Land line; is it time to dump it?

[snorri]

Is it time to scrap the land line or am I overlooking something?

In the thirty years I have lived in my present home, I have NEVER lost my landline 'phone, not even in the dark. It's always there where I need it, on the end of a cable connected to a wee box on the skirting board in my kitchen.
Edit. Using the landline to call is usually the most effective method of finding a lost mobile IME.

 

[Broughtonblue]

I kept my landline as just moved to norfolk and dont get any mobile reception in my house without going to stand up the top of the garden

 

[ianbarton]

Ditched ours a couple of years ago. No prospect of ever getting decent broadband (speed around 3Mb/s). I get unlimited data, calls and text on the mobile for £18/month. Use Three home broadband. Will never go back to BT in any way, shape or form if I can help it. When we had BT broadband the line kept dropping out. Engineer came out and said there was a fault in our box and the gain in the exchange was set too high. BT charged me £150 as "No fault found". Took a year to get my money back.

 

[Chris S]

My 3G reception is pretty bad, the 2G indicator keeps coming on. I often have to go outside to make a call as well.

I've got a low usage BT package. I can't remember what it's called but my bill is usually less than £16 every three months.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I would keep doing speed tests on your phone using 4g at peak times (evenings, weekends). See what speed you are regularly getting. If it's fast enough for you, then I'd shop around - you can get some good SIM only deals for your phone which are unlimited data. Some plans also have a Wifi hotspot allowance, so you could even still connect your laptop to your phone's signal, but there will be limits each month on how much data you can use in this way.

I would ditch the landline but my phone reception is too poor.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Virgin package, but my wife spends ages on the phone to her sister..I don't use the landline very often..I don't like talking on any phone..

 

[Globalti]

When we move we don't plan to have a BT landline; we will use the broadband connection to have a VOIP house phone and use our mobiles. We can also use them for Watsapp calls, video and voice.

 

[slowmotion]

Can you run a mobile broadband package through a PC monitor-sized screen?

 

[Smudge]

I still use my landline for calls as it doesn't have any probs with battery level or reception like a mobile might. My tv is connected to my home modem and i only really like using the internet at home on a computer with a decent sized screen.
My mobile is payg and only used occasionally for short calls & texts.
So i wont be giving up my landline anytime soon.

 

[keithmac]

I went through our bills last year, we were paying £12 a month to Virgin Media for our landline and NEVER used it! (Not worked out how much over 14 years because it would just annoy me).

Went broadband only (ditched their TV as well).

Me and wife both have mobiles, theres no need for it in our house..

 

[newfhouse]

Can you run a mobile broadband package through a PC monitor-sized screen?

Yes. You can use a ‘proper’ 4G router, a dongle or tether to a mobile phone using USB or WiFi. If you have good signals on your chosen network you will probably obtain better bandwidth than many twisted pair based broadband connections.

As an aside, I transferred my landline number (for a small admin fee, less than £10 as I recall) to a free VOIP provider. I don’t use it for outgoing calls at all but it was useful to be able to catch inbound calls from the odd contact that preferred to dial a landline. There is a free facility that emails me voicemail messages but even that rarely receives call now.

 

[vickster]

Mine is tied up with my Virgin Broadband, don’t think it adds to cost.
Ditto elderly parents tend to call it.
I often work from home so it’s a company expense anyhow

 

[rualexander]

I got rid of my landline last summer.
Now get all my internet and phone calls through my 3 sim only 4g contract £20 a month for unlimited data, texts, and calls.
I connect via hotspot tethering to my pc, tablet and chromecast.
Use about 150-200gb per month.
Download speeds are typically treble what I was getting via the landline and upload speeds are around 10 times faster.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I'll keep mine. It doesn't cost me anymore than it would if i didn't have it on my internet contract. When i phone the Royal Mail for example,i have to press number options to continue. I can't do that on my 'mobile phone' thingy.

 

[tyred]

I'll keep mine. It doesn't cost me anymore than it would if i didn't have it on my internet contract. When i phone the Royal Mail for example,i have to press number options to continue. I can't do that on my 'mobile phone' thingy.

You should be able to do that from a mobile too.