Dumping landline for wifi?

[Buckman]

Our landline plus fibre broadband is just over £42 a month and then we have the 2 x sim only contracts for the mobile phones so another £30 totalling in excess of £70 per month. We live in a poor reception area which is why we have had to hang onto the landline. We have no indoor coverage, but do have outdoor 4G coverage.
Earlier I was reading about the Satfi 4G WiFi Basic which got me thinking. There are also other models. If it can be fitted to a caravan for decent signal in remote areas, why can't we have one fitted at home? Within less than a year we would have recouped the outlay.
I am not sure whether this is feasible or not?

 

[Jcloughie]

Sounds like a good plan. Why don’t you speak to the company and see if you can get some reassurance, perhaps a trial period.

John

 

[Sam Vimes]

I think you have to factor in your usage as well since just stating the basic ownership cost is not the complete picture.

You can get fibre and landline for much cheaper than £42 per month. Equally you can get mobile phone plans much cheaper than £30 per month.

Lets start with the landline. It's feasible to ditch the landline and just get broadband only - this will save you some money. Then if your mobile phones support Wifi Calling you can use them in your house. Note that Wifi calling will still use your mobile phone call allowance.

But usage patterns are important to your decision. As an example this is what we do.

We have broadband and landline from BT at £36 per month which includes their 700 minutes call plan. It runs at 50/10Mbps and also has Digital Voice - VoIP. This gives as all the bandwidth we need for the two of us - in fact more since we survived ok with just a 6Mbps download speed for years. The service also allows us to make and receive two calls simultaneously, plus voicemail and some other features such as call fowarding and blocking.

One of the issues why we didn't ditch the landline is that our number is embedded in so many companies, institutions and friends that it would be hard to switch to a new number.

As for mobile phones we are very light users and we have poor to no mobile signal in the house and surrounding area. However, mobile phones are important for things like on-line transactions where 2FA is needed - a code sent to your mobile, and for travel.

My phone supports two sim and both are PAYG. So I have one from Three and one from Asda(Vodafone) both support Wifi Calling so can be used in the house. The main number is on Three and again embedded in so many companies etc it would be hard to change. The Asda sim has much cheaper call rates and the number is not important. Credit doesn't expire on either of these provided you make one chargeable call about every 180 days. Our £5 top up lasts a very long time.

When we travel we buy an Asda Bundle which lasts 30 days and gives us unlimited calls and texts plus a certain amount of download data. So for £5 we can get 3Gbytes of data plus the calls and texts.

If my wife needs to travel on her own I pop out the Asda sim and put it into her old phone - which to be honest only gets used a couple of times a year.

This way our mobile phone bill, which includes about 6 or 7 longish trips away is less than £60 per year.

 

[RogerL]

If the house is optic-cabled then you can reduce cost by not having a landline, but if the house only has copper phone wire then even basic broadband includes the landline cost - I'm paying Plusnet £27.50/month for mobile phone, 68Mb broadband and landline but almost all of that is the landline as the broadband is only 28 pence and the mobile only £6 (it's all going up nearly 10% from April 1st)

 

[Buckman]

Just to clarify mobile phone contracts and usage. For the one phone it is unlimited data, calls and text at a cost of £20 per month. The other phone has 20GB data and again unlimited calls and texts at a cost of £9 per month. When at home both mobiles are used mainly for Whatsapp through the wifi router as hardly ever use them to send text.
We normally watch a film on either Netflix or Prime each night so there is that download to take into consideration plus my Internet usage which is mainly browsing if we decide to dump the landline. We do not have the UHD option for the films as not much point for us as screen is only 55cm. We have two Ethernet connections, one to the TV and the other to the Sky+HD box. Almost forgot is that we also have a Firestick for one of the TVs.
Although we have the unlimited local calls with the landline, we probably make less than 100 calls a month. Most calls are of a short duration. also many organisations seem to phone us on either mobile.
Ideally if we can also use the unit in the caravan would be a bonus although only once or twice have we had issues with receiving a signal.
Thank you for all the input regarding feasibility.

 

[Buckman]

If the house is optic-cabled then you can reduce cost by not having a landline, but if the house only has copper phone wire then even basic broadband includes the landline cost - I'm paying Plusnet £27.50/month for mobile phone, 68Mb broadband and landline but almost all of that is the landline as the broadband is only 28 pence and the mobile only £6 (it's all going up nearly 10% from April 1st)

We are with Plusnet for landline and broadband and are on fibre I think 56mb or higher, but think that the last 100m is copper. We used to pay for phone rental for the year upfront, but that has now dropped away hence the huge jump in our monthly price. Just checked and on average we make under 40 calls a month or under 5 hours talking(Not me!).
I am wondering if it is worth paying the £9.41 for Unlimited UK and mobile calls.

 

[RogerL]

We are with Plusnet for landline and broadband and are on fibre I think 56mb or higher, but think that the last 100m is copper. We used to pay for phone rental for the year upfront, but that has now dropped away hence the huge jump in our monthly price.

We're the same, fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and copper wire to the house.

We stopped paying extra for inclusive calls on the landline as we get more than enough inclusive minutes on my mobile - so the landline is only used for incoming calls.

A significant part of your total cost is on-demand TV, which we don't have - that's the difference between your £72+ and our £27.5 monthly cost.

 

[Buckman]

We're the same, fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) and copper wire to the house.

We stopped paying extra for inclusive calls on the landline as we get more than enough inclusive minutes on my mobile - so the landline is only used for incoming calls.

A significant part of your total cost is on-demand TV, which we don't have - that's the difference between your £72+ and our £27.5 monthly cost.

The £72 is line rental, fibre broadband and two mobile phones. The on-demand TV is not part of the Plusnet package and totally separate.
We have the Prime because of the "Subscribe and save" stuff bought off Amazon plus a couple of other things. Prime is paid upfront for the year. Netflix is £9.99 per month as cannot pay upfront for it and it is a little bonus as I consume very little alcohol and don't do take aways etc.

 

[otherclive]

Our EE broad band and Anytime landline costs just over £32 pm on my new 24 month contract. But will go up by nearly 10% sometime in March, but most companies seem to have that rate of increase per annum based on CPI plus a fixed percentage. We also have WiFi calling on the mobiles too.

 

[RogerL]

The £72 is line rental, fibre broadband and two mobile phones. The on-demand TV is not part of the Plusnet package and totally separate.
We have the Prime because of the "Subscribe and save" stuff bought off Amazon plus a couple of other things. Prime is paid upfront for the year. Netflix is £9.99 per month as cannot pay upfront for it and it is a little bonus as I consume very little alcohol and don't do take aways etc.

If it doesn't include TV that's hugely expensive - monthly, we currently pay £21.22 for line rental, caller display and evening/weekend calls, £0.28 for Unlimited Fibre Extra and £6.00 for one mobile with 6Gb data, unlimited minutes/texts

 

[Jcloughie]

I do think we need to re-evaluate our needs from time to time. I know that due to competition in our area and our change of usage. We are currently paying far too much. I looked to change but realised we are contracted until September. The penalties are silly, but come Sept will be making big changes.

Luckily, we now have choices of two cable providers plus BT and data. So there will be negotiations to be done.

John

 

[JTQ]

The £72 is line rental, fibre broadband and two mobile phones. The on-demand TV is not part of the Plusnet package and totally separate.

Surely your "on demand TV" is facilitated via your broadband package, even if separately you pay for it?
Therefore, the point is it seems valid, it is the bandwidth you want that drives your costs.

Even so, I agree with some others you are way over paying for the services you take; there ought to be way better deals out there for the looking. Whilst your requirements need a lot of landline bandwidth, unlimited packages of this must still be out there cheaper?


Our position is probably different to many in so far as most outgoing calls we make are "international".

This we very neatly address using VoIP on the home network, in our case via the German free membership provider [ only pay for what you take] Sipgate, so our extended calls to the US, Australia & NZ at less than 2p per minute. In our case, and importantly for my wife, all via conventional DECT phones not via a computer.

Most of the international calls to our computer savvy family members, is completely free via Skype, using pc to pc, pc to mobile & mobile to mobile. That's as accessible home or away, just away it needs a viable signal.
Nearly all UK day to day outgoing calling, I do via a mobile, its unlimited and "free".

As has been said earlier, whilst technically we could completely dump having any landline, calling or even broadband, our landline telephone number is just too embedded in "life", we would grossly hassle both others and ourselves if we did give it up.

 

[Beachball]

My son recommend the cable package that included Tv Sky Cinema collection bigger bundle + movies Fibre Broadband and line rental and ex directory home phone number so far we are very happy with it .

 

[Robert_374373903]

Our BT broadband phone and mobile comes to £58 70 per month. The landline is always zero as well as the mobile which cost £5.22p per month. As said 31/3 it is going up again so am looking to see what other providers can keep our cost down

 

[Buckman]

Surely your "on demand TV" is facilitated via your broadband package, even if separately you pay for it?
Therefore, the point is it seems valid, it is the bandwidth you want that drives your costs.

Even so, I agree with some others you are way over paying for the services you take; there ought to be way better deals out there for the looking. Whilst your requirements need a lot of landline bandwidth, unlimited packages of this must still be out there cheaper?

Our position is probably different to many in so far as most outgoing calls we make are "international".

This we very neatly address using VoIP on the home network, in our case via the German free membership provider [ only pay for what you take] Sipgate, so our extended calls to the US, Australia & NZ at less than 2p per minute. In our case, and importantly for my wife, all via conventional DECT phones not via a computer.

Most of the international calls to our computer savvy family members, is completely free via Skype, using pc to pc, pc to mobile & mobile to mobile. That's as accessible home or away, just away it needs a viable signal.
Nearly all UK day to day outgoing calling, I do via a mobile, its unlimited and "free".

Okay understand the reference to "on demand". Unfortunately we are in contract for another several months due to a mistake made by Plusnet, but if it is feasible we cna use the unit in thne caravan as can transfer between home and the caravan..
All our International calls are done using Whatsapp. When my Mom was still alive we used Skype to phone her on the landline and for this I had to pay albeit a small amount.

 

[JTQ]

If the external mobile capture device works at the caravan, it would work at home, providing your “outside” signal was similarly strong enough.

However, data transfer rates and amount of data would need some consideration.

Considering your taste for a Netflix movie each night, shall we say that's two hours and probably you like a break every few days, so only 25 nights in the month, you better know your own stats'.

Using this website: What broadband do I need for streaming? | comparethemarket.com


We see from this listing if you settle for basic HD you need a speed of 5 Mbps. I see that as no great data rate challenge, but needs local testing.

Service	Needed for non HD	HD	Full HD
BBC iPlayer	1.5 Mbps	2.8 Mbps	Not available
Netflix	3 Mbps	5 Mbps	25 Mbps
Amazon Prime Video	0.9 Mbps	3.5 Mbps	25 Mbps
YouTube	2.5 Mbps	4 Mbps	15 Mbps

From the same source we read;

“Netflix uses around 1GB of data for every hour of streaming, but this rises to 3GB if you’re streaming in HD and 7GB for ultra HD.”

So for your 25 days at 2 hours, with a usage of 3 GB/hour, a monthly additional data allowance would need to be 25 x 2 x 3 = 150 GB.

All ball park stuff, yes, but paints the type of package needed.
Not looking to be that budget basement type of package, as it would be restrictive if you did not include some contingency capacity in your “deal”.

 

[Buckman]

If the external mobile capture device works at the caravan, it would work at home, providing your “outside” signal was similarly strong enough.

However, data transfer rates and amount of data would need some consideration.

Considering your taste for a Netflix movie each night, shall we say that's two hours and probably you like a break every few days, so only 25 nights in the month, you better know your own stats'.

Using this website: What broadband do I need for streaming? | comparethemarket.com


We see from this listing if you settle for basic HD you need a speed of 5 Mbps. I see that as no great data rate challenge, but needs local testing.

Service	Needed for non HD	HD	Full HD
BBC iPlayer	1.5 Mbps	2.8 Mbps	Not available
Netflix	3 Mbps	5 Mbps	25 Mbps
Amazon Prime Video	0.9 Mbps	3.5 Mbps	25 Mbps
YouTube	2.5 Mbps	4 Mbps	15 Mbps

From the same source we read;

“Netflix uses around 1GB of data for every hour of streaming, but this rises to 3GB if you’re streaming in HD and 7GB for ultra HD.”

So for your 25 days at 2 hours, with a usage of 3 GB/hour, a monthly additional data allowance would need to be 25 x 2 x 3 = 150 GB.

All ball park stuff, yes, but paints the type of package needed.
Not looking to be that budget basement type of package, as it would be restrictive if you did not include some contingency capacity in your “deal”.

Thanks the above is very useful. Currently we use our phones to stream when out and about in the caravan and have not encountered any issues as I have Unlimited data. We do tend to watch mostly HD as in many cases it defaults to HD whether at home or out and about. Line rental charges are getting ridiculous!

 

[Woodentop]

Surely your "on demand TV" is facilitated via your broadband package, even if separately you pay for it?
Therefore, the point is it seems valid, it is the bandwidth you want that drives your costs.

Even so, I agree with some others you are way over paying for the services you take; there ought to be way better deals out there for the looking. Whilst your requirements need a lot of landline bandwidth, unlimited packages of this must still be out there cheaper?


Our position is probably different to many in so far as most outgoing calls we make are "international".

This we very neatly address using VoIP on the home network, in our case via the German free membership provider [ only pay for what you take] Sipgate, so our extended calls to the US, Australia & NZ at less than 2p per minute. In our case, and importantly for my wife, all via conventional DECT phones not via a computer.

Most of the international calls to our computer savvy family members, is completely free via Skype, using pc to pc, pc to mobile & mobile to mobile. That's as accessible home or away, just away it needs a viable signal.
Nearly all UK day to day outgoing calling, I do via a mobile, its unlimited and "free".

As has been said earlier, whilst technically we could completely dump having any landline, calling or even broadband, our landline telephone number is just too embedded in "life", we would grossly hassle both others and ourselves if we did give it up.

I agree with the use of Sipgate VoIP service - very reliable and cheap (about 1p/min for UK and slightly under 2p/min for EU and USA/Canada.) Had it for years.

However two points:
You can transfer your well-known landline number to your VoIP line so saving the cost of the telephone service and getting broadband only on the landline.
You can run a VoIP app on your mobile (Zoipa on Apple or Android, SIPdroid on Android for example) and have the same number as your VoIP phone on that app.* That means you can receive or make calls on your 'landline' number from anywhere that you can get mobile data or (free?) wi-fi. Yes VoIP does use some data but it is relatively frugal (well less than 100Kb/s) especially if you select the right codec in your phone. What is more as the Sipgate service you have bought is registered to the UK your VoIP call will always show up as a UK number on CLI, and you will be charged for calls at UK Sipgate call rate.
[A local e-bike dealer displays his (VoIP) number as a landline number in an adjacent town where he lives, but he also has a Sip app on his mobile so can answer any call made to his home number. It means his wife can answer calls whilst he is driving (or more often riding) the 8 miles or so from his home to his shop and back, and he answers all calls during his working day. Simples.]
If you want to just save money, use Whatsapp. You can make video or voice calls to any other mobile in the world hosting Whatsapp free of charge with surprisingly little delay and good picture quality. The downside is that you will need to set it up so it will only work with your phone contacts, else you will get all sorts of c**p from Facebook (Meta) who own Whatsapp dumped upon you.
For the record SIP or Session Internet Protocol is the system that allows phones to connect to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) unless you use a standard analogue phone (inc DECT) that is plugged into an Analogue Telephone Adapter or ATA if your broadband modem does not have VoIP capability.

 

[JTQ]

You can transfer your well-known landline number to your VoIP line so saving the cost of the telephone service and getting broadband only on the landline.

Thanks for that heads-up, it could one day be useful; we did select a Sipgate number for a unique area dialling code of our choice, (our old home) but had not realised we could have in effect migrated our existing landline number.
Maybe one day.

Dropping our "phone line" out of our broadband via landline package was only quite recently investigated, but offered at just a miniscule discount, so not worth considering.
Change if we move, would need to be dump the landline completely.

Doing that now would be highly likely, if and when we sell up and move. If then we take our present landline number, that would solve some complications in itself.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Just to rewind to the original question but first two points to note:-

1. If you remove your current landline package you may lose that number and have to go through the task of notifying organisations and friends of your new number.

2. If you remove your current landline package in favour of a VoIP or Wifi Calling scheme (Or Satfi) you will need to ensure that you can still make calls - especially to emergency services - in the event of a power cut.

Q1. Can you remove your landine from your package and just have broadband?

A1. Yes, providing you have or switch to an ISP that allows this. Savings vary

Q2. How do you make calls from home when you have no mobile signal?

A2. Use either Wifi Calling or VoIP which both work over the interenet. You'll need to check that your phone and phone service provider support Wifi Calling. For example Plusnet don't.

If your phone and provider support Wifi Calling then no additional hardware is required. Call costs come out of your mobile phone plan.

Q3. Could you use something like the Satfi in your home?

A3. Possibly but if you go the Wifi Calling or VoIP route you don't need this. I've only had a quick look at the Satfi but it seems that it needs its own Sim card which could mean a further cost, unless you use one of your existing sims. Also it still seems dependent on the quality of the incoming signal in the area.

Also if your not making many phone calls or texts it could be an expensive solution for just the occassional use as your current broadband mostly used.

If on the other hand it provided good 4G signal inside the home you could conceivably get rid or your broadband and landline and just use your mobiles for both.

Broadband speeds -

Assess your current speed. With only two people in the house could you get buy with a lower speed fibre option and save money

Mobile phone charges -

Take a look at your usage patterns. If you're not making many mobile calls at home you're paying for a service you're hardly using at that time and it may be cheaper to keep the landline and then consider PAYG and then buying extra data and calls when you need them e.g away in the van.

Final word on Netflix:-

Its possible on mobile devices to download movies for later viewing. This could be done at home if you could predict what you want and then save on streaming when your away.


The hoops you have to jump through to save a penny or two

 

[JTQ]

2. If you remove your current landline package in favour of a VoIP or Wifi Calling scheme (Or Satfi) you will need to ensure that you can still make calls - especially to emergency services - in the event of a power cut.

This of course is happening progressively across the UK anyway, with the rest of us losing self powered landlines by 2025, if meeting the present schedule.

 

[Buckman]

Just to rewind to the original question but first two points to note:-

1. If you remove your current landline package you may lose that number and have to go through the task of notifying organisations and friends of your new number.

2. If you remove your current landline package in favour of a VoIP or Wifi Calling scheme (Or Satfi) you will need to ensure that you can still make calls - especially to emergency services - in the event of a power cut.

Q1. Can you remove your landine from your package and just have broadband?

A1. Yes, providing you have or switch to an ISP that allows this. Savings vary

Q2. How do you make calls from home when you have no mobile signal?

A2. Use either Wifi Calling or VoIP which both work over the interenet. You'll need to check that your phone and phone service provider support Wifi Calling. For example Plusnet don't.

If your phone and provider support Wifi Calling then no additional hardware is required. Call costs come out of your mobile phone plan.

Q3. Could you use something like the Satfi in your home?

A3. Possibly but if you go the Wifi Calling or VoIP route you don't need this. I've only had a quick look at the Satfi but it seems that it needs its own Sim card which could mean a further cost, unless you use one of your existing sims. Also it still seems dependent on the quality of the incoming signal in the area.

Also if your not making many phone calls or texts it could be an expensive solution for just the occassional use as your current broadband mostly used.

If on the other hand it provided good 4G signal inside the home you could conceivably get rid or your broadband and landline and just use your mobiles for both.

Broadband speeds -

Assess your current speed. With only two people in the house could you get buy with a lower speed fibre option and save money

Mobile phone charges -

Take a look at your usage patterns. If you're not making many mobile calls at home you're paying for a service you're hardly using at that time and it may be cheaper to keep the landline and then consider PAYG and then buying extra data and calls when you need them e.g away in the van.

Final word on Netflix:-

Its possible on mobile devices to download movies for later viewing. This could be done at home if you could predict what you want and then save on streaming when your away.


The hoops you have to jump through to save a penny or two

Excellent reply. An estimate was an eye watering price of approximately £3000. We get 2 bar signal if I walk up the road in front of the home. At the rear I get 2-3 bar when standing inside the conservatory.
Simplistically I thought that having the Wifi unit inside the home and an aerial outside on top of the roof would solve our issues. A system like you woudl have in a caravan or motorhome. Guess I was wrong!

 

[Woodentop]

Excellent reply. An estimate was an eye watering price of approximately £3000. We get 2 bar signal if I walk up the road in front of the home. At the rear I get 2-3 bar when standing inside the conservatory.
Simplistically I thought that having the Wifi unit inside the home and an aerial outside on top of the roof would solve our issues. A system like you woudl have in a caravan or motorhome. Guess I was wrong!

You would be better to put the mi-fi in the loft on a power supply and using an outside aerial. You have no control over what frequency your mi-fi is using and aerial cables can be <very> lossy, plus you may have difficulty getting an external aerial that will cover all the frequencies that your mi-fi can use.

For home use you can of course buy a cellular modem which will also have an external aerial capability <but> it will have an ethernet (RJ45) connection which you can route through your house and connect an access point to give you internal wi-fi. You can use any old modem as an access point if you make slight changes to its programming, or you can buy a so-called range extender which will create a wi-fi signal wherever you place it.
This page shows a whole range of what is available.

 

[Buckman]

It is beginning to look as if using the portable WiFi is not a feasible option living in a rural area as on more than one occasion emergency services had to be summoned.
I think a start would be to drop the Unlimited calls from the package saving about £9.40 and using the mobile phones through the broadband router. We can still receive calls so no need to update organisations of new number etc.

 

[Bluetonic]

Phone your current supplier and tell them you are thinking of leaving. I have had good success at reducing costs doing this with Virgin media and Sky in the past. Last time was December last year where I got my Virgin media bill down from £79 a month to £54, but this also got me faster internet and more data on a mobile phone.
I work from home in the IT industry so a good internet connection is vital. I know I could move to a different supplier and save more, but their internet speed is nowhere near as fast as Virgin, so decided it was a case of better the devil I know for now.
Only issue is you will be locked in to a new contract for a certain period, then the price will rocket when you are out of contract, so set a reminder to tell them you want to leave and go through the game again