Yes but I dont use it for calls. Its only cause all the ISP's demand you have a landline to have internet from them. I hate this and would welcome being able to have internet without a fixed line too.

Yeah .Phone is in effect free with Virgin TV/internet package anyway. Wife makes a lot of international calls and it is a shedload cheaper bouncing it via one of those 08xx services. Also get free calls to my Virgin mobile which is handy. Only downside is calling other mobiles - cheap deals for calling mobiles from landlines aren't common. Also I simply refuse to pay at least £20 / month for a mobile with inclusing minutes - it simply isn't good value for me.

no. Virgin give you internet with no land line

I pay a total of £17.50 for a landlines and totally unlimited broadband at 15 meg. Don't use calls at all. This is cheaper than Virgins 60 meg package and due to their 75% throttling on high users there is no point to pay more for that service. Yes it's annoying that line rental is ‘dead money’ but it's still a cheap option in comparison

Turquoisetim
no. Virgin give you internet with no land line

True; but if you want virgin TV, you need a phoneline.

This is the only reason I have one. Correction, I do occasionally use it to find my mobile…

Mainly for the fixed line broadband and so that people without minute-abundant mobile contracts can call us (i.e. our PAYG using parents). I very rarely use it to dial out, and then only back to the same parents (some of whom live in the middle of nowhere so calling their mobiles is a naff idea in any case)… the Mrs uses it more but she is a gasbag and it'd kill her mobile minutes in a few days if she didn't use the land line.

I suppose once in a while we call an 08 number, but that's not enough on it's own to justify paying the line rental or even significant enough to be part of the decision.

If I lived alone and didn't need ADSL I'd definitely get rid of it and just offer to call people back. The only sticking point I can think of is the occasional financial institution (et al.) that insists upon a land line contact number.

phili_c51
I pay a total of £17.50 for a landlines and totally unlimited broadband at 15 meg. Don't use calls at all. This is cheaper than Virgins 60 meg package and due to their 75% throttling on high users there is no point to pay more for that service. Yes it's annoying that line rental is ‘dead money’ but it's still a cheap option in comparison

It's not really “dead money” as it's part of an overall package which has to be assessed as a unit proposition, they'd probably still want a similar sum off you even without the land line as its a pretty cheap part of the deal.

Yes, but the last bill for calls was for £6 or so.

There are plenty of things you can call from landlines that cost less than mobiles I seem to recall. Plus not everyone has mobile contracts, so i like to give my friends/family a cheap alternative way of getting hold of me!

Yes… it's free, so why wouldn't I? I appreciate having something to fall back onto if necessary, and since I don't give the number out, it doesn't inconvenience me beyond the space and electricity required.

Also, it's pretty useful when certain numbers cost a fortune from my mobile.

Yes, but not by choice/want for a phoneline. UPC charges €2 more to get internet without a landline, than with, so for the sake of saving €2 I have a landline. Completely retarded, I should be saving €6 to go without it. I rarely make calls with it, and I only receive calls from older family members who're too set in analogue thinking to use internet services.

Yes, but as with others it is mostly due to the ISP requirement of needing one. It rarely gets used, and the rare times that it is are only due to being numbers that aren't included in mobile minutes.

It's also handy as a backup in case there are mobile network issues, but that is more of an afterthought.

I need a landline for my broadband, but no phone is plugged in to it.
It winds me up that i get ‘free evening and weekend calls’ - i'd far far rather have zero free anything and have a slight reduction in the overhead, but idiots at BT refuse to acknowledge a growing group of people in my situation.

ajones
True; but if you want virgin TV, you need a phoneline.

You can have virgin TV without a landline - thats' what we've got at my girlfriend's place.

Other than a couple of business PSTN lines which I don't count as they're not mine as such, no.

I think with virgin you would only save 5 quid if you don't have the landline and just have broadband. If you pay the landline costs up front it probably even works out cheaper than not having it although don't quote me in that.

I have my phone disconnected after I kept receiving international calls at 3/4am and I've never given my number to a human or some registration site.

What annoys me the most about my phone line contract, if you don't make at least 1 call a month, they punish you with a charge!!!! Day light robbery in my opinion, I just don't use it for anything else so I don't think about it at all.
Second thing that annoys me is the fact I have to pay for caller ID. This is free both on PAYG and Contract mobile phones.

My parents have to use it because they get absolutely no service where they live..

I'm with virgin as well and have Cable, Tivo, Landline, and mobile. Still use the landline a lot. I've thought about dropping it but honestly it probably would be more bother to get them to disconnect it. People who have experienced Virgins after sales will know what I mean. I will say the whole package is generally very reliable though.

I use it only because it's there and I'm forced to have it. If I could get broadband without it I would jump at the chance.

When I signed up with Plusnet they had broadband only packages which I thought would be the internet only. It turned out all it means is having the internet through them but line rental with someone else.

If they could agree something with Openreach and let people have internet only, it would be ideal. I mean what line rental is averaging £14.50 at the moment and rising per year? Lets cut it out if we can.

Line rental pays for the continuous improvements and expansion of the telecomm network. If we were given a choice and didn't pay it then Broadband prices would go up to compensate.

I have an ADSL connection, but no phone line. Rely on a mobile phone for calls with absolutely no issues!

I have a land line and never use it. Its good to have it in case of emergency for the kids but pointless if we have 2 working mobiles.

Virgin media for some reason make it more expensive to have less services than more.

Yes I have one, but I rarely use it. Maybe once in a while for an 0800 number.

Yes. In fact, two lines (on different numbers). And I use it a LOT. Nearly all my calls are free (usual 60 minutes and redial thing). On the other hand, I neither have nor want a contract mobile.

tickedon
I have an ADSL connection, but no phone line. Rely on a mobile phone for calls with absolutely no issues!

Is that supposed to be possible? - I also have a friend who cancelled his sky package including the phone… The phone line still has dial tone, but when you try to do anything it has a recorded message saying it's disconnected…. However… His broadband still works and has done for the last year lol… So of course he's never bothered saying anything and is getting free broadband LOL

Planning to move out from my parents finally next year.

As it stands, if i can get an internet connection without needing a phoneline, i'll do so. As i have zero need for one.

Same goes for TV actually, the internet easily can deliver what little TV i do watch…

I have one, but don't use it.

I only use it to call 0800 calls and to receive calls from other family friends

Like the article says, I have a phone line but only to get broadband. It sucks, the only time I've used a phone on it was to do a quiet line test, it's basically £120 a year on top the cost of BB.

I have a phone line but haven't bothered plugging a phone into it. What's the point? I get harassed by PPI and Accident claim calls on both my work mobile and personal mobile plugging in a phone into the land line will just mean 1 more extra set of calls I don't want!!

If you tend to have a landline just for free phone numbers like 0800 you might save quite a bit by using giffgaff which doesn't change for free phone numbers. http://giffgaff.com/index/pricing

There is also ovivo on the Vodafone network which gives you free minutes text and data every month for nothing, you just buy a 15 quid SIM card I can't see how they can keep going though but they have been around for over a year now I think. Just don't port your number over. I don't know if they have free free phone calls though.

I'm a student so I just keep a mobile phone on an unlimited everything contract, then my broadband is provided/cable so no phone line required. Pretty great tbh.

Had one in the UK, but not in Japan. It's not necessary for Internet access where I live.

TooNice
Had one in the UK, but not in Japan. It's not necessary for Internet access where I live.

Lucky you!

Yes, use it for the old folks to call them and vice versa…..

I get one free with the 150Mb broadband (UPC Ireland) and they charge me 8 Euro less per month if I take the free phone with the broadband, so it's a no brainer. It sits there plugged in, rarely receive a call on it, rarely make a call on it. Also have a landline and phone from blueface.ie same thing, sits there plugged in, rarely make or receive a call on it but it's a phone for life deal so cost me nothing after the intial 99 euro payment a few years back. Both are VOIP based landlines with proper local numbers. Mobile wise, I use a free sim deal in a THL W8 Chinese Android phablet (amazing mobile phone!) and put 20 euro top up on it every few months.

phili_c51
I pay a total of £17.50 for a landlines and totally unlimited broadband at 15 meg. Don't use calls at all. This is cheaper than Virgins 60 meg package and due to their 75% throttling on high users there is no point to pay more for that service. Yes it's annoying that line rental is ‘dead money’ but it's still a cheap option in comparison

Who are you with? That sounds like a good deal.

I have one, my ISP demands it. It's handy now and then. Family tend to call on that line rather than mobile. I got my cordless phone with answer machine for £1 from a tacky house clearance place!

I only have a phone line because you can't get BT Infinity without it, sucks to pay nearly £15 a month for something that never gets used though. I don't even know why I answer the phone because 99% of the time it's a cold caller, the other 1% its my Gran who just calls my mobile if I don't answer anyway

Still use mine mostly to ring friends, businesses and work when i don't want a phone bill on my mobile ^^

I still use a land line but only for Family, but mostly for 0845 & 0870 numbers (as they are free on my phone package), calling these from a Mobile is a no no ! The Missus use's the landline all the time & I'm ok with that as she was always going over her mobile tariff when we were on just line rental… It has a propose for now but would like to see a change & see packages for BB only with out taking a landline rental out too ?

I always use landline for calls, seems daft to be paying out huge sums for mobile phone contracts, but most people these days haven't got a clue about looking after their money and spend it poorly. My mobile phone is about 8 years old and I only use it for the odd text message or for emergency.

I found that with giffgaff 0845 numbers are less than 2p different to virgin if you don't have some 0870 and 0845 package. On my old o2 payg when you topped up you got unlimited o2 to o2 and landline calls. I think the cost difference now isn't as much as it was and you would probably save money using the 15 a month on giffgaff

I recently reviewed the cost for a landline per year without making any calls, and it was around 3 times the cost of a VoIP annual subscription, which includes free landline calls to the country of my choice - so from next month we'll have no traditional telephone line and still have the ability to make & receive calls on a regular telephone number.

Our Internet is fiber, but I think if it was DSL then an active phone line subscription is still needed - though in Sweden there are many companies offering telephone, Internet & TV bundles via a copper phone line (as well as cable & fiber operators).

Dont have one at the moment as managed to get a decent internet contract without phone line. The only reason I would get one would be if i had to as part of a package.

aidanjt
Lucky you!

Japan gets seriously ripped off in terms of mobile phone charges though, so I doubt that the cost of telecommunication is cheaper over here. How I miss GiffGaff..

I have one but only because we need it for Internet. Never ever make calls on it though have mobiles for that

Over here in the US, I bought an Obihai 100 well over a year ago. I paid $44.00, connected it to my Google Voice account, and have had a free landline since. The downside is that my landline is not connected to the local emergency service. I still need to use a cell phone for that.

I have only once, for a couple days, had service problems that ended up being related to the wireless router it was connected to. Otherwise, the call quality is excellent.

I actually use mine.

Currently got uncapped internet and land line with free evening and weekend calls with talk talk for £16.00.

Does it get used? it certainly does, I just it for calls out to be people I know with land lines and many ring me on it, it helps having a land line for running my business too.

ajones
True; but if you want virgin TV, you need a phoneline. This is the only reason I have one. Correction, I do occasionally use it to find my mobile…

Actually that's not the case if you've got Virgin's cable service - it's only relatively recently (last year) that I switched my phone connection over from BT to Virgin.

That said, the sodding local distro box keeps flooding so I get to listen in on other folks' calls for a while before eventually the darned thing fails altogether. Ah well, time to call them out for the third time in a month.

So, yes, I've still got an active landline, but at this rate I'm not sure for how much longer. To be honest these days mobiles seem to make more sense. Speaking of which, what ever happened to that idea that you could buy a particular mobile number (from OfCom?) and then that'd be your permanent number? That sounded like a good idea to me - especially if you're one of those folks who schlepps around with a private car registration too (I'm not).

Yes we have one.
Yes it gets used a lot.

Yes we have one, although the majority of calls are incoming. When outgoing calls are made they're usually done on a mobile.

We do have one, but it's never been used for calls, we haven't yet got around to buying a phone to plug into it lol.

Yep. I use it for the free local calling, and 08 numbers.

I didn't think anyone still had those. We got a box for our fiber.

Andaho
Is that supposed to be possible? - I also have a friend who cancelled his sky package including the phone… The phone line still has dial tone, but when you try to do anything it has a recorded message saying it's disconnected…. However… His broadband still works and has done for the last year lol… So of course he's never bothered saying anything and is getting free broadband LOL

The voice part of the line can be disabled remotely but the ADSL part requires an engineer visit to the exchange. It isn't uncommon to have no voice but functioning ADSL but it is quite unusual to have a disconnected voice service but still receive ADSL.

If it weren't for ADSL I would't have a phone line, both at home and for business. It doesn't get used, at home it's mobiles only and at work it's all VoIP, as it's cheap no matter where you call in the world. Sadly no fibre for me in either location, BT has been very selective to ensure it misses out places that won't turn a healthy profit, AKA many business parks and out-of-city towns with partial virgin media coverage already.

I would love to get rid of the land line it just don`t fit in with the way you use and make phones calls today. The extra cost of line rental is a waste of money now.

Haven't had a mobile for four or five years; it works surprisingly well, I even get to speak to friends face-to-face.

A truly remarkable innovation. :p

We do have a landline, despite having four contract mobiles in the house. It even includes “free” any time landline calls. We did try and save some money by dropping to only free weekend calls but it actually put the price up. VM actually charge more for broadband if you don't have a phoneline. Just another of their crazy (money grabbing) billing oddities.

phili_c51
I pay a total of £17.50 for a landlines and totally unlimited broadband at 15 meg. Don't use calls at all. This is cheaper than Virgins 60 meg package and due to their 75% throttling on high users there is no point to pay more for that service. Yes it's annoying that line rental is ‘dead money’ but it's still a cheap option in comparison

Who with,Id like to leave Virgin,their service has become progressively worse and more expensive.

I would love to know as well, as I might leave VM as well.