Can I get broadband without paying for a Telephone Line too?

BexTech

hcar wrote: »

Hi, just wanting to know if this all still stands.. still need a land line to get BB ?

If you want ADSL broadband then you need a landline.

If you want cable broadband then you don't need a landline, cable data is sent down a co-axial cable and not over the phone line.

hcar

SO are there any companies that I can go to just for BB then ? I know BT wont as I need a phone line for them... thanks

BexTech

hcar wrote: »

SO are there any companies that I can go to just for BB then ? I know BT wont as I need a phone line for them... thanks

Virgin Media Cable is the only company that you can get broadband from without a phone line. Unless you count of some providers that offer broadband via wi-max or Wi-Fi - these are very expensive.

With a BT line you don't have to use BT for broadband, there are numerous broadband providers, however they are all ADSL so you need a phone line.

If you have a VirginMedia cable phone line you can't get ADSL over that.

For ADSL whoever the provider is you need a landline as the ADSL signal transmits over it, for cable you need no landline as it doesn't use the phone line for the broadband but a co-ax cable, however not all areas are cabled up.

Some ISPs listed here: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps.html

hcar

Right... no idea what half that meant but I think ur telling me that if i can get virgin then thats the 1 otherwise get a landline and then through that I can decide who to go with... ? Right ?

BexTech

hcar wrote: »

Right... no idea what half that meant but I think ur telling me that if i can get virgin then thats the 1 otherwise get a landline and then through that I can decide who to go with... ? Right ?

Correct.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/service.do?id=2 enter postcode and it will tell you whether you are in a cable area or not.

You might not be able to order just broadband online, but calling up you'll be able to. However it's probably cheaper for the first year to have phone line and broadband than just broadband. Though if you pressure them they usually let you have 2Mbit broadband on its own for £10/month.

pattayalob

I have just changed my dial up connection to broadband with 3G. £15.00 per month with 3Gigabyte limit free USB modem. No need for land line. I shall be canceling my BT line and just use a PAYG mobile. Cost of broadband, same as before with BT and internet access canceled.

pattayalob

With regard to my post earlier, you have to check if you are in an area which is covered by 3G, the website has a map for this purpose. The connection is easy to set up and worked first time and is blisteringly fast compared to dial up.

Quiet_One

I just signed up for this which includes free modem & free eve & weekend calls for 12 months.

http://www.virgin.net/allyours/broadband/switch/

BexTech

Quiet_One wrote: »

I just signed up for this which includes free modem & free eve & weekend calls for 12 months.

http://www.virgin.net/allyours/broadband/switch/

Still requires the BT landline though, which this thread is about avoiding.

Though as your line rental remains with BT you can simply use Virgin for the free calls and place the other calls elsewhere are VM charge extortionate rates for their chargeable calls, so place those either via BT (1280) or Call 18185 (18185).

If you have BT Answer 1571 and the free Caller Display via bt.com/btprivacy, then you have to remember to place a couple of chargeable calls over BT per month or six per quarter depending on your billing period with BT otherwise BT will charge you £1 per month for 1571 and £1.75 per month for Caller Display.

RocketMagnet

Theo_Cupier wrote: »

In the UK, the telco regulator Ofcom has prohibited the sale of broadband connections to phonelines which are not active for PSTN (ie voice calls).

If you have a fixed line to your house (ie copper phone line provided by Openreach) then you must have this line attached to an active telephone account - ie be paying a subscription of some form for PSTN (telephony) in order for anyone to provide you with a broadband service down it.

Whether you choose to use the voice service on this line is entirely down to you, of course, but you are obliged to pay for the service to be activated.

Aye but there is no technical reason why. It's simply to provide money for the telcos. The analog and ADSL sides are TOTALLY seperate and can be turned on / off independantly.

In simple terms there is noting technically to stop the telcos providing ADSL only. I'm not sure why Ofcom would impose this other than to protect BT's monopoly. Still the lines need to be paid for somehow so i'd consider your useless analogue line like a TV licence.

They should definitely do a cheap no calls package with the analogue turned off totally - heck I though Ofcom was on our side but being reasonable without this line tax where would it leave BT.