Broadband without a house phone line

[2512BC]

Hi is there a way of getting broad band without a standard phone line?

I don't use my house phone not for internal or external so really resent paying the rental charge - even for light user. It is only there for the broadband.

Other than Virgin - is there a way of getting broadband without the phone line - and if you do have this can you give me some details
We live in West London -

Thank you

[cdtaylornats]

You need a physical line to get broadband.

You can get a dongle - either 3G at about 2.1MBytes/sec or 4G at up to 80MBytes/sec.

www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/broadband_no_landline/

[2512BC]

Thank you - we are online all the time so a may not be really cost effective but I will look and thanks for the links

[superram]

We had Virgin broadband for over a year before we got a phone line as there was no number available at our exchange.

[camelfinger]

We're on Virgin with no landline.
I've seen an advert on the tube about a company that offers phone line free broadband for central London so depends how far out you are.

[2512BC]

Thanks I will look into virgin again
camelfinger - yes I've seen the advert they only cover a very small very central area of the City. Thank you

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Also if you get broadband with Virgin they'll probably chuck in the phone line/line rental for free at some point - they did for us.

[SisterMoonshine]

You can get satalite dish internet, but apparently not real time - can be 10mins behind. So not so good for say, eBay.

[camelfinger]

It does really annoy me that people have to rent a landline that barely gets used. I think it's the same price for us if we have the phone or not. They're obsessed with trying to sell packages that involve free phonecalls and tv channels which simply don't interest me. I wish there were more ways around having a stupid land line.

[NetworkGuy]

But the line rental is there for the maintenance of the wiring and supporting infrastructure (fibre between exchanges, building maintenance at exchanges, genberators and backup batteries at exchanges). While I can understand it may be 'annoying' if you consider the internet important, it is a small price to pay because without that copper your broadband would not work.

With Virgin, yes, it may be possible to get internet without phone service but they (used to) do something bizarre like charge 15 pounds line rental and 15 broadband or 30 for broadband only.


I totally agree that the ISPs confuse things when they "bundle" high internet usage with 'included' calls package, and more recently have the option of TV packages too. I don't know which started it but once an ISP started gaining a bit of market share they all jumped the same way, slowly pushing the 'broadband' fee down and the line rental fee up.


For anyone who thinks they are 'not using the line' but who have internet on a lot of the time, whether for music, facebook, e-mail, or whatever, then you are using that line, just no longer holding it 'engaged' as it used to be in the days of dial-up (1990-2005)

The reason there are ADSL filters placed in the sockets is so that only the ADSL router gets the screeching noises above 3000 Hz which gives your home its link for data to/from the exchange. If you heard them in your ear, they might be v annoying and make pets get a bit unhappy.

[NetworkGuy]

There have been past deals which work out more modestly for customers. In 2014 I took Post Office contract for broadband and home phone just before the line rental went up. My line rental was 120 GBP for the 12 months - ie 10/month effectively, with no line install fee() (normally 50 to 125 GBP, depending on which company you choose) and free broadband for 6 months, then 8 GBP per month for the remaining 12 months contract.

When I moved here I had Primus connect me for line rental and they're charging under 8 pounds a month, while Plus.Net charge me about 5 GBP (because of discounts I get). There are deals around from time to time, you just have to watch the small print.


() I wanted a second line just in case my primary line failed, since my business depends on the internet. I do have unlimited internet on Three and in theory could run my laptops though my mobile for a while, but I wouldn't want to run it as a hotspot 24 x 7 if my line was down for 3 weeks

[camelfinger]

Interesting. However, I do find it ingenuous when a package is advertised as, say, £9.99 per month for broadband but the small print states that a landline is required. Similar to when e.g. Ryanair used to advertise its flights at 99p but there was no way of avoiding the debit or credit card charge. As consumers (or at least me personally), we understand the line rental to mean for calls, and the broadband charge to be for internet access. I hadn't thought about the line rental being anything to do with the internet since the dial up days. Some years ago, it was £10 per month for Virgin Broadband with no landline. I liked the neatness of this at the time. Since then, the price has crept up to over £20 per month (I did get a reduction when I threatened to leave). I do wonder how many people use their land line free minutes when much communication happens by other means, or you get mobile free minutes in most cases.

[NetworkGuy]

It's more likely to be 2.50 or 0.00 plus the infamous "line rental is required"

Ofcom and ASA are both mulling over the way consumers have been repeatedly hoodwinked by the adverts, with firms like BT having masses of small print in white text that's almost unreadable on TV, and similar stories for near everyone else.

Part of the reason for this 'requirement' is that the ISP (well, Telecommunications firm, really) is able to get a better deal, and save on their costs to some extent.

Openreach rents out the line.

Companies like EE, Sky, TalkTalk tie most customers into taking broadband and line rental for their deals. They have data equipment at the exchange and can therefore share their links back to London between all their customers at the exchange. They may pay Openreach for carrying their network traffic (voice and data) but they pay much less than if they had to pay Openreach for carrying the 'internet data' for them (Openreach would have to count it, log it, bill for it, add a profit margin)

The customer gets a (generally) cheaper price, (but sometimes the company doesn't rent enough capacity, so services might be a bit sluggish). The company locks in all your calls and can charge whatever per minute fees it wants.


My rental from Post Office Telecomms is handled by TalkTalk (whom I'd never touch direct!)

Plus.Net is on my other line, line rental from what was called Primus (now renamed Fuel Broadband, but I never opted for them to provide internet)...

This line rental is sold through Openreach as a 'BT Wholesale' product and as a result, I can use 1899 and 18185 codes to get cheap calls to Europe, Far East, etc.

Most of the firms which insist on their own line rental can inhibit the ability to use those short code numbers, so my Post Office (TalkTalk) line makes 1899 calls fail but I can use it to dial friends in USA for 1p/minute on my 'Primus' line (or on a BT line, or with some other firms, no doubt).

[Turbinaria]

"Relish" is the London company supplying broadband via 4G so no need for a landline - anyone been using this?

Any issues with using smart house technology such as automated lights or cameras that alert you when motion is detected? Heard it might not work in these cases whereas a land line would be fine.

[NetworkGuy]

I can think of few reasons it may not work when a landline solution would, apart from a cell being overloaded so your alarm message delayed...

[MJones15]

There are not many, but a few options available to you.

You mentioned Virgin and this is often the best bet if you are in their cabled area.

Another good option is Relish broadband in London that install very (VERY) quickly! It's running on very high frequency 4G (which may sound unreliable but really is not given the hardware they give you).

Check out the Relish section in this link:

www.broadbandlondon.com/buying-guides/cheapest-broadband-in-london/