land line

Some posters have mentioned power cuts. In the event of a power cut, an old fashioned, corded handset that is plugged directly into the phone socket will continue to work as the local exchange provides power to the phone through the landline (it always has done) because the exchange uses power backups. This doesn't usually happen with cordless phones. Mobile phones should still work but only if there is a strong enough signal in the first place. Something to consider if you are worried about emergencies.

I've used Whatsapp on my mobile and Facetime on the Apple iPad when I've been without a mobile signal. The interesting thing about WiFi calling is that anyone (who has your mobile number) can call your mobile phone number without needing to to go through an app, they just dial your number as usual. I have no idea how the calls are charged though but in areas where there is no mobile signal but you have WiFi, you can make and receive calls as if you are using a mobile phone network.

We're with SKY for our TV, Broadband and Landline. They may not be the cheapest, but the service is good. The package we're on gives us 'free' calls at all times to 01, 02, 03 numbers, which we use frequently.
We've been with SKY since the very beginning, through all the incarnations, BskyB etc, so when they put prices up, I contact them and point out in no uncertain terms that if I don't get generous discounts for being one of their longest standing customers, I shall take my business elsewhere. They don't want to lose customers, so I always get a very good discount!

I am with BT. For phone and broadband. Because I make few calls I have BT Basic. My Care Line is connected to the telephone. I have an ancient mobile pay as you go phone which I take with me when I go out in case my scooter should break down or I feel unwell

Landline and broadband with TalkTalk, no mobiles in this household.

We've recently moved house and after years of problems with BT we've gone with Vodafone. Their customer service leaves BT miles behind. No connection charge & there's no line rental charge if you have their fibre broadband option. Can't fault Vodafone at the moment

All landline providers have to use Open Reach (BT owned) although they charge different rental prices. At the moment it's not possible to easily have BB without landline. I am in an area where mobile signal is poor, in any case my elderly Mum doesn't have a mobile (she won't have one) so need a landline for her to contact myself & my DD. I have excellent deal through Sky as I needed a dish for TV (poor reception) so I swapped from BT to Sky for landline & BB as well - they tend to offer deals when you are nearing end of contract.

I do find using landline easier than mobile for calls as I have nerve problems in my hands

i'm with sky for landline, broadband [fibre] and television. i transferred from bt about a year ago and would never go back. i would certainly never go with virgin [too many problems] or any other provider either.
in the event of a power cut i am not able to use my landline as i've got one of those 3-handset ones which plug into the wall. somewhere i've got a "normal" phone which i'd have to plug into the phone socket.

I have Bt landline and for Internet. We have a quite good deal with them. Television has got sky but we only have the basic sky not a lot of sport or films etc.

Curlytops I too am with Virgin media. It is going up again in December. I do not use a mobile much. My contract is for free evening and weekend calls for up to an hour so, as I am on my own. I can ring friends and chat without worrying but it is costing £57 a month from December. I reduced the TV package when they put it up last time.

NanaMcGeek I have the BT Smarttalk app so I can use wifi to make calls on my BT mobile - no bleeping signal here at all. But if I'm calling a mobile number, it costs the same as my landline call charge to a mobile, rather than using my free minutes. So now I use an audio FaceTime call if it's someone who has an iPhone or iPad (I think you can do the same its WhatsApp, as well as Facebook as mentioned earlier)

We were with BT for broadband and phone until April this year when we changed to another broadband supplier with no need for a landline. You do obviously need a good mobile signal. I pay £13 a month for 1000 minutes on my mobile and haven't missed the landline at all (or the hefty BT bill). People with WhatsApp can phone us free, and others use text or email if they prefer not to pay for mobile calls. And so far, no junk phone calls! (we were getting about 10 a day on the landline).

I use my mobile in the day and landline after 7pm but I do get a lot of nuisance calls on the landline and often threaten to remove the phone and leave only broadband.

I have pay as you go & get unlimited free texts, 2 & a half hours free calls & x amounts of data for £10 a month.

I saw the Vodafone ad about no line rental charges and looked it up. You still need a landline to get their broadband, the price is just not included separately on the bill

Yes, the same here. Curly tops.

With virgin also and don't need the landline as get plenty of free minutes on mobile.

But would changing providers be any cheaper.
They all seem to want to tie you in with the blessed landline phone.
I really don't need it.

Short answer- yes as we have no mobile signal

Even if you don't have use a landline phone so to speak, you still need one for internet access. It's more expensive than the internet!

All we get on landline are sales calls- I'd get rid of it but DH wants it to stay- don't know why- he never uses it!

We have a contract with Virgin media for TV, Internet and landline, when I asked to have landline removed they told me it would be a more expensive package without it included. They've got you over a barrel, all you can do is leave them.

You will need to pay for a landline for your broadband to run on, but don't get tied in to high prices. It is a complete pain, but a month or so before your contract runs out (put the date in your diary to remind you) ring up the company and say you are leaving them, you can't afford it any more. Don't accept their first offer, keep going, and you will get the price down by almost half, might even get the landline rental for free. The companies rely on people renewing without checking.

I haven't read through this thread so forgive me if I am repeating what others have said. Yesterday we had an electrical fault, it was about 15 hours without power. We would have been lost without our landline as all the calls we made would have been very expensive on a mobile as we do not have unlimited use. My H can't use a mobile anyway. Of course with power out we also had no broadband so the email option was out.

For those who have a poor mobile phone signal in their home but are connected to broadband using wifi, most of the mobile operators are starting to offer 'WiFi calling' if you have a suitable handset. It is very simple to set up, it's not an app but built in to the phone operating system, you just enable it. It means you can use your mobile to make and receive calls as normal, even though you have no mobile phone signal in the house. If you go out of range of your WiFi router though, the call will drop. As to needing to have a landline when you access broadband, it depends what's already installed in your house to connect you to your broadband and landline provider. In most cases, copper wire to the house carried landline calls and when broadband became available, the same copper wires carried that too. Broadband packets and voice calls both use the copper wires but are segregated and split off in the local exchange. So you can have one without the other but both share the same wire into the house and all the equipment for both is available, the service provider just has to turn it on. New builds can have optic fibres into the house in some areas. In this case, access to the existing (landline) telephone network is not straightforward and requires extra equipment to provide landline facilities but you should get amazing internet speeds! I know very little about cable providers. I keep seeing TV adds for Uswitch, has anyone tried this and did it go smoothly?

We use TalkTalk for landline (free calls all day, every day exceot for a few numbers), broadband and TV. Internet is fast, hasn't dropped out or slowed down all the time we have had it ...and I recently rang them to say we were going to change suppliers when the contract expired in 2 months time. They fell all over themselves to give me a better deal!

Another BT for everything user here, although I've got Virgin cable laid to my new place. Why do I stay with BT? Cos it all works seamlessly for me. The time I'll shop around for another provider is when it doesn't.