No landline - cheap broadband options please?

veryintrigued

Hi there

Trying to keep costs down here. My rolling year contract with Virgin has just ended. All I have with them is their 'S' speed broadband which I am paying £15-95 per month - after negotiating a reduction in previous years.

I've just called Virgin and they won't shift on the price and have no other options apart from disconnection.

Are there any other options out there for a household with no landline (and we don't need or want one) and are on long (cheap) mobile contracts.

Regards in advance

bod1467

The ONLY options for broadband are:

Cable (Virgin).
Over a BT phone line (means line rental, which means getting a line provisioned. Line rental and broadband do NOT have to be with BT though)
Mobile dongle.
WAR-driving.

HappyMJ

A landline would be your best option. Line rental with Tesco is £11.75 per month. Broadband is £8 per month. First 4 months free and you get cash back by using Quidco or Topcashback. Let's say £35.35. Contract is 18 months.

So £11.75 * 18 = £211.50 Plus £8 * 14 (£112) = £323.50 less £35.35 = £288.15

Then divide that by 18 months and you get Unlimited broadband for £16 a month.

Stuart_W

Many people can get frustrated with mobile broadband when trying to use it as a main connection. It depends what your signal is like where you are and what your usage is.

Do you eat your way through much data? Virgin may end up being your only option if you do.

A Three broadband dongle for £75 upfront (including delivery) will provide either 12 months or broadband (or 12GB of data, which ever comes first). If this lasts you for a year, it's a great deal, if it lasts you for a month, it's a rubbish deal.

Do look out for run-on costs on monthly contracts on mobile broadband- if you exceed your data allowance you can end up paying through the nose. T-mobile is the exception to this, they will just restrict use but not charge you more. The above pre-pay deal would just stop working.

It really could be worth exploring landline installation if you don't currently have one, along the lines of a deal like the one HappyMJ suggests.

macman

However HappyMJ's deal does not include the cost of provisioning the landline in the first place. If it costs the full BT rate of £130, that's going to impact heavily on the overall 1st year costs.
Plusnet Value is probably the cheapest package (as long as the OP is on a Market 3 exchange), but it is of course capped at 10GB pm.

veryintrigued

HappyMJ wrote: »

A landline would be your best option. Line rental with Tesco is £11.75 per month. Broadband is £8 per month. First 4 months free and you get cash back by using Quidco or Topcashback. Let's say £35.35. Contract is 18 months.

So £11.75 * 18 = £211.50 Plus £8 * 14 (£112) = £323.50 less £35.35 = £288.15

Then divide that by 18 months and you get Unlimited broadband for £16 a month.

Cheers for the response.

I guess that doesnt factor in any reconnection costs for the landline?

Also even though we're on the slowest package it seems more than adequate for us speed wise. Are the ones through the phone line 'as good'?

macman

I suggest that before you go any further you have a look on https://www.samknows.com and do an exchange search to determine which LLU providers are available on your exchange-these will be the cheapest deals.

veryintrigued

Stuart_W wrote: »

Many people can get frustrated with mobile broadband when trying to use it as a main connection. It depends what your signal is like where you are and what your usage is.

Do you eat your way through much data? Virgin may end up being your only option if you do.

A Three broadband dongle for £75 upfront (including delivery) will provide either 12 months or broadband (or 12GB of data, which ever comes first). If this lasts you for a year, it's a great deal, if it lasts you for a month, it's a rubbish deal.

Do look out for run-on costs on monthly contracts on mobile broadband- if you exceed your data allowance you can end up paying through the nose. T-mobile is the exception to this, they will just restrict use but not charge you more. The above pre-pay deal would just stop working.

It really could be worth exploring landline installation if you don't currently have one, along the lines of a deal like the one HappyMJ suggests.

Thanks for this - the dongle option seems a none starter as there are two of us using the internet via wireless connections and phone reception isnt great here.

BargainMad_3

Customer does not want a landline so that knocks out all options with any kind of landline even if it can work out at less than £15.95 a month overall.

The Dongle route is not really feasible as the speed is never going to match what they are used to and the overall cost could easily outweigh the £15.95 x 12 months they are paying now !

So the one and only option is the £15.95 cable broadband and if Virgin cannot negotiate on price the only possible option is to give 30 days notice and see if that will invoke any kind of discount i.e. really go ahead with a termination date - you can always go back on day 29 and cancel it. Tell them that you are moving to a competitor with a "broadband/landline/calls bundle" for less than that and see if that invokes any further response.....

However the £15.95 might be their very best offer (given there are no landline/calls/tv or mobile tweaks for Virgin to play with) and you just have to weigh up if broadband is worth 50 odd pence a day to you.

veryintrigued

BargainMad wrote: »

Customer does not want a landline so that knocks out all options with any kind of landline even if it can work out at less than £15.95 a month overall.

The Dongle route is not really feasible as the speed is never going to match what they are used to and the overall cost could easily outweigh the £15.95 x 12 months they are paying now !

So the one and only option is the £15.95 cable broadband and if Virgin cannot negotiate on price the only possible option is to give 30 days notice and see if that will invoke any kind of discount i.e. really go ahead with a termination date - you can always go back on day 29 and cancel it. Tell them that you are moving to a competitor with a "broadband/landline/calls bundle" for less than that and see if that invokes any further response.....

However the £15.95 might be their very best offer (given there are no landline/calls/tv or mobile tweaks for Virgin to play with) and you just have to weigh up if broadband is worth 50 odd pence a day to you.

Appreciate the response - its what I thought I was hoping I was missing something (or some option) though.

Thanks for replying

Angry_Consumer_2

I have just looked into alternatives to Virgin. May be wrong but to be honest I can't see you getting it any cheaper than £15.95 unless you go down the mobile route. The ADSL providers require you to take a Land Line phone account so you can add at least £10 (Line Rental) / month to any price they advertise.