Getting rid of BT phone line, the options?

Gabrielleuk wrote:

We use Skype and Voipcheap.com + the mobiles so the BT phone line is becoming more of a privilege than a necessity. Of course, Broadband is still needed to call out, browsing the web and having access to the email system.

Has anybody got broadband while ditching phone line altogether? How do I get a sip number or the like so that people can still call us on a phone (meaning PC off)?

My initial thought is to go the cable route and get broadband only. I was thinking of getting a wireless modem, router, maybe a sip phone or a connector (ATA?) to the existing conventional phones for voip calls.

Have you made the jump and what is the option you’ve opted for and why? Could the saving justify the hassle? Any tip/useful advice? When the added equipment is bought, what is the real saving of joining the 21st century?

Gabrielleuk - if you are in an area where cable broadband is available, i would choose cable rather than adsl. The reason is that with adsl you are required to have a phone line, in order to have adsl. Usually with most cable (broadband) providers you can have a cable broadband connection without having to have a phoneline as well.

I what i advise to do is get disconnect your bt phone line and adsl if you have it, then signup for cable broadband (without a phoneline) then signup with a voip provider. some voip service providers offer free ATA's or cheap ATA's/voip router's if you signup to one of their monthly plans. For you info, voipcheap can be used with ATA's, if you are thinking about getting one.

The equipment you need depends on what equipment you already have and what want or might want to do. All you might need is one or more ATA's, if you have more than one computer in your house and they connected together using a ethernet switch/hub. As you seem to be leaning towards wireless networking and voip, i would recommend getting a router which has all the features you will need - some include wireless, voip ports and an 4/5-port ethernet switch along with a port to plug in the cable modem; all in the one device.

Myself - i haven't made the switch to using a voip provider as my main phone service, as i haven't found an ata which doesn't cost an arm and a leg like most do. I can't currently justify spending lots of money (some ata's cost £50-60 and up) on an ATA. I am currently use telewest for my phoneline and cable broadband, and onetel and phonecheap for the phone calls. If i can find a cheap new or secondhand ATA, i will dump my phone line and onetel and use one of the many cheap voip service providers for my phone line and calls.

The benefits are that you can save lots of money e.g. save about £10/month by not having a 'normal' phone line and you can also save money on phone calls as phone calls using voip services are usually much cheaper and sometimes even free!. Plus you can signup to more than one service to save even more money, i.e. 1 service for incoming calls & a phone number, a 2nd for free outgoing calls to landlines (often both uk landlines and some international landlines/mobiles as well) and third for out going calls to mobiles and/or other types of numbers.


p.s. a side benefit of having cable is that now and again you get speed increases for nothing. for example - when i originally signed up with telewest, i paid for the 512 kbps service and have had about 3 speed increases since, none of which i've had to pay extra for. connection speed is currently 4 mbps! and still the same price as when i signed up.

hope this helps,


Dave Fear

Hi moonraker, can I be cheeky and ask how you managed that? I am a newbie on here and am totally boggled by all the info. I now want a mortgage pig and am still trying to find out what the £2 club is all about, if I don't calm down soon and cook for my kids they threatened to run away..mind you that would be a GREAT money saving move LOL

Actually Heinz, I'm doing better than that; because of a mix up when I signed up, Primus put me on the £2.99 package, which wasn't what I wanted. They then put me on the Saver Option 2 (which was what I wanted) then said I was still entitled to the £15 a qtr rebate because I started on the £2.99 package, even though I hadn't paid them a penny ! Net result, I pay them £0 per month and they pay me £5 a month. I've had £30 back so far.

in my area acton they have new im sure its called wireless broadband no phone required, where doin a free 30 day trial

I guess its these people.;)

http://www.mynow.co.uk/faqs.php