Do I actually need my house phone now?

Detail_Merchant · 2 June at 9:15AM

From Vodafone's website - https://www.vodafone.co.uk/broadband/broadband-and-landline

If you expand the question "Is it cheaper to have broadband without a landline?" their answer is "Depending on your broadband provider, they may charge less if you choose not to have a landline with them. If you choose one of our broadband plans, you can decide whether to include landline or not at no extra cost." (my bold)

So in the case of Vodafone specifically, it looks like dropping the landline won't actually save any money, assuming the OP isn't also paying for extra features such as https://www.vodafone.co.uk/broadband/homephone

Caddyman · 2 June at 10:28AM

For many people, a landline is just a spam trap. I know plenty of family and friends who ditched the landline because the only calls they really ever received, were from spammers. Hardly surprising that the most vulnerable of people who seemingly rely on landlines, are the ones who end up on the wrong end of it all. Yes, there are filter products for landlines, but in a lot of cases, you have to pay extra just to filter out the rubbish.

And of course with the gradual shutting down of the PSTN network, that's copper lines for landlines being retired because it costs too much money to maintain the old system and they've got no spare bits left to fix them anyway, if keeping a landline, you'll ultimately be forced onto Digital Voice. Just means you have to have some sort of adapter or you plug your phone directly into the back of a ISP router.

XzavierWalnut · 2 June at 10:55AM

Not had a landline phone for years, as all the calls were spam. Recently had full fibre broadband installed so the line was cut.

dnpark38 · 2 June at 11:06AM

I have Sky BB with a landline number and I tell people that number to call me on, and I use my mobile and not the landline to phone out thus I get Sky phone at no charge.

Mobile costs £1.69 on a deal with Martin Lewis on a monthly rolling contract.

Sky is £25 a month but unfortunately for 24 months.

This works for me as I do not want people phoning me when I'm out and about all the time.

JSmithy45AD · 2 June at 11:46AM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82019985#Comment_82019985

The advantage of Sky BB for 24 months is that it really isn't, as soon as the April price rises come around you can tell them that you're leaving as per their own T&Cs and use the OTS option to move elsewhere if Sky won't offer a better deal.

john1 · 2 June at 8:07PM

I still retain our LL number via VOIP with no handset. I use the associated free email notification to filter calls which are almost all spam

However · 3 June at 9:51AM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82019415#Comment_82019415

I did the same only last week. My PlusNet non-fibre + phone contract ends in November but I did it now (having been 'invited' by PlusNet to do so) to avoid the inevitable year-end rush before the Jan 27 deadline (and it is £2pm cheaper too!).

You should consider retaining the landline - at least to receive calls (with payg outgoing). We've had our landline number for over 50 years and the prospect of 'telling everyone' is too daunting. Furthermore, this very week we had a landline call from a son informing us of the death of his father, a very old friend. He mentioned that he had difficulty getting responses from quite a few people because they had ditched their landline and either couldn't get the care home to understand their request to change their patients address book or were unaware that he was no longer at home so their calls went unanswered.

Another factor is that our mobile signal in most of our house is hopeless. Having, say, hospital consultations over the mobile is too risky - the landline remains reliable.

The young (and old?) turks that dismiss landlines as old hat need to reflect that other people's circumstances differ from theirs.

In my case, retaining the landline costs a measly £2pm. A worthwhile outgoing in my view.

Caddyman · 3 June at 4:53PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021332#Comment_82021332

I absolutely accept that everyone's circumstances are different, but as I stated previously, we simply don't need a landline anymore. We too are with Plusnet, so no landline option available anyway which obviously suits us.

Our smartphones connect via WiFi through the router and so there's no need for even a phone signal. It seems that some people don't understand anything about WiFi calling or perhaps don't use a smartphone. We've not missed any calls yet at home. Plus, we use WhatsApp to family and friends abroad using our smartphones and it costs nothing extra, no international call charges, no dropped calls either. The NHS when they call don't have any issues getting through to us on our smartphones at home, neither does anyone else.

Not mentioned here, but I've heard people go on about what if there are power cuts, masts going down etc. In the years I've lived at my current address, we've not suffered a power outage that lasted more than a few minutes and even if we did, we'd live with it as we don't live in a rural community miles from anywhere.

Stuart_W · 3 June at 5:09PM

Yes, we do. We also have 2 children that are staying smartphone free until at least 14 and as my wife and I both work part time and juggle child care on different days between us we want our kids to be able to specifically call "the house" to speak to whoever is at home.

Some quarters reckon the landline is having a resurgence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC4pvvQtnOQ