Features - QOTW: Do you still keep an active landline?

[HEXUS]

And if so, do you actually use it to make calls?

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[Kanoe]

Yes but I dont use it for calls. Its only cause all the ISP's demand you have a landline to have internet from them. I hate this and would welcome being able to have internet without a fixed line too.

[wasabi]

Yeah .Phone is in effect free with Virgin TV/internet package anyway. Wife makes a lot of international calls and it is a shedload cheaper bouncing it via one of those 08xx services. Also get free calls to my Virgin mobile which is handy. Only downside is calling other mobiles - cheap deals for calling mobiles from landlines aren't common. Also I simply refuse to pay at least £20 / month for a mobile with inclusing minutes - it simply isn't good value for me.

[Turquoisetim]

no. Virgin give you internet with no land line

[phili_c51]

I pay a total of £17.50 for a landlines and totally unlimited broadband at 15 meg. Don't use calls at all. This is cheaper than Virgins 60 meg package and due to their 75% throttling on high users there is no point to pay more for that service. Yes it's annoying that line rental is 'dead money' but it's still a cheap option in comparison

[ajones]

no. Virgin give you internet with no land line

True; but if you want virgin TV, you need a phoneline.

This is the only reason I have one. Correction, I do occasionally use it to find my mobile...

[kingpotnoodle]

Mainly for the fixed line broadband and so that people without minute-abundant mobile contracts can call us (i.e. our PAYG using parents). I very rarely use it to dial out, and then only back to the same parents (some of whom live in the middle of nowhere so calling their mobiles is a naff idea in any case)... the Mrs uses it more but she is a gasbag and it'd kill her mobile minutes in a few days if she didn't use the land line.

I suppose once in a while we call an 08 number, but that's not enough on it's own to justify paying the line rental or even significant enough to be part of the decision.

If I lived alone and didn't need ADSL I'd definitely get rid of it and just offer to call people back. The only sticking point I can think of is the occasional financial institution (et al.) that insists upon a land line contact number.

[kingpotnoodle]

I pay a total of £17.50 for a landlines and totally unlimited broadband at 15 meg. Don't use calls at all. This is cheaper than Virgins 60 meg package and due to their 75% throttling on high users there is no point to pay more for that service. Yes it's annoying that line rental is 'dead money' but it's still a cheap option in comparison

It's not really "dead money" as it's part of an overall package which has to be assessed as a unit proposition, they'd probably still want a similar sum off you even without the land line as its a pretty cheap part of the deal.

[Smudger]

Yes, but the last bill for calls was for £6 or so.

[big_hairy_rob]

There are plenty of things you can call from landlines that cost less than mobiles I seem to recall. Plus not everyone has mobile contracts, so i like to give my friends/family a cheap alternative way of getting hold of me!

[jim]

Yes... it's free, so why wouldn't I? I appreciate having something to fall back onto if necessary, and since I don't give the number out, it doesn't inconvenience me beyond the space and electricity required.

Also, it's pretty useful when certain numbers cost a fortune from my mobile.

[aidanjt]

Yes, but not by choice/want for a phoneline. UPC charges €2 more to get internet without a landline, than with, so for the sake of saving €2 I have a landline. Completely retarded, I should be saving €6 to go without it. I rarely make calls with it, and I only receive calls from older family members who're too set in analogue thinking to use internet services.

[Output]

Yes, but as with others it is mostly due to the ISP requirement of needing one. It rarely gets used, and the rare times that it is are only due to being numbers that aren't included in mobile minutes.

It's also handy as a backup in case there are mobile network issues, but that is more of an afterthought.

[MSIC]

I need a landline for my broadband, but no phone is plugged in to it.
It winds me up that i get 'free evening and weekend calls' - i'd far far rather have zero free anything and have a slight reduction in the overhead, but idiots at BT refuse to acknowledge a growing group of people in my situation.

[burble]

True; but if you want virgin TV, you need a phoneline.

You can have virgin TV without a landline - thats' what we've got at my girlfriend's place.

[burble]

Other than a couple of business PSTN lines which I don't count as they're not mine as such, no.