MSE News: The death of the landline?

Trinitrotoluene

As much as I agree with the sentiments of the article, line rental has nothing to do with a home phone. What you are paying for mostly is BT Openreach to maintain the core telephone network, and the state/repair/replacement of the copper running from your house to do the green cabinet, then back to the exchange (which also has to be powered etc). This isn't free regardless of how you want to look at it. Someone has to foot that bill, and that someone is BT Openreach. The charge, however, in my opinion is more than it should be. The cost for line rental should be lowered.

paulofessex

We are very fortunate to be with Virgin so this enabled us to do away with the landline approx. 2yrs ago now. We found that a part from those dreaded sales calls, most people were calling our mobiles and as we have so many minutes included in our monthly packages we could make calls without costing us more.

We still have our SkypeIN number and package (Europe) from some years ago along with a Skype phone connected direct to the router so in effect we still have a landline costing just £3.39 per month for inclusive calls, seeing as we have family outside of the UK those calls are free (inclusive).

We also make great use of saynoto in order to avoid calling the 08 numbers. 0800 numbers are free on Skype.

Not too sure as to how much a Skype number and package would cost if you signed up today compared with other landlines, may be worth checking out.

matty_art

spenderdave wrote: »

"MoneySavingExpert.com research found that 51% of all age groups don't have a home phone or rarely use one."

51% is an awful long way from 'most'...

Did you learn percentages in the same school as George Osborne?

coupleuk

I agree that most (not all) people use a home phone line just to get internet access. I have this stupid contract where I MUST make 2 calls a month on my BT account - so we phone the local takeaway twice and just put the phone down !! - the alternative is a £1.50 "no call charge" every month from BT.

I believe that BB providers should state the TOTAL cost to access their service in a postcode area (so that would include line rental too).

It will be much clearer for people to see how much (or how little) they are paying to access BB. I also think all providers should quote on a 12 month contract basis (but can offer discounts elsewhere in their adverts for longer periods).

If this isn't controlled pretty quickly, I can see us ending up in the multi-tariff nightmare we currently have with energy supplies, where it becomes more and more difficult to find the best tariff.

zagfles

Azari wrote: »

Well, the amount you have to pay won't change but they may introduce some pointless rule that means you'll get thing like:

Landline Rental: £12
BB connection: £10
Naked BB: £22

But it will keep the idiots happy. :rotfl:


And how much do they pay for that? Compared with someone who pays for a LL and has BB added.



Well, if it's totally useless to you you are a fool for not cancelling it.

However, I suspect that you've actually made quite a lot of use of it.

Yes, clearly line rental is paying for the landline infrastructure, and you're using that whether you use it for calls, broadband, or both.

KTF

I use my landline a lot. Just not for phone calls

Another non story from the MSE 'newsdesk'.

Caddyman

I disagree that this is a 'non story'.

I too require just a landline for broadband. I suspect all of those that wished it, if we could just have naked DSL for broadband use only, we'd be taking that offer like a shot. As it is, I never use my landline for calls and to prevent having to put up with telemarketing spammers (despite being registered with TPS and Silentgard) I have merely unplugged my landline telephone from the master socket (leaving my ADSL router connected via an adapter). I have no issue paying line rental per say (the infrastructure has to be maintained) it just galls me however that I am forced to pay for the facility to make landline calls when I never use the line for that purpose. I'm with TalkTalk and I now pay my line rental up front for the whole year, saving over 50 quid, so that's a small bonus for me I suppose.

I also find it ridiculous that not all new housing projects are having fibre optic cable laid during the construction phase, something I thought the Government would have insisted on to assist in moving homes onto superfast broadband. I live on a relatively new estate with more houses being built as I type this, but no one is laying fibre optic cable. If Virgin put down the necessary infrastructure in my area tomorrow, I would definitely take the fibre optic broadband only option and dump my landline like a brick, but sadly it looks as though it will take years for this to happen in my area.

I think I read in the original article that 0800 numbers aren't free from mobiles. In the majority of cases that may be true for the present, but I use the giffgaff network (uses the O2 network) and 0800, 0500 and 0808 numbers are free to dial on that network.

I do appreciate that many of the elderly or infirm do rely on the landline option as their only means of communication and for summoning assistance, but the fact is, that as generations of people get older, they will become used to newer technology and the present telephone system as it is on the domestic front, will have to change. I'm in my mid forties, completely computer and mobile technology literate and content with the fact that when I'm much older, I will be using technology far more sophisticated than we have at present and I will embrace it.

Naked DSL is becoming more prevalent in countries elsewhere in the world and I'm sure Ofcom will have to review the current situation, otherwise we'll all be stuck with this ridiculous age old system . And there was me thinking this was the 21st century!

Personally, I'm surprised no one has yet started an E-petition to try and force the provision of naked DSL services to the domestic consumer here in the UK. Any takers?

Azari

Caddyman wrote: »

I disagree that this is a 'non story'.

I too require just a landline for broadband. I suspect all of those that wished it, if we could just have naked DSL for broadband use only, we'd be taking that offer like a shot. As it is, I never use my landline for calls and to prevent having to put up with telemarketing spammers (despite being registered with TPS and Silentgard) I have merely unplugged my landline telephone from the master socket (leaving my ADSL router connected via an adapter). I have no issue paying line rental per say (the infrastructure has to be maintained) it just galls me however that I am forced to pay for the facility to make landline calls when I never use the line for that purpose. I'm with TalkTalk and I now pay my line rental up front for the whole year, saving over 50 quid, so that's a small bonus for me I suppose.

I also find it ridiculous that not all new housing projects are having fibre optic cable laid during the construction phase, something I thought the Government would have insisted on to assist in moving homes onto superfast broadband. I live on a relatively new estate with more houses being built as I type this, but no one is laying fibre optic cable. If Virgin put down the necessary infrastructure in my area tomorrow, I would definitely take the fibre optic broadband only option and dump my landline like a brick, but sadly it looks as though it will take years for this to happen in my area.

I think I read in the original article that 0800 numbers aren't free from mobiles. In the majority of cases that may be true for the present, but I use the giffgaff network (uses the O2 network) and 0800, 0500 and 0808 numbers are free to dial on that network.

I do appreciate that many of the elderly or infirm do rely on the landline option as their only means of communication and for summoning assistance, but the fact is, that as generations of people get older, they will become used to newer technology and the present telephone system as it is on the domestic front, will have to change. I'm in my mid forties, completely computer and mobile technology literate and content with the fact that when I'm much older, I will be using technology far more sophisticated than we have at present and I will embrace it.

Naked DSL is becoming more prevalent in countries elsewhere in the world and I'm sure Ofcom will have to review the current situation, otherwise we'll all be stuck with this ridiculous age old system . And there was me thinking this was the 21st century!

Personally, I'm surprised no one has yet started an E-petition to try and force the provision of naked DSL services to the domestic consumer here in the UK. Any takers?

Sigh.

How much do you think you would save with naked ADSL?

How much do you think it costs to provide and maintain hundreds or thousands of metres of cable or fibre from the exchange to your home?

And how much do you think it costs to provide a couple of circuits to connect you to the telephone system?

Even if naked ADSL was provided it would only save you a few pence a month.

The real problem is that there are so many idiots who think they get 'free' minutes because they pay the equivalent of well over the cost of line rental to a mobile phone company. (A lot of them also think they get a 'free' phone. )

Torry_Quine

Meadows wrote: »

Well I guess I am not one of the MOST!!! I have little or no use for a mobile other than to carry as an emergency, I do not feel the need to have it glued to my ear (or fingers to text) 24/7.

Where is the poll then so I can add my vote.

Me too. If I want to have a chat with someone then I much prefer to phone from home on my home phone. I look on my mobile as for quick contact calls or in emergencies and I'm definitely under 60!;)

brewerdave

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Me too. If I want to have a chat with someone then I much prefer to phone from home on my home phone. I look on my mobile as for quick contact calls or in emergencies and I'm definitely under 60!;)

...and me ...or at least all bar the under 60 bit!!!
I have no real choice anyway as no mobile network gives reliable coverage in my home - the last time I had the BT engineer here he had to go over the other side of the road to run some of his tests from his mobile!!!:rotfl: