Landline Needed or Not?

[Pitre]

I'm an expat coming back to live in the UK soon, but some things have changed since we left!

When we left there was no option to have an internet line without a phone/landline but there is now.

We will both have PAYG mobiles, so do we actually need a landline at home, and if so, why?

[s1962a]

If your new address has fibre to the home / fibre to the premises, you can usually order it without a landline. ADSL etc will require a phoneline.

[wyson]

I got a landline because back in the day, they said your credit rating will improve with one.

Not sure if that is true anymore. Almost never use it.

Edited by wyson on Tuesday 14th June 17:57

[Tyre Smoke]

I haven't got one. No issues at all.

Have a router with a sim card in it and that provides fast broadband to run my Sky box and all the household Internet needs.

[megaphone]

Quoted prices for broadband are 'all inclusive' now, so the price quoted will be the price.

Standard ADSL/VDSL FTTC broadband comes down a copper 'phone line' so yes you need a line for that. You don't have to use the phone.

FTTP will need a fibre run to the property, so yes you will need a fibre line. Again they will likely supply a phone service if you want it.

Virgin cable uses a copper coaxial cable to the home, so again you need a line. Again phone is optional.

Other options that don't need a line are 4g/5g or satellite. There is also wireless WISP services in rural areas.

[sgrimshaw]

I cancelled both my landlines with BT, keeping the BT FTTC Broadband was not a problem.

Saved me over £50 per month .... until I upgraded to Full Fibre 900 (but I'm still paying less per month than I used to!)

Type your postcode into this checker on the BT site to see how much you can save by not having a landline (includes cancelling your existing one)

https://www.bt.com/products/broadband/deals

[anonymoususer]

On any "new" connection it will be pretty much guaranteed that:

Any telephone line connection ie use of a phone will be via some version of a VOIP service
BT call it digital voice and on most of their plans will offer you a choice of
2 x Essential Digital Voice Phones**
1 x Alexa Digital Voice phone
1 x plug in converter that you plug your older analogue phone into

• we have these phones and they are very good

Other Broadband providers are going along a similar route
Virgin Media will now want your phone connected directly to their Hub

We have a Landline connection when I recently changed to BT and it was a £5 extra charge a month. It was well worth it as our teenage daughter regularly rings her mates. I ring people. Wife uses it to ring people . We can call up to59 minutes for free to any UK Landline or mobile - pretty much anywhere

[Lucas Ayde]

If you go to a fully digital service, can you keep the old phone number on the new digital phone? I have elderly relatives and distant family members who are most likely to communicate via the old number (30 years) that they know.

[Jamescrs]

I gave up on a landline around 3-4 years ago now, when I changed my Virgin Media package I dropped it and don't miss it at all, I can say confidently it has had no effect on my credit score having done a re-mortgage and taken out loans for me and the wife since.

It seems to be widely accepted by businesses and institutions I deal with that I just give a mobile number as my point of contact.

I don't see a reason to have one ever again.

[anonymoususer]

Lucas Ayde said:

If you go to a fully digital service, can you keep the old phone number on the new digital phone? I have elderly relatives and distant family members who are most likely to communicate via the old number (30 years) that they know.

I think if you are staying with the same provider yes
If you are switching from another provider say from talktalk to Plusnet probably
If you are moving from Virgin Media to say BNT or TalkTalk from past experience NO (even though the number was originally a BT one)
As James above alludes to I would be surprised if non landline contact number affected credit ratiing.
Personally I think it just works out for us. I should point out that the £5 I pay isnt for the landline side of it. Its for the 59 minute allowance to virtually any number.I looked at the contract and the digital voice thing is in the basic price we pay
One of the things with the Digital voice thing we have is that we can make another call out if a phone or phones are in use and if a phone is in use and someone rings in they other phones still ring and we can answer which is convenient

Edited by anonymoususer on Wednesday 15th June 11:29

[Lucas Ayde]

anonymoususer said:

I think if you are staying with the same provider yes
If you are switching from another provider say from talktalk to Plusnet probably
If you are moving from Virgin Media to say BNT or TalkTalk from past experience NO (even though the number was originally a BT one)
As James above alludes to I would be surprised if non landline contact number affected credit ratiing.
Personally I think it just works out for us. I should point out that the £5 I pay isnt for the landline side of it. Its for the 59 minute allowance to virtually any number.I looked at the contract and the digital voice thing is in the basic price we pay
One of the things with the Digital voice thing we have is that we can make another call out if a phone or phones are in use and if a phone is in use and someone rings in they other phones still ring and we can answer which is convenient

Edited by anonymoususer on Wednesday 15th June 11:29

Thanks, will look into it then, BT are offering a FTTH deal which gives me higher speeds for the same price I'm currently paying for their FTTC. I was loathe to lose the landline number for emergency contact from family. 2 year contract but not planning on moving any time soon.

[anonymoususer]

Lucas Ayde said:

Thanks, will look into it then, BT are offering a FTTH deal which gives me higher speeds for the same price I'm currently paying for their FTTC. I was loathe to lose the landline number for emergency contact from family. 2 year contract but not planning on moving any time soon.

Oh one thing to add you do need to use their router for the Digital Voice phones to work. They connect via DECT and you can if you wish switch off the wifi on the router and use a seperate access point

[snuffy]

Lucas Ayde said:

If you go to a fully digital service, can you keep the old phone number on the new digital phone? I have elderly relatives and distant family members who are most likely to communicate via the old number (30 years) that they know.

Yes. I went from Zen FTTC to Zen FTTP last month and you still port your number (even though its still all with Zen). Their Digital Voice package is £7 for 1000 minutes a month. I could actually have kept my copper landline as well but that would have been more expensive.

[the-norseman]

I got rid of mine at old house when we got non openreach FTTP but at the new house had to go for a landline (comes over the FTTP) because mobile signal is so poor.

[LuS1fer]

I have TalkTalk Superfibre and have always had a landline with them. Hardly use it.

However, I was looking at Superfibre packages for my mother, same price I pay but they don't offer a landline at all.

[TEKNOPUG]

No need if you have a reliable mobile signal in the house. Be aware that VoIP systems with Fibre broadband are dependent upon both your internet and electricity working. Lose either and you will be dependent upon your mobile coverage.

[anonymous-user]

Our new house actually has no copper phone lines to it. There’s no possibility of a landline apparently! Just fibre. Okay with me!

[S6PNJ]

anonymoususer said:

Lucas Ayde said:

If you go to a fully digital service, can you keep the old phone number on the new digital phone? I have elderly relatives and distant family members who are most likely to communicate via the old number (30 years) that they know.

I think if you are staying with the same provider yes
If you are switching from another provider say from talktalk to Plusnet probably
If you are moving from Virgin Media to say BNT or TalkTalk from past experience NO (even though the number was originally a BT one)
As James above alludes to I would be surprised if non landline contact number affected credit ratiing.
Personally I think it just works out for us. I should point out that the £5 I pay isnt for the landline side of it. Its for the 59 minute allowance to virtually any number.I looked at the contract and the digital voice thing is in the basic price we pay
One of the things with the Digital voice thing we have is that we can make another call out if a phone or phones are in use and if a phone is in use and someone rings in they other phones still ring and we can answer which is convenient

Sorry to potentially disagree (no knowledge of Virgin Media), but I'm just going through this with a family member - they are with EE via copper 'landline' and I'm moving them to 3 via mobile broadband. Their landline (with EE - so BT) will be ported to a VOIP provider that I'm currently with (see my profile for more details). I've been with the VOIP provider for about 3 years now and I can safely say no callers have been any the wiser - mine is under £3 pcm and includes 175 free landline minutes. I'm lucky to have FTTP (currently on 400/400mbps service but could have 900/900).

[anonymoususer]

S6PNJ said:

Sorry to potentially disagree (no knowledge of Virgin Media), but I'm just going through this with a family member - they are with EE via copper 'landline' and I'm moving them to 3 via mobile broadband. Their landline (with EE - so BT) will be ported to a VOIP provider that I'm currently with (see my profile for more details). I've been with the VOIP provider for about 3 years now and I can safely say no callers have been any the wiser - mine is under £3 pcm and includes 175 free landline minutes. I'm lucky to have FTTP (currently on 400/400mbps service but could have 900/900).

No disagreement except your talking a seperate VOIP Provider ?
I was meaning the broadband providers own voip service ie BT's digital voice to keep it simple as possible
I havent looked at your profile but I'm curious to know why I can't take a phone number from Virgin to BT especially since the number was originally a BT one