Landline - still worth it?

hill_ekaterina

We haven’t had one for 4 years

rjwb

I noticed that phone rental didn't seem to increase the price when I looked as well! Makes me feel better for not noticing that our landline isn't actually working at the moment!

jpjp_2

I’ve been thinking the same but phone and broadband are packaged (Sky). I’m thinking I could un-couple the two, then forward the land line number to my O2 mobile or a PAYG IP phone “just in case” any older relative still tries to call me.  Then move my broadband to a cheaper supplier (BT?).  Any tips on these moves?

Doc_N

Most people away from cities are probably paying for a landline anyway - just for the internet.  It's a useful backup for when the mobile signal's no good.

The switchover to VoIP (https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2021/upgrading-landlines-to-digital-technology) is going to come as a major shock to any existing users though - very soon if it hasn't already happened in your area.  Big problems when the power goes down, particularly if your mobile transmitter goes down with it - and in rural areas power cuts are regular occurrences.

Newcad

jpjp_2 said:

I’ve been thinking the same but phone and broadband are packaged (Sky). I’m thinking I could un-couple the two, then forward the land line number to my O2 mobile or a PAYG IP phone “just in case” any older relative still tries to call me.  Then move my broadband to a cheaper supplier (BT?).  Any tips on these moves?

I fairly recently moved my BB to BT Home Essentials. Because I'm on UC I get the BT fibre BB for just £15 a month.
With the previous supplier I didn't have a phone connected to the line, although it was active for phone as well as BB.

With the BT a Digital Voice (Voice Over Internet) phone is included, with 700 minutes a month, it connects to the hub by wireless.
I've used it once in the last 4 months - to call BT, handy as by using that phone they don't have to ask for your account number etc.

I actually got given 2 handsets due to a BT mix up, both handsets can be connected and used at the same time for different calls.
They also have Alexa built in, which I'm not even going to enable but you might want to.

All in all I'm quite happy with the BT broadband, and the phones included whether I use it or not.
There was a bit of a mix up and 7 day delay with connection like I said, but because of that I ended up with a spare phone and £50 compensation which paid for the first 3 months.

luvchocolate

rjwb said:

I noticed that phone rental didn't seem to increase the price when I looked as well! Makes me feel better for not noticing that our landline isn't actually working at the moment!

I have never made a call on my landline for 3 years but have peace of mind incase mobile fails. 
Although i recieve calls and usually do 1471 when I've been out. 
Noticed no dial tone so reported to Plusnet there was 80 other lines affected and it was off for 10 days..but got £93 credit to my account..I only pay £20 for phone and internet so 4 months free 😉 

RobM99

Mobile reception here is dreadful. So landline essential.

brewerdave

jpjp_2 said:

I’ve been thinking the same but phone and broadband are packaged (Sky). I’m thinking I could un-couple the two, then forward the land line number to my O2 mobile or a PAYG IP phone “just in case” any older relative still tries to call me.  Then move my broadband to a cheaper supplier (BT?).  Any tips on these moves?

Don't think you can "uncouple" the two ; Openreach systems require a number to associate with the broadband service - "cancelling" the phone number will cease the broadband

ClaraSais

We only have a landline for our internet. Not actually got a phone even plugged in. Haven’t used a landline in years!

Bigphil1474

jon81uk said:

Exodi said:

It's possible that this thread may be misleading at first impression.

Could you please clarify where you are referring to:

a) getting rid of landline as in removing the 'calls' part of a broadband package - e.g. 
b) wanting to not pay line rental at all?

If the former, then while you may be about to remove the calls part of a package (effectively moving to a broadband only package), most broadband is delivered to peoples houses via the landline cables so you'd most likely still need to pay line rental.

If it's the latter as I expect, please be aware that the vast majority of broadband connections end up supplied by the physical (landline) cables running into the house. People often wrongly assume that landline = phone when in todays world, this couldn't be any further from the truth. The vast majority of people with broadband only packages will use landline cables, and thus need to pay line rental to maintain these lines.

Generally if you want to avoid line rental all together, you should consider mobile or satelite broadband (though these may not be as consistent or may work out more expensive). The other way would be exploring 'full fibre' options, wherein the fibre connections run to the premises (e.g. Virgin).

The OP stated they are with Virgin already. 

Not all VM customers are in a cabled area, they do non-cabled areas as well.