Broadband and TV without landline?

dangerman7uk

Is there any offers available that anyone is aware of where a landline is not required, but it actually works out cheaper?

Every deal I can see charges more not to have a landline. I hate landlines! They're needless and ridiculously expensive! £13 a month just to plug in and 'rent' the line?

I'm after spending the basic amount for a TV package for the lady-wife, a 'plus' package with the hard drive (record, pause, rewind live tv etc) capabilities, and unlimited broadband. For around the £30 a month that the companies advertise before adding on the cost of the compulsory landline.

dangerman7uk

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Mark_In_Hampshire

We don't have a landline. We have a 3G modem which runs at this sort of speed:



ADSL via a landline is almost useless here (less than 2Mbps)

My data usage isn't that high - about 5 to 10GB per month - so we spend about £25 per month on average topping it up on a PAYG arrangement.

So that's £25 for a 6Mbps downstream 1.5Mbps upstream (give or take) connection versus the £14-ish line rental + £29-ish Zen Internet ADSL fee.

We have a Sipgate account (sipgate.co.uk) which supplies a landline number and can "hunt" (try the PC, then try the mobile...) so we have a "landline" (which won't work in a power cut) and 5.90 buys 1000 minutes of calls to landlines.

For TV - we currently use the TV capture card in this PC which works really well with Windows Media Centre and I have stacks of stuff on series record, so there's always something to watch - all for free. The main disadvantage of that is that to watch it on the TV I have to write it to DVD which takes ages, so I plan on connecting it all up at some stage.

The 3G is more than quick enough to stream online TV (BBC iPlayer) perfectly though that uses up the data quite quickly.

However, and the big caveat and issue with this:

You need 1. A good 3G signal and 2. An uncontended service - or, at least, not overcontended.

We get that since we're 2.5km from the cell and live in a rural area with near line of sight. So while this might all sound great, it isn't an option available to everyone.

macman

You can't have ADSL broadband without a landline, that's how the broadband signal gets there.
The only alternatives are VM cable or using a dongle.
Unless you want specific sports or film subscription channels, all the TV services that you mention are available with no ongoing cost by using a PVR on either the Freesat or Freeview platforms. A Humax is the recommended model.
Bundling TV and broadband isn't necessarily the best way, as the two are entirely unconnected (unlike phone and broadband).
Do an exchange search on https://www.samknows.com for your LLU options, these will be the best deals on your exchange.

dangerman7uk

I've got the 3 Mi-Fi dongle running in my house now, it works well but the data is gone about 10 days before it renews each month. I pay £15.99 for 5gb. But we don't use it for iplayer or anything (it works well, but as you say, takes far too much data). That's really why I want to go back to proper unlimited. I miss downloading, watching iplayer and 4OD on the computer, and I miss all the things I could do with my old V+ box. With Virgin I had on demand AND iplayer, 4OD etc straight to my tv! It was great. But it was expensive and they made me take a landline.

To do it on the cheap I bought a Hitachi HDR255 250GB Digital TV Freeview+ Recorder from the argos - it never works properly, it's fidgety and half the programmes I've tried to record I've lost for one reason or another (cuts off half way through or doesn't start recording in the first place).

So this is why I'm thinking that if I invest more in a DTR then I might as well take out a package again.

dangerman7uk

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

We don't have a landline. We have a 3G modem which runs at this sort of speed:



ADSL via a landline is almost useless here (less than 2Mbps)

My data usage isn't that high - about 5 to 10GB per month - so we spend about £25 per month on average topping it up on a PAYG arrangement.

So that's £25 for a 6Mbps downstream 1.5Mbps upstream (give or take) connection versus the £14-ish line rental + £29-ish Zen Internet ADSL fee.

We have a Sipgate account (sipgate.co.uk) which supplies a landline number and can "hunt" (try the PC, then try the mobile...) so we have a "landline" (which won't work in a power cut) and 5.90 buys 1000 minutes of calls to landlines.

For TV - we currently use the TV capture card in this PC which works really well with Windows Media Centre and I have stacks of stuff on series record, so there's always something to watch - all for free. The main disadvantage of that is that to watch it on the TV I have to write it to DVD which takes ages, so I plan on connecting it all up at some stage.

The 3G is more than quick enough to stream online TV (BBC iPlayer) perfectly though that uses up the data quite quickly.

However, and the big caveat and issue with this:

You need 1. A good 3G signal and 2. An uncontended service - or, at least, not overcontended.

We get that since we're 2.5km from the cell and live in a rural area with near line of sight. So while this might all sound great, it isn't an option available to everyone.

Also, the media centre thing I don't think is an option for me. We're a mac family.

dangerman7uk

macman wrote: »

A Humax is the recommended model.

I've never even heard of them - I've seen them in the shops but thought they're probably terrible. I think I might return my Hitachi thing and try one of these. Thanks!

macman

dangerman7uk wrote: »

I've never even heard of them - I've seen them in the shops but thought they're probably terrible. I think I might return my Hitachi thing and try one of these. Thanks!

You're not serious?
You'll find lots of happy Hummy owners on this board.
The Rolls Royce of PVR's.

dangerman7uk

I'm very serious. But I've never had a DTR before this Hitachi thing. It looks like a £75 extra investment is on the cards!

Do the HD DTR boxes run on scart as well, do you know? My telly is old and only has scart or the old style AVHD connections.

whitelabel

yes they can work on scart, but to get hd experience youd need a new tv with hdmi compaability, give it a try for now with the scart and then if and when you upgrade your tv youll be ready to go

dangerman7uk

Great, thanks!