MSE News: The death of the landline?

Zebra

Another fatally flawed MSE survey.

So 27% of Under 30's don't have a home phone?

What percentage of under 30's these days don't actually have their own home to start with?

Sparx

Zebra wrote: »

Another fatally flawed MSE survey.

So 27% of Under 30's don't have a home phone?

What percentage of under 30's these days don't actually have their own home to start with?

I think your own logic is flawed. Who said you had to own a home to have a landline? Ever heard of renting? I know plenty of under 30s that do..

As for the article, it is pretty pointless in a sense. The charge is for the whole upkeep of the copper (upcoming Fibre network). It costs BT money to keep up the maintenance of the lines which also carry the xDSL signal for our broadband. Maybe they should redo the article and look into 'lowering' the actual cost. I'm sure it is about £14.50 p/mo currently.

Maybe it should be a set £5-10 p/mo (depending on BT's costs) and the customer's requirements and then charge extra for call packages (which is already standard)..

Zebra

Sparx wrote: »

I think your own logic is flawed. Who said you had to own a home to have a landline? Ever heard of renting? I know plenty of under 30s that do..

No. It is your reading ability that is flawed.

I didn't say 'owned' their home, I said 'have their own home', that obviously includes renting, so it's back to the dunces' corner for you I'm afraid.

My original question stands - what percentage of under 30's have (ie own or rent) their own home?

And what percentage of under 30's still live with their parents?

A.Penny.Saved

Tropez wrote: »

I don't tend to use my landline for making calls much, simply because of the 1-hour catch on a call. I don't always intend to make long calls but sometimes when you call a friend to arrange something you get talking about something else. My mobile phone bill shows a few calls a month with times of 90 minutes plus but all using my call allowance.

With landlines, all of the providers I know of start charging you after the call exceeds 60 minutes and I don't wish to spend my time on the phone clock watching, nor do I like the idea of hanging up just to call back, so I don't use my home phone.

If the phone companies would like to get rid of that stupid little clause I'd be inclined to use my home phone more often but of course they won't because it's a way of generating revenue for them.

Why not use an override provider such as 1899? That's if you have a BT line.

Pincher wrote: »

Mains electricity, mains water, mains gas, they give you so much convenience, but somebody will always object to paying standing charge for them.

I love my landline. Compared to satellite internet, it's much faster and cheaper, as well as more reliable: think about losing your FreeSat signal when it rains.

To those who say nay to landline: wait till they cut it off, then see how you like it.

Put these guys back two thousand years, and they'll say to the Romans, don't build the aqueduct, I'm fine without it.:)

You must have a Sky dish, alignment problems or have some obstruction interfering with the satellite signal. lol A decent dish probably won't have the same problem.

Sky dishes are crap, the amount of people who say that they lose the TV channels whenever it rains is fairly high.

alanq

It's not that long ago that government advice for planning for dealing with emergencies was not to rely solely on a mobile phone. In event of a major incident mobile phone lines get overloaded. What if power goes off for an extended period and the mobile's battery goes flat?

More recently the focus has been on the cost of a home phone line and not on its advantages.

redux

Zebra wrote: »

My original question stands - what percentage of under 30's have (ie own or rent) their own home?

And what percentage of under 30's still live with their parents?

I assume somewhere between 50 and 75%

To make your point more clearly to some readers - what percentage of under 15s (roughly half the under 30s) have their own home?

Perhaps MSE means householders under 30, but didn't manage to say so.

Pincher

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

You must have a Sky dish, alignment problems or have some obstruction interfering with the satellite signal. lol A decent dish probably won't have the same problem.

Sky dishes are crap, the amount of people who say that they lose the TV channels whenever it rains is fairly high.

I do my own dishes, 80cm for Hotbird and Astra, as well as the 45cm Sky dishes. When the cloud is thick, you lose signal, no matter how good the installation. This is when the Jaegi rooftop aerial (Freeview) shines, because the terrestrial line of sight is below cloud cover.

Before all the catchup services like BBC iPlayer, I used to record programs using a PC with Media Player to record on terrestrial, as well as on Sky+, because I had some missed shows.

Which brings up the question: watch iPlayer wirelessly? More money than sense?;)

Tropez

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

Why not use an override provider such as 1899? That's if you have a BT line.

A measure of convenience and a hint of laziness. It's just easier to use my mobile to make the calls. No extra numbers to type in for all of my contacts and no need to use secondary services to get the functionality I want.

lulu85

The Blog 'End of the Landline?' rightly draws attention to the plight of the elderly many of whom rely on a landline connection but singularly fails to mention BT Basic which costs just £4.80 a month (including £4.50 call allowance per quarter). The regulator makes BT provide this product to those on Pension Credit and certain benefits who ASK for it but unfortunately BT are not compelled to offer it, or to (genuinely) advertise its existence to those who might benefit. And I'm sure they are more than happy that it seldom gets a mention in the press or on consumer websites. Don't let BT get away with ripping off the poor and vulnerable, if you know anyone who might benefit the details are all here: bt.com/includingyou/other-products-services-bt-basic.html

CKhalvashi

Zebra wrote: »

Another fatally flawed MSE survey.

So 27% of Under 30's don't have a home phone?

What percentage of under 30's these days don't actually have their own home to start with?

Fair point, however at the same time, I've owned various properties since I was 22, and I'm still under 30.

I've got a home phone line, it just very rarely gets picked up, as we're very rarely in.

CK