Dumping landline for wifi?

[otherclive]

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

It’s precisely what I do with EE. Rather than renewing my contract on line I always ring and talk to someone. Sometimes I’ve said I’m considering leaving but generally I just make sure they are aware that I am aware of other companies deals. So recently I renewed at virtually the same price as my old outgoing contract and agreed to a 24 month one. Saving about £11 pm compared to the online renewal. I also got an increase of mobile data for our two phones. Nice but to be honest we don’t use much data when out and it’s wifi at home.

 

[RogerL]

It’s precisely what I do with EE. Rather than renewing my contract on line I always ring and talk to someone. Sometimes I’ve said I’m considering leaving but generally I just make sure they are aware that I am aware of other companies deals. So recently I renewed at virtually the same price as my old outgoing contract and agreed to a 24 month one. Saving about £11 pm compared to the online renewal. I also got an increase of mobile data for our two phones. Nice but to be honest we don’t use much data when out and it’s wifi at home.

It's the only way to keep costs down - talking to Plusnet at each contract renewal is why my Unlimited Fibre Extra broadband gives 68 Mb but only costs £0.28 per month.

 

[otherclive]

It's the only way to keep costs down - talking to Plusnet at each contract renewal is why my Unlimited Fibre Extra broadband gives 68 Mb but only costs £0.28 per month.

Plusnet was an option for me but they do not do wifi calling.

 

[JTQ]

It's the only way to keep costs down - talking to Plusnet at each contract renewal is why my Unlimited Fibre Extra broadband gives 68 Mb but only costs £0.28 per month.

I though our package was good, but 28 p a month unlimited fast fibre, is unbelievable.

 

[Buckman]

Plusnet was an option for me but they do not do wifi calling.

Are you referring to your mobile as we have no choice except to use Plusnet Wiffi for calls from our mobiles to other mobiles and also landlines?

 

[Sam Vimes]

The Plus Net router provides your broadband connection either via a cable to the router from a device or through a wireless connection from the device - Wifi.

Mobile phones can have a feature called Wifi calling which allows a call or text on your mobile to be made via the router and then through the Internet instead of using the Mobile Phone network - 2G/3G/4G/5G etc. This is useful if you have no mobile phone network signal but do have access to a wifi router or a wifi hotspot.

Plus net do not support Wifi Calling.

I think previously you mentioned you were using something like Whatsapp. This sort of makes mobile phone calls but uses the internet to make the connection. So if you're using this at home its using your routers wifi to connect the call. Not the same as Wifi Calling and I believe only works between people running Whatsapp.

 

[Buckman]

Plus net do not support Wifi Calling.

I think previously you mentioned you were using something like Whatsapp. This sort of makes mobile phone calls but uses the internet to make the connection. So if you're using this at home its using your routers wifi to connect the call. Not the same as Wifi Calling and I believe only works between people running Whatsapp.

Excuse my ignorance as have not really delved into this. We have zilch mobile signal in our home, but use our mobile phones to make outside calls using the BT or Plusnet router. No issue calling a landline from the mobile and not using Whatsapp so unsure of the reference that Plusnet does not support wifi calling?

Just to clarify we initially had a Plusnet router, but it kept dropping the broadband connection so we swapped it for the BT router and no more dropped connections. However we never had an issue phoning out with the Plusnet router when the connection was stable.

 

[otherclive]

Excuse my ignorance as have not really delved into this. We have zilch mobile signal in our home, but use our mobile phones to make outside calls using the BT or Plusnet router. No issue calling a landline from the mobile and not using Whatsapp so unsure of the reference that Plusnet does not support wifi calling?

Just to clarify we initially had a Plusnet router, but it kept dropping the broadband connection so we swapped it for the BT router and no more dropped connections. However we never had an issue phoning out with the Plusnet router when the connection was stable.

Which provider are your SIM cards ?

 

[Sam Vimes]

Good question. I just assumed Buckman was on Plusnet mobile, which I used to have, but left because they don't have WiFi calling.

 

[Buckman]

Which provider are your SIM cards ?

Sim cards are with Three.

 

[otherclive]

Sim cards are with Three.

That’s why you have wifi calling. Plusnet mobile doesn’t offer wifi calling. One of the factors I looked at on options for broadband and mobile prior to talking to EE, as I’ve been out of contract on mobiles for a long while now and as the broadband came up for renewal I considered a number of broadband and mobile options based on our needs. Wifi calling being an important consideration.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Three support WiFi Calling, so it's possible that you're mobile phones are set to use that.

To be sure you would need to check your mobile phone settings to see if WiFi Calling is enabled.

You could also see if there is an icon on your home screen that might indicate wifi calling.

If you are indeed using WiFi Calling then perhaps you don't need your fixed landline.

 

[Buckman]

That’s why you have wifi calling. Plusnet mobile doesn’t offer wifi calling. One of the factors I looked at on options for broadband and mobile prior to talking to EE, as I’ve been out of contract on mobiles for a long while now and as the broadband came up for renewal I considered a number of broadband and mobile options based on our needs. Wifi calling being an important consideration.

Okay I understand the WiFi calling now as thought it was in reference to Plusnet BB, but it is the mobile side. Who does Plusnet use to piggyback?

 

[otherclive]

EE/BT

 

[Buckman]

EE/BT

Is EE a subsidiary of BT as I don't think BT do not have their own mobile network?

 

[otherclive]

Is EE a subsidiary of BT as I don't think BT do not have their own mobile network?

Best you check yourself on that one.

 

[Buckman]

Hopefully someone else can enlighten us.

 

[otherclive]

Hopefully someone else can enlighten us.

Don’t you have Google search then. The answer is two presses away. I know the answer anyway.

 

[Buckman]

Don’t you have Google search then. The answer is two presses away. I know the answer anyway.

I think I now understand your attitude however I will be helpful and offer an answer and confirm that it is EE as BT do not have a mobile network?

 

[Sam Vimes]

If we all relied on asking Google questions there'd be no point to this forum, so let's keep it a friendly place and help each other.

BT uses EE as the mobile network provider. The mobile network operators are EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.

All other providers are refered to as MVNO - Mobile Virtual Network Operators - as they don't have there own hardware e.g Plusnet, Asda, Tesco, GiffGaff etc

 

[Woodentop]

Just one thing to watch out for - 3 don't always install 4G on a site if they cannot see a market. We go to a CL farm site in E Somerset. There is an electricity pylon site about 600m away that carries VF and O2 on 4G. There is a second site - small tower - about 1Km away in the opposite direction. It is owned by 3 but they don't have 4G on it even though EE on the same tower do. For those that don't know, under the Cornerstone Project VF and O2 share signal distribution across large parts of the UK; similarly through MBNL (which dates back to the T-Mob days) EE and 3 share distribution as well. Ergo as EE have 4G on the 3 site it must be a conscious/deliberate decision by 3 not to have 4G there also. BT are a MVNO on EE.
For the record although Virgin operate on the O2 network they are now defined by OfCom as a full operator, no longer a MVNO, probably because Virgin and O2 are now shared in a 50-50 operation between their headline owners, Liberty Global and Telefonica UK respectively. GiffGaff on the other hand as a MVNO on O2 are now wholely owned by Telefonica UK.

 

[Colinf70]

Nowtv fibre with line and free calls £20 12 months contract and smarty sim 60g £10 per month

 

[Buckman]

Just one thing to watch out for - 3 don't always install 4G on a site if they cannot see a market. We go to a CL farm site in E Somerset. There is an electricity pylon site about 600m away that carries VF and O2 on 4G. There is a second site - small tower - about 1Km away in the opposite direction. It is owned by 3 but they don't have 4G on it even though EE on the same tower do. For those that don't know, under the Cornerstone Project VF and O2 share signal distribution across large parts of the UK; similarly through MBNL (which dates back to the T-Mob days) EE and 3 share distribution as well. Ergo as EE have 4G on the 3 site it must be a conscious/deliberate decision by 3 not to have 4G there also. BT are a MVNO on EE.
For the record although Virgin operate on the O2 network they are now defined by OfCom as a full operator, no longer a MVNO, probably because Virgin and O2 are now shared in a 50-50 operation between their headline owners, Liberty Global and Telefonica UK respectively. GiffGaff on the other hand as a MVNO on O2 are now wholely owned by Telefonica UK.

Just to add. We often go to Brean and although you can virtually see the mast due to it being so flat around there, we are lucky to get 2 or 3 bar. Apparently it has long been a complaint in that area. However the site wifi at a cost was a lot stronger, however we were not prepared to pay their prices.
When we had a Satfi satellite dome despite a clear view with no trees for some reason it used to always hunt before locking onto a signal.

 

[Woodentop]

The fact that you can see a cellular site does not confirm that it is carrying your SP and neither does it indicate which way it radiates - many cell sites are directional.

 

[JTQ]

Brean seems to come out quite adequate, for 4G, across all the four major providers, in this LINK.