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Landlines - Use them?

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Mike88
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Re: Landlines - Use them?

#283499

Postby Mike88 » February 10th, 2020, 8:28 pm

I have (in the last 10 minutes) applied to renew my EH1C card and the application form insisted that I insert a landline number.

swill453
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Re: Landlines - Use them?

#283503

Postby swill453 » February 10th, 2020, 8:58 pm

Mike88 wrote:I have (in the last 10 minutes) applied to renew my EH1C card and the application form insisted that I insert a landline number.

I just did mine (thanks for the reminder) and it was happy with a mobile number (the form didn't mention landline).

Scott.

supremetwo
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Re: Landlines - Use them?

#283513

Postby supremetwo » February 10th, 2020, 10:49 pm

scottnsilky wrote:
I do have a smart phone but never use it, its on EE, with a payg connection, so at a pinch I could use that, but its too fiddly for general use.

I've always had landline and broadband with the same company, but I suppose that's not necessary either?

Any advice welcome....

TIA
dp


You will not know how good the signal is at your new place and for such as VOIP, it needs to be rock solid.

Sky have good deals, the most-recent was for no limits fibre, landline and unlimited calls (up to 1 hour per call and including mobiles) and was £25 per month.

There is also cashback via such as Quidco or Topcashback - though check that their links are to the same deal as a direct-to-Sky signup.

NowTV owned-by SKY and uses exactly the same lines has the identical £25 deal now via Qudico.

UncleEbenezer
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Re: Landlines - Use them?

#283525

Postby UncleEbenezer » February 11th, 2020, 2:36 am

scottnsilky wrote:I think this discussion has come at a very opportune time for me, as my Plusnet landline contract expires in a month, and I'm hoping to move house soon, and Plusnet charges £65 to change address,
dp

£65 is probably for connecting you. I paid a similar price (to another provider) when I moved here. You can avoid it with a 4G connection, but only if the signal is good enough. And 4G may be in for some disruption, as it's relied for years on lots of Huawei kit some of which the government in its idiotic posturing is now forcing them to change (Vodafone has estimated £200m extra costs, BT £500m directly from the politicking).

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Re: Landlines - Use them?

#283672

Postby AF62 » February 11th, 2020, 6:32 pm

Sobraon wrote:Although I can see Lincoln cathedral from my window we don't have a mobile phone signal from any operator (using any phone type) of sufficient strength to make or answer a call or send or receive an SMS from either inside or outside the house. A landline is therefore essential.


So just get a mobile and network which does WiFi calling - job done.

But back to the original question about landlines - ours also only gets used by elderly parents to call us.

All other calls, outbound and inbound, are from mobiles - £5.60 a month per phone for unlimited calls, texts, and 10GB of data - why pay for landline calls.

If I can't be bothered to use the mobile then a "Hey Google, call xxxx" will activate one of the many Google Homes or Minis in the house and call that person or business - and as Google presents my mobile number as the calling number they know it is me (or presents my partners mobile number if she is the one saying "Hey Google, call xxxx"). And all for free (although I recognise I am the product).

Sobraon
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Re: Landlines - Use them?

#283688

Postby Sobraon » February 11th, 2020, 8:17 pm

AF62 wrote:So just get a mobile and network which does WiFi calling - job done.


Thanks for your suggestion. Yes my daughter has this with EE although it is not available on my phone type. Not all ISPs are available here (Openreach commercial issue?). EE works in the house for her but the Internet connection we have, although reasonably speedy when there is no contention, drops out every hour or so ( yes we have had it looked at, yes it is with a number of ISPs and different modem/ routers, yes the wiring is new, yes the 'green' box has been checked and we have changed 'pairs' both from the box to us and back to the exchange). This means it is unusable and unreliable as a primary means of communication. Its just how it is ... and I and she still cant make/receive calls and texts outside. The infrastructure in the north and midlands of England ( particularly Lincs )is falling apart, don't know what its like down south but it is not good here.

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Re: Landlines - Use them?

#289686

Postby Bminusrob » March 10th, 2020, 5:21 pm

You can have and use a landline number without having a landline. We have done this since moving to Devon last year. We have mobile broadband, as the wired internet is so terrible (less than 1Mb/s). Having done this, BT wants to charge £18 per month plus line rental for landline. I looked up alternatives and came across SIP, which is a sort of voice-over-IP. We use Sipgate, who we have found to be very good, but others are available. You can then buy an IP phone, or use a mobile phone app, or buy an SIP adapter (at a cost of £20 or so). Sipgate or whoever will provide you with a localised landline number, and you only pay as you go for outgoing calls (at a very reasonable rate). By buying an SIP adapter (Cisco SPA122) we were able to connect our BT Trio phones, and in addition, I have an app (Zoiper) on my mobile phone, so I can also receive "landline" calls while away from home.


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