Losing the landline - SIM plan for voice calls?

[bitchstewie]

Not for me this time but my mum has finally cottoned on that paying "British Telecom" £98/quarter for a landline and "anytime" calls so she can natter to her friends for a couple of hours a week might not be the best use of her money

From what I can see online Three and Smarty and TalkMobile seem to offer unlimited calls and texts for £5-10/month with no contract.

My mum already has a Three PAYG SIM so I guess for the sake of £10 she could just buy a 30 day add-on and go "cold turkey" on using the landline to see how she gets on.

Has anyone done this? I don't use a landline and never really have so "switching" has never been something I've had to think about much.

I can see is that some non-landline numbers seem potentially pricey but of course she wouldn't expect to be calling those often.

This is a long shot but is it possible to keep and port a geographic number?

[bitchstewie]

Anyone?

[gnc]

three do a sim with unlimited calls/texts and data , i pay 20 per month.direct debit. also got a one penny mobile sim, pay as you go .1p per minute, 1p per text and 1p per MB data, £10 top up lasts three months.( EE )

[Rich1973]

Does she have broadband? Vonage provide a service that gives you a landline no. Via the internet for about £9 a month. Free calls to landlines, voicemail etc. Dofferent packages available if she likes the idea of a landline.

[22]

My work ditched the BT landline and moved to an EE unlimited data business sim and also has a 'Pocket Landline' where the old area code number was ported over. If you ring back though it's from a mobile number.

I guess if you don't need any data, the Pocket Landline (£10/mo) could just forward on. BT's own forwarding options were a lot more expensive.

I personally have a Twilio fake landline thing which is a bit more 'clever' (while I'm certainly not) and appears to have a lot more capabilities, but I never looked into porting (& imagine it would be completely separate from any mobile plan if data is a consideration). If you can port to Twilio, it's crazy cheap.

Probably not much help!

[Truckosaurus]

I've just switched my broadband from BT to Sky and now get a landline without the line rental charge. Calls now cost money (they were pretty much all free with BT) but I don't use the phone enough for that to be an issue.

[lllnorrislll]

My in-laws dumped there landline and instead of paying BT both now have mobiles with a Giffgaff sim, £6 goodybag which renews automatically, giving unlimited texts and calls.

Neither wanted internet or data, father in law has a basic 'modern' Nokia 3310 (the fact it connects to his car stereo via Bluetooth is like some kind of magic to him) and the mother in law has a hand me down smart phone. Neither miss BT.

[psi310398]

Assuming you can get broadband without a fixed line, what happens to 999 capability if the phone masts (and/or power) are down i.e. the time you might need it most?

[4Q]

psi310398 said:

Assuming you can get broadband without a fixed line, what happens to 999 capability if the phone masts (and/or power) are down i.e. the time you might need it most?

The mobile network has battery backup for a few days, just like the telephone network which also needs power to operate. Much more likely for a phone line to come down or an exchange box to flood than a mobile mast

[andyxxx]

psi310398 said:

Assuming you can get broadband without a fixed line, what happens to 999 capability if the phone masts (and/or power) are down i.e. the time you might need it most?

That’s assuming she wants broadband. From my reading of the OP she wants a phone primarily to speak to her friends for a few hours a week.

In the last 10 years I can count on one hand the times I have been unable to use my mobile because the network is down.
What’s the chance of that time being when an emergency call is needed?– and if it were the case there are always other options – neighbour, passerby, etc.

I have tried to persuade my MIL to get rid of her landline, but she will not entertain the idea, even though she has a mobile and does not use the internet.

[Baldchap]

Might be irrelevant to her, but things like monitoring of house alarms typically needs a landline too. Just check nothing else is using it.

[captain_cynic]

bhstewie said:

Anyone?

Shouldn't be an issue if it's just national calls. International may be an issue. Just about every man and their dog offers unlimited calls to UK numbers for not much money . A £7 Plusnet mobile plan has unlimited calls and texts as well as 2GB of data.

Only issue will be finding a decent hands free kit she likes and having to listen to the constant nattering (but I suspect you're already used to it).

[bitchstewie]

Honestly my mum isn't really all that old but she's one of those where phones come from BT and she's mistrusting of other suppliers.

Bit off-topic but I do wonder how many people of her age and more elderly are getting utterly ripped off with this stuff.

£30/month for a landline feels almost fking criminal.

[Russ T Bolt]

4Q said:

psi310398 said:

Assuming you can get broadband without a fixed line, what happens to 999 capability if the phone masts (and/or power) are down i.e. the time you might need it most?

The mobile network has battery backup for a few days, just like the telephone network which also needs power to operate. Much more likely for a phone line to come down or an exchange box to flood than a mobile mast

And generators.

999 calls will port to any network that can get a signal. If all services by all suppliers are down obviously wouldnt work.

[bitchstewie]

Given the utter ball ache of trying to lose a landline when everyone my mum deals with has her landline number what's the cheapest possible way of keeping either the landline or the geographic phone number for inbound calls?

Post Office @ £13?

This really seems like something where inertia puts a lot of people off doing anything.

[romeogolf]

Worth noting that 03, 0800, and 0808 numbers are all the same cost from a mobile as they are from a landline. 03 is the same as 01/02 so often just included in free minutes; 0800/0808 are freephone.

This page is a good summary; https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-inter...

I'm turning 31 this year and since 'leaving home' have never, ever had a landline except when required for internet access.

I think you're hard-pushed now to find a mobile provider who doesn't offer unlimited calls in every basic package?

[captain_cynic]

romeogolf said:

I'm turning 31 this year and since 'leaving home' have never, ever had a landline except when required for internet access.

Young Whippersnapper. I havent had a land line telephone since 2002.

I just had an idea, if they don't want to give up the old style telephone (or want to retain a landline number) why not consider a VoIP service. Especially if they want to keep a land line or Fibre Optic internet service.

Not sure about UK prices but I'm sure you could get a decent service for under a tenner.

[bitchstewie]

romeogolf said:

I think you're hard-pushed now to find a mobile provider who doesn't offer unlimited calls in every basic package?

Yes that part is the easy part.

It's working out whether it's worth the cost of the cheapest landline I can find so that all the people who have her landline number can simply continue to call as they do now.

The whole thing seems a bloody racket

[S6PNJ]

bhstewie said:

Given the utter ball ache of trying to lose a landline when everyone my mum deals with has her landline number what's the cheapest possible way of keeping either the landline or the geographic phone number for inbound calls?

Post Office @ £13?

This really seems like something where inertia puts a lot of people off doing anything.

I ditched the 'BT' landline over 18 months ago as I have broadband over Wireless (local provider 'beams' it to our house via a little squarial) and have ported my landline number over to a VOIP provider ( MISO Comms)

To anyone and everyone, it's a normal landline/geographic number but I can access it anywhere I have access to the internet. I had to register it with the emergency services so they could recognise a 999 call and know where it is from, but MISO Comms did all the admin, I just sent them the form etc. Cheapest is MISO Solo at £1.80 inc VAT per month but clearly you need the internet from somewhere for this to work, which unless you have mobile 3G/4G internet etc (see other PH thread), then you're still tied to the landline rental for internet access and thus automatically have a landline to go with it!

If you do go for MISO, let me know and I'll give you a referral code.

You could use a mobile phone contract (and smartphone) with say 2Gb data per month (I don't know how much VOIP uses but it's not much) and as long as the data is always on, the VOIP app (I use Zoiper) will ring when the 'landline' number is dialled and can also be dialled out as the landline number.

Edited by S6PNJ on Saturday 15th February 14:44

[Tony1963]

I’ve done the VoIP thing, and it was great. Until there was a power cut, and then it was utterly useless. If you’ve a dodgy mobile signal (OP’s mother obviously has a decent signal) then VoIP is a no-no.