Broadband guide

Broadband without a BT phone line

Updated: Tuesday 04 January, 2011

By Editorial - news@consumerchoices.co.uk

Whether you're looking for broadband without a phone line or simply want an alternative to your BT (www.BT.com) connection, our guide will help you find the right deal for you.

If you're signed up to BT, you’ll be paying £14.60 a month for your line rental alone - and with broadband and any calls on top of this, bills can soon add up.

Broadband without a phone line

There are two ways that you can get broadband no landline; through Virgin Media's (www.Virginmedia.com) cable network or by using a mobile broadband connection.

Because it doesn’t use the copper wire telephone network, Virgin Media is able to provide truly standalone broadband connections - where you can pay for your internet without having to get a phone line installed.

Virgin Media’s cable network also allows it to provide some of the fastest connections in the country; its XXL package offers speeds of up to 50Mb broadband, with plans for a 100Mb broadband package by the end of 2010. It also offers a 10Mb package and a 20Mb broadband deal.

But while you don’t have to take a Virgin Media phone line in order to get one of its broadband packages, you will pay much more if you just want broadband. This means that you might only end up saving around £4.50 by taking a standalone broadband package.

Alternatives to Virgin Media broadband

Even if you don’t live in a cable area and want to stick with your copper wire ADSL provider, you don’t have to take your landline from BT.

Many providers, often with their own local loop unbundled (LLU) network, now offer their own line rental and calls as well as broadband, allowing you to bundle everything together and save money.

O2 (www.O2.co.uk) is one of the latest providers to offer line rental and call bundles - with some of the cheapest deals on the market. It now offers line rental only for just £7.50 a month - a big saving compared to BT. You can add evening and weekend calls for an extra £2.50 a month or anytime calls for £6 - and if you're an existing O2 mobile customer you'll be able to get broadband from just £8.50 a month on top.

Sky (www.Sky.com), Plusnet (www.Plus.net) and TalkTalk (www.Talktalk.co.uk) all also offer their own line rental allowing you to cut the cost of your landline.

Choosing a phone-only provider such as Primus or YourCalls.net - and taking your broadband from another provider - can also save you money on your line rental.

Mobile broadband

The mobile broadband option also allows you to ditch your phone line and save over £160 a year in the process. Because it uses the mobile phone network to get you online wirelessly, your mobile broadband dongle doesn’t have to be plugged into a phone line, allowing you to take the internet with you wherever you go.

But there are some issues that you need to be aware of. Just like your mobile phone, mobile broadband coverage can be patchy in some areas so you should always use a postcode checker and compare mobile broadband providers to make sure you'll have adequate coverage at home, on your daily commute and in the local pub, for example. If you do sign up and find that you can’t get a good signal at home, get in touch with your ISP as soon as possible in case you need to cancel your contract.

You will also need to keep an eye on your download allowance. Although some providers like Orange (www.Orange.co.uk) and Three (www.Three.co.uk) do offer relatively high download allowances of 15GB a month, most mobile broadband packages come with only 3GB or 5GB.

This means that you have to be extra careful not to exceed your limit. Regularly log into your online account to see how much you've downloaded as out of bundle charges can soon add up.

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