Sure is expanding its home visit service for anyone switching over to fibre for their landline or broadband, aimed at digital inclusion and support for the elderly.
Every landline and broadband in Guernsey will be changing to fibre by the end of 2026, which is why Sure has teamed up with Age Concern Guernsey to run fibre information meetings around the island, with more than 100 people attending.
Sure’s Community Fibre Officer Tom Pinsard (pictured) was at the meetings to answer any questions, which included: “What’s involved with the switch over process?”, “Is this only for internet?” and “Is it more expensive than I currently pay?”.
Tom visited the four Age Concern Guernsey meetings in St Martins, Vale, St Peters, and St Peter Port, to help older adults across Guernsey make the switch from their current landline or broadband to fibre, and explain how to book a home visit, which anyone can do by calling 700700.
The meetings involved helping people work out what the right broadband speed is for them – for single person households the Basic Fibre service can stream up to 3 devices at the same time, but for bigger households with people wanting to use broadband to watch TV in two different rooms for example, then higher speeds are recommended.
Other information that Sure’s Community Fibre Officers provide includes information for Lifeline (or vulnerable) customers, who can apply for a battery back-up to ensure they can make calls in the event of a power cut.
Tom said: “Every landline and broadband in Guernsey will be changing to fibre by the end of 2026. At the moment 60% of people are ordering their fibre online, but we know that some customers prefer to switch over in person or on the phone, and not everyone can go into our High Street store.
“I love talking to people, which is why it’s fantastic to go to be able to do home visits and help people understand how easy it is to switch to fibre. It’s important that everyone in the community is included, to ensure landlines remain connected, so, we want to give everyone the right information. If you want to know more about fibre, call us on 700700, and we can talk it through with you, or even arrange a home visit.”
David Inglis, Age Concern Guernsey Guernsey, said: “It’s great to partner with Sure on this initiative. Tom was a fantastic help at the meetings, answering all of our groups’ questions, and we appreciate Sure taking the time to do this. Telephone and broadband services are a vital means of connecting our users to others, so we want to help them understand what was changing.”
