A stark warning has been issued that thousands of older and vulnerable people in Norfolk could be put at risk because traditional telephone lines are about to be axed.
Norfolk County Council fears the change will leave people confused about what they need to do - which scammers could take advantage of.
Copper lines currently used for landlines will be switched off and people will need to have and use a broadband connection for their telephones.
Some technology people use, such as alarm lines and sensors, are linked to the landlines - so are likely to need upgrading.
But officers and county councillors fear there is a lack of understanding about what is happening - and what people need to do.
At a meeting of the council's scrutiny committee on Wednesday, County Hall's digital services director Geoff Connell said: "The withdrawal of the traditional copper-based telephone network is particularly affecting people with technology-enabled care - people who have alarm lines in their homes or sensors that give warnings."
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Mr Connell said the council was trying to get information out to people about the forthcoming switch.
He said: "Frankly, I worry that if people do not understand it, they are more susceptible to being scammed or to not making the change and therefore having a risk.
"We need to intervene and make sure the market - the telephony providers - are doing everything they should be doing to understand who is at risk, to communicate with them effectively and to put them at the back of the queue for change if they live in areas of poor mobile coverage or if they do not have decent broadband available."
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He said the council was making information about such people which County Hall was aware of available to the phone companies.
Conservative county councillor Lesley Bambridge said she was worried older people would be left confused as to what would happen.
Brian Watkins, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group, said: "I know only too well the concern and anxiety that my own mother had fairly recently when the new digital phone was installed.
"We have to give as much support we possibly can to older and vulnerable people during this transition."
What is happening and what do you need to do?
The UK is upgrading its telephone network from the old analogue system to a new digital system.
So, by 2025, landline calls will be made using the internet instead of traditional phone lines.
Norfolk County Council says that, in most cases, people don’t need to do anything until their provider tells them their telephone service is changing.
However, people dependent on a landline telephone, or a service that relies on it, such as a telecare device, personal alarm, or burglar/fire alarm, ought to check with the provider of the service to see what their plans are.
When the switchover finally happens, it may be as simple as plugging phones into a broadband router rather than the socket on the wall.
But, once the old telephone connection is switched off, people who do not have broadband, but want to keep having a landline, will need to pay for a broadband connection.
Unlike traditional phones, a phone connected to a broadband router will not work in a power cut, as the router gets its power from the mains.
If people do not have mobile phones or no mobile signal in their houses, providers have to make sure they are able to contact emergency services during a power cut.
That could entail a battery back-up or giving a basic mobile phone to use in such a situation.
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