Broadband guide

Broadband without a phone line

Updated: Friday 20 January, 2012

By Kelvin Goodson - kelvin.goodson@consumerchoices.co.uk

Tired of paying for line rental but still want broadband? Depending on where you live, you could get broadband without a phone line and save yourself money in the process.

Cable broadband is the answer

Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) is the only major provider able to offer broadband without a phone line.

Its cable network is completely separate to the copper wire connections that use your phone line to get you online. This lets the cable giant offer broadband packages without the need to sign up for a landline.

However, you will pay a premium for its standalone packages and will only save a couple of pounds a month compared to a bundle that includes Virgin Media’s home phone service.

For example, its 30Mb broadband package costs £18.50 when you take a landline, plus £13.90 for line rental - giving you a total of £32.40. The same broadband package costs £28.50 a month on its own - a saving of just £3.90 a month.

This might not seem like much, but it does add up to £46.80 over the course of a year, and if you take the broadband-only package, you can sign a 12-month contract instead of the 18-month commitment needed for a bundle.

You also get superfast speeds for your money. Virgin Media’s cable network delivers more of its advertised speeds than any other provider, according to research by telecoms regulator Ofcom from May 2011.

Virgin Media’s up to 10Mb package delivered an average 9.5Mb, while its 30Mb service managed an impressive 31Mb - and overall, Virgin Media delivered 90-96% of its advertised speeds - compared to less than half from copper wire ADSL customers.

Aside from the relatively high costs of Virgin Media cable packages, the provider’s other main drawback is coverage. Its cable network covers around half the country, but outside those areas it delivers broadband via the copper wire network managed by BT Openreach. These packages do require a landline and speeds are in no way as fast as Virgin Media’s cable service.

Cheap broadband

While you might want to avoid line rental by choosing a cable package, ADSL providers offer some of the cheapest broadband on the market. For example, the Essentials package from TalkTalk broadband (www.Talktalk.co.uk) offers the fastest speeds available on your line, a 40GB download allowance and evening and weekend calls for just £6.50 a month plus line rental. Even once you've factored in £13.80 a month line rental, you still get a far cheaper deal at £20.30 a month - and if you pay for 12 months line rental upfront you can reduce the monthly cost even more.

Plusnet broadband (www.Plus.net) is another cheap option. Although its Value broadband comes with a lower 10GB download allowance (and free overnight downloads), you can get internet, calls and line rental from £19.48 a month.

While a package like this will cut your broadband bills, it won’t give you the superfast speeds you get from Virgin Media. If you live outside the cable areas though, and don’t have a choice of different fixed line technologies, cheap broadband might be the right choice for you.

Mobile broadband

There is one final alternative if you don’t live in a cabled area or don’t want to fork out for Virgin Media broadband - mobile broadband.

Mobile broadband is best suited to light users who just want to surf the web, send some emails and do a bit of internet banking. Slower speeds and lower download allowances make it unsuitable for watching internet TV, online gaming or heavy downloads.

Even before you start thinking about price, you need to find the provider with the best signal in your area. Run a mobile broadband coverage search with each provider to see which one can offer you the best speeds then start thinking about the package you want.

You can choose from a pay-as-you-go deal, rolling one-month contract or a lengthier commitment - with most contracts offering around 3-5GB of data each month. To give an idea of what this means in real terms, 3GB lets you:

• Send 3,000 basic emails or surf the web for 30 hours or download 15 four-minute videos or 96 four-minute music tracks

With a 5GB data allowance you can:

• Send 5,000 basic emails or surf the web for 50 hours or download 25 four-minute videos or 160 four-minute music tracks

If you decide to go for mobile broadband but need more data, larger allowances are available, though you'll have to sign a long contract. Three mobile broadband (www.Three.co.uk) offers up to 15GB a month on either an 18 or a 24-month contract.

Whichever package you go for, make sure you keep an eye on how much you've downloaded as excess data charges can soon add up.

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