to keep my landline?

[orangeleavesinautumn]

I could save around £30 a month on an internet deal which does not include the land line..... but what happens in emergencies, power cuts, when the mobile phone system is down?

Realistically, it isn't used that much - I do give out my land line not my mobile number to various businesses, etc, that I don't want disturbing my day with phone calls - they can leave a message on the ansa machine at home instead. A couple of relatives use it, and I like the fact we can have a 3 or 4 way conversation, if everyone in the house picks up a reciever.

And I want it available for emergencies

But it is quite expensive, and not used a lot.

AIBU to keep it? What do other households do?

We’ve still got ours. I’m early 60’s and for many of my relatives and friends of,y generation it’s still the main way of communicating.

I’ve never had one and I’m nearly 40. There are 8 ways of contacting me on my phone, none of which require me to speak to anyone.

£360 a year seems a lot of money to spend on "but what if....'s"

I mean, I still have a landline as I am on the cheapest package with our provider and if they take it away they aren't reducing my bill, but we never use it, and there are only 2 people that ever call it, and, if they wanted to speak to us, they could ring any of our mobiles, so we don't need it at all.
I can't think of any emergency where I've ever had to use the landline in 20 odd years.
That would be £7200 you'd have saved at this price difference......

Unfortunately for you, it will be turned off completely within 18months. So the question is academic really.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-transition-from-analogue-to-digital-landlines

If you have a power cut many phones that need power won't work anyway. ( You didn't say what kind of phone you have )

Unless you live incredibly rural - probably not. We lost our traditional landline when we moved home, no choice in the matter. It was VOIP line or nothing.

Very rural areas are currently paused in the VOIP rollout because of how isolated they are. The combination of more frequent power cuts and terrible mobile signal means that in an emergency they have no means to call for help.

Apparently the 'industry' are trying to work out how this looks for these communities. If I were feeling generous I'd say this means upgrading the mobile network in more rural places. Being more honest I can see rural communities taking a step back and having two way radio set ups in case of emergencies!

Largely people don't have a choice in whether they get to keep the traditional landline.

Get a cheap pay mobile , one that will take voice messages, and give that number to firms etc.
My husband and I share an old mobile for this.

Buy a power bank so you can charge mobile if power cut.

We only have “ landline” as it makes our current package cheaper.
I can’t remember last time we used it
It actually plugs into our router as the line we had was faulty and it was easier to plug straight to router. This means if broadband down or power cut we lose outside phone line but we’d have lost that anyway as old phone needed power source.

Which company is asking £30 a month for landline? That's absolutely bonkers!

Am assuming you've double checked uswitch etc OP?

My landline is £5 a month for unlimited calls with Virgin, would have be less without the free calls

We have a spare corded handset that works in a power cut

It isn't £30 specifically for a land line, it is that if we swap broadband deals, we can get broadband for £30 cheaper, but no land line

All landlines are going digital in the next couple of years anyway so non digital phones will be useless

Ahh! That makes more sense, sorry 🤣

The only reason why we have kept our landline is because we live in he sticks and the phone signal is dodgy

I live in a place with frequent severe storms and the resulting power cuts. I have never had cell service go out. I have never been unable to keep my phone charged for essential use. We have a few portable chargers in our emergency kit. They mostly get used when traveling, but also get pulled out for longer power outages.

We live very rurally and there is no mobile signal here, so we will be keeping ours. Not sure if we would bother otherwise.

We're keeping ours.

Apart from anything else, I was struck by the plight of people in parts of Scotland (was it last winter, or the year before??) whose power was off for days. They couldn't re-charge their mobiles and some were in extremely remote areas.

Mobiles are all very well if you can be 100% sure you can charge them.

Ah brill

I went back to a retro dial phone as it looks good and no power cord neede

I still can't see how a landlines is costing you £30 a month extra... I'm looking at plus net, and the want £1 a month extra on the broadband prices for a landlines and the whike package is under £30 a month... (OK no TV but...)

In a year or two all "landlines" will
Run through the WiFi anyway. So the powercit thing will no longer apply. We are already in the phase out stage.

A deal with the landline was the same with BT as one without when I got my broadband so I have a landline and only pay if I make calls

Our landline isn't an original one it's one of the VoIP ones that you have with fibre internet

There was a proper power cut in our area last year. It was a hit scary, no phone reception, no landline. And no candles at home of course. :-)

Haven't had one for about 8 years

Here too.

I have a landline with bt due to poor mobile reception and power cuts. I however had a letter this week to say landlines will be going over to a WiFi service which will be no good in a power cut so might be worth finding out if this is the case for you. I'm told it will be in the next year (only renewed my contract last month too).