insufficient and the provider has already made reasonable efforts to help the customer remedy it
-
Consumer has sufficient means to contact 111 already, i.e. access to a copper landline service, access to mobile service and is in coverage, access to 8 hour power backup already.
Applying to be considered as a Vulnerable Consumer
To make an application to be considered as a Vulnerable Consumer, please download, complete, and return the following form. Please read the "Part E: Guidance" sections thoroughly.
Download form: Application to be Considered as a Vulnerable Consumer.pdf
We will assess your application and provide you with a response within 10 working days.
If your application is accepted, we will send you appropriate means of contacting the 111 emergency service in the event of a power failure at your premise at no cost to you.
We will not deny or cease supply of your retail phone service on the basis that we know or suspect that a consumer is or may become a vulnerable customers.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this process please feel free to call us on 0800 12 13 14 or send an email to support@lightwire.co.nz with your questions and we'll get back in touch as quickly as possible.
Complaints and Disputes
If you wish to raise a complaint or dispute under this Code, you may do so by contacting the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service. This is an independent industry dispute resolution service that you can access at no cost. You can access this service via its website at https://www.tdr.org.nz or via phone at 0508 98 98 98.
Alternatively you can also contact the Commerce Commission directly via their website https://comcom.govt.nz/make-a-complaint or via email at contact@comcom.govt.nz or via phone at 0800 943 600.
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