Internet/phone line

cerebus

Newcad said:

Don't forget that a mobile phone can be easly switched to broadcast a wifi signal as a Wifi-Hotspot, so that other devices can connect to that wifi and use the phones data signal. (I ran my laptop like that for a couple of years in my previous flat).
https://cellulardata.ubigi.com/help-center/faq/esim-data-plan/turn-on-wi-fi-hotspot-for-android-devices/
However if going mobile broadband then it is usually cheaper to get a 4G/5G router, the data costs less than with a phone package.

How elderly is your Aunt, does she by any chance get Pension Credit?

If she does then she will qualify for a social broadband tariff such as "BT Home Essentials Broadband".

That costs £15/month for unlimited broadband at up to 40mbps, (I get 38 mbps here) with a free Digital Voice phone and 700 mins of calls included.
Or you can pay £20/month and get up to 70mbps and unlimited phone calls.
https://www.bt.com/broadband/home-essentials

Have you got a link for cheap data only sims 

You can get unlimited data, free minutes and texts for £20 a month on a payg sim 

If you go down the mobile broadband route dont use giffgaff they are terrible for throttling you during the day , before I ditched them sometimes I could only get half a meg during the day and night speeds varied wildly but was quick enough to use without getting frustrated 

onomatopoeia99

Scw83 said:

 She needs a phone line to have wifi yes? 

No.  She doesn't even need an internet connection to have wifi, she can just buy a wifi router and connect her wifi devices to it so they can talk to each other.  They won't be able to talk to the Internet in this arrangement as you are creating a local area network with no internet gateway, but she will have wifi.

What does she actually want to be able to do?

flaneurs_lobster

onomatopoeia99 said:

Scw83 said:

 She needs a phone line to have wifi yes? 

No.  She doesn't even need an internet connection to have wifi, she can just buy a wifi router and connect her wifi devices to it so they can talk to each other.  They won't be able to talk to the Internet in this arrangement as you are creating a local area network with no internet gateway, but she will have wifi.

You neglected to point out that the OP should make sure that they get a Wi-Fi router that uses the new Wi-Fi 6E standard so that they can take advantage of it's extension into the 6GHz band.

Or you could simply accept that some non-technical people use the terms "wifi" and "internet" as synonyms and probably don't need to be corrected just because you can.

matelodave

How many people have kit that can take advantage of wifi 6E very few I'd wager, in fact a lot of people cant even use the 5GHz wifi band unless their stuff is fairly recent.

A bit like buying a Bentley to nip down to the shops.

flaneurs_lobster

matelodave said:

How many people have kit that can take advantage of wifi 6E very few I'd wager, in fact a lot of people cant even use the 5GHz wifi band unless their stuff is fairly recent.

A bit like buying a Bentley to nip down to the shops.

         .

Heedtheadvice

Surely Dave's point is it is likely that just a simple useable solution is required not a best in world solution that might not even be used. I.e. scope the requirement not answer what might be good for the future...?

forgotmyname

wongataa said:

Yes they do.  There is a physical line therefore line rental is included.  Line rental is not a voice call only charge.  It doesn't matter what the line is used for.  Its existence dictates line rental.

The price you see from ISPs when you sign up and on comparison sites includes line rental.  It is not separated out and hasn't been for many years because that practice was forbidden to make pricing clear.

With a physical line you pay line rental even though it is all bundled up into the headline price you pay.  Phone charges are a separate charge if not included in an internet+phone bundle.

The line rental can be ignored though as it is not a separate payable charge.  The headline price is the price you pay whatever connection option you choose.

Things are changing.  I have Fibre to the Cabinet with Plusnet and they have offered me great deals to ditch the phone line and take the Broadband Only.

They want an £8 premium to stick with the phone line.  Most of the other providers exclude the phone line or its now an additional cost it seems.

We still have a few family members that only phone us on the landline thought and the doctors still seem to call us on the landline even though we gave them
mobile numbers years ago.

wongataa

forgotmyname said:

wongataa said:

Yes they do.  There is a physical line therefore line rental is included.  Line rental is not a voice call only charge.  It doesn't matter what the line is used for.  Its existence dictates line rental.

The price you see from ISPs when you sign up and on comparison sites includes line rental.  It is not separated out and hasn't been for many years because that practice was forbidden to make pricing clear.

With a physical line you pay line rental even though it is all bundled up into the headline price you pay.  Phone charges are a separate charge if not included in an internet+phone bundle.

The line rental can be ignored though as it is not a separate payable charge.  The headline price is the price you pay whatever connection option you choose.

Things are changing.  I have Fibre to the Cabinet with Plusnet and they have offered me great deals to ditch the phone line and take the Broadband Only.

They want an £8 premium to stick with the phone line.  Most of the other providers exclude the phone line or its now an additional cost it seems.

Plusnet are charging extra for providing a voice telephony service in your example.  This is nothing to do with line rental.

If you get any services over a physical line connected to your property some of the money you pay your provider goes towards the upkeep of that physical line.  This is 'line rental'.

There is no point in thinking about line rental though as it hasn't been a separated charge for quite a while now.  All that matters is that you are happy to pay whatever the overall price for the services you get, not how all that may be broken down in the background.

infamouspluto01

I'm also having difficulty with the internet and separate landline issue. The current broadband service offers a download service at a far lower level than most of the country and even my county (Norfolk). Typical speed is 24 Mbs as the local Openreach ' hardware' has not been modified to provide a full fibre service. I therefore need to retain my current landline which cannot bee connected to a router. I am in the process of changing provider but there appears to be little options and reviews of the various providers approached are often quite scathing in regards to customer service. I am very confused and wish things could be slightly clearer so that I could make an informed decision. I have given no forecast for when Openreach will carry out the upgrades

steviebuk

wongataa said:

RumRat said:

wongataa said:

Yes you will need a physical landline connection but you do not have to ever use it for voice calls or pay for voice call packages.  You don't have to plug a phone into it.  The price displayed includes all necessary costs such as line rental.

You do not have to contact BT to connect a landline first.  Doing that would just complicate things. Just sign up with the ISP of choice and they do any necessary connecting.

BT is not the cheapest ISP.

Why would you need a phone landline connection?  Most providers now offer internet without any phoneline. Phonelines are being phased out in favour of fibre and if you did need a house phone you can go Voip.

The landline is used for both voice calls and internet.  There is no separate phone line.  It is just one line that you need for broadband delivered over a wired connection.  If you don't plan on using a telephone you just don't pay for a phone package or phone service but you still have to pay line rental as that is for the physical line to your property.

The point is all copper phonelines are going by 2025 so a phoneline isn't required if the area can provide fibre.