To contemplate not having a landline?

[ShetlandWife]

I've just moved, and I've been getting the runaround with the phone line /broadband set up. So far it is two weeks since it was supposed to be live, and nothing yet.

Wibu to just say sod it, and update to unlimited data on my phone instead, using it to hot-spot my laptop and firetv?

Anyone done this and have any feedback?

This is actually where a mobile (assuming it’s a smartphone) is better than landline.

10pm to 8am everyday and without me having to do anything the ONLY calls my mobile will let through are my parents, kids, siblings and partner.

Again, our landline phone has this facility.

Again, our landline phone has this facility.

But my mobile does it already and I need that for when I am out and about, so in my instance it would be pointless to pay extra for a landline.

In my case, where I live, the mobile does everything the landline can do and a lot more, so why would I pay for both?

Arguments about networks becoming congested or being able to trace a landline are irrelevant these days.

As for emergency calls, you don’t even need credit or to unlock the phone to make an emergency call.

Some suit some people, some suit others.

The op question was do I need a landline. Assuming decent mobile coverage in the property then the answer these days for the majority of people is “no you don’t”

A landline would annoy me as you can't screen calls

No-one's saying you have to plug a phone in, or use it. But the reality is that for many people, if they want internet at home, the cheapest and most reliable option is a landline service, whether fibre or standard fixed broadband as the mobile signal in many areas is slow/non existent.

Plus if people want to stream, this uses a lot of data, which is expensive on a mobile service.

Got rid of ours about 3 months ago and haven’t missed it. In fact, the landline hadn’t even been plugged in for about 2 years and I may have even chucked it in the bin. I certainly couldn’t tell you what my phone number was!

My house, my sister's house and my mother's house are in three different suburbs on the outskirts of one of the largest cities in the UK.

None of us have a usable mobile signal as in one that you can reliably make a phone call without it dropping out or breaking up. My sister asks people to whatsapp her instead of texting, as texts can take hours to get through.

Is there a reason the mobile signal is so bad in so many parts of the Uk compared to other places in the world?
I live in the middle of nowhere, in another European country, and almost everyone receives internet through mobile signal. When we travel its the same. Hardly anyone has cable or fibre due to the huge distances cable would have to run and the expense.

Wibu to just say sod it, and update to unlimited data on my phone instead, using it to hot-spot my laptop and firetv?

I would check that one, is it truly unlimited? Some plans will slow you down if you use a lot, sometimes to the point it's effectively unusable. Others will have "fair use" rules that a heavy user, for example someone using internet TV most of the day, could easily reach.

Two, check that tethering is actually allowed. Sometimes it's not.

Is there a reason the mobile signal is so bad in so many parts of the Uk compared to other places in the world?

Terrain can be an issue. Mobile signals are pretty much line of sight. Mountains and hills mean that you need a lot more masts.

I would check that one, is it truly unlimited? Some plans will slow you down if you use a lot, sometimes to the point it's effectively unusable.

Same applies to landline broadband. Very few are truly “unlimited” unless you pay more for business use

Caspianberg I also live in the middle of nowhere in another European country, and there's no mobile reception whatsoever in our village - it kicks in about 3km away.

Europe's a big place, your country might not be typical... Other parts of your country might not be the same as your area...

Same applies to landline broadband. Very few are truly “unlimited” unless you pay more for business use

Very true, it comes under the acceptable use policy.

Fair usage is actually pretty high on a lot of mobile plans these days (1000 GB per month is common). That's equivalent of about 333 hours of streaming Netflix. It'd probably be enough for a 1-2 person household. Speed is a separate matter though (as is convenience).

I have a land line and I prefer to use it as it bigger than a mobile and easier to hold.

I've never had a cold call on my land line, only ever get them on my mobile and even then I don't get that many.

some people clearly never leave London, do they? And in my experience if the calling party from a mobile IS in London the quality is still awful. That said I believe talking on the phone is going out of fashion as the zombies just stare and tap. (Those of you sneering at landlines, remember that your brick-in-the-back-pocket look is also quite amusing...)

Just had a look and unlimited mobile data now doesn't look to be much pricier than what I pay for landline (unlimited calls including to mobiles) and unlimited broadband from it. So IF you've got signal it looks like using your phone as a hotspot could well work out the same.

of course if the power goes you've got no phone. And anyone on a BT landline, which is quite a lot of older people who aren't able to shop around) will pay a fortune to call your mobile which is why they don't want to do it. Even if the quality wasn't so shit.

answer seems to be that if you don't talk on the phone, don't mind the endless recharging and don't want any resilience, there's no point in serious mobile users also paying for landline and broadband as unlimited data is now nearly as cheap.

I'll stick to a usable phone and reliable fast broadband, thanks all the same. With a call blocker there's never an issue, and £20 a year is plenty of mobile credit here.

Ooh, another reason we still have a landline is that we get all of our utilities from one supplier, who pays us 45p a unit for the electricity we generate from our solar panels, so effectively, we get our telephone and broadband for free.

A landline would annoy me as you can't screen calls

That option has been available for many years

Is there a reason the mobile signal is so bad in so many parts of the Uk compared to other places in the world?

The government won’t fund it.

Oh, and I never get “ you have had an accident” phone calls on the landline.

Umm FWIW..

Broadband for BT Sky and most everyone else is delivered over a copper cable or line excepting Virgin media .

That line carries the voice band channel ie normal phone calls, but the broadand is carried at much higher frequncies hence the need for that ADSL filter.

Bog standard ADSL orignates at your local telephone exchange and the performance is dictated by the distance from said exchange and the quality of the wiring from said exchange, allumimium cable can be shite poor..

VDSL OTOH often refered to as Fibre is where a fibre cable carries the broadband to the cabinet in the road hence the term FTTC (Fibre to the cabinet) therfore for a lot of people that is closer then the exchange so higher speeds can be relasied usually up to 80 Megabits however that signal falls of more with distance but as the cabinet is closer the performance is usally better. It alos euses the copper pair cable and that cariries the phone landline signal.

Now to make it a LOT better we have FTTP or Fibre to the premises this can go up to the Gigibit region but the roll out isnt that good as yet owing to the the expense of installing it but some indie suppliers are doing that their not to do with Virgin or BT firms such as Gigaclear and the like

Virgin media do it slighty differnt. They use their version of Fibre to the cabinet BUT they use a TV type co-aixial cable which can work better then copper wire. Oddley enough they do have a simple copper cable to deliver landline phone on!. The Co-ax cable part also carries their TV service.

Then theres such as VoIP, Voice over internet protocol. I use this it meands my Landline number comes up on the mobile phone by a programe called VOIPER its not simply forward or diverted but uses the phone data chanel to work on, best of both worlds was phoneing someone in the states the other night for around 1 penny a miniute clear as a bell better then the normal phone.

As to why phone coverage is poor?

It costs to install mobile phone base stations so they only use what they think they can get away with often people object to them on various grounds. Their the main reasons.

It's 2019 who even has a landline anymore

I do!
And yes,I use it often. I also use my desktop pc to access the internet more than my mobile.

Yes,I'm a ''dinosaur'' but I prefer a bigger screen and real keyboard.

Those without a landline clearly don't live in a black hole.