Landlines are so concluding century. You probably make most of your calls on your smartphone and apply messaging services such every bit WhatsApp to keep in bear on with friends and family unit. Video calling is piece of cake and 'gratis', so you tin talk to distant relatives using WhatsApp, Skype or FaceTime.

So why do we still pay £20 a month for a landline phone that few of the states employ and even fewer actually need? Doesn't information technology feel like a waste matter of money to be paying for this on top of your monthly broadband subscription? Isn't it just a con that you can't get net with some broadband providers without being forced to pay for line rental on top?

Well, we've got news for you. Yous can stop paying a line rental fee right away - so long as y'all're happy to modify your broadband provider. If you're not tied in to an ongoing contract which has penalties for ducking out early, you tin can wait again at the alternatives to traditional ADSL. Nosotros're talking satellite, fibre, cable and the new 5G network.

These alternatives requite you internet without also demanding that yous sign upwardly for a phone line you may well never use. Store carefully, though, as while such connections are often faster, they aren't always as cheap every bit yous might expect.

Put just, you lot might well find that information technology is cheaper to get internet even if you lot have to pay the line rental charge. Use our deal finder beneath - click the 'Broadband but' option - to run across what you can make it your area, but read on to find out more nearly the dissimilar types of bundle, and their pros and cons.

Cable broadband

If you've spotted those triangular plates in the street bearing the acronym CATV at that place'south a skilful take chances you're living in one of Virgin Media's cabled area, but enter your postcode on Virgin's site to be sure.

Virgin Media'southward 'slowest' connections start at 50Mbps (£37 a month / £479 annually including activation, rising after the first twelvemonth) and top out at a whopping 350Mbps (£40 a month / £515 for the first twelvemonth including activation). Of course, there's no point getting the virtually expensive package if you won't exist able to get those sorts of speeds in your surface area, and 50Mbps should be plenty for most people.

Here are Virgin's current 12-month contracts.

How to get broadband without a landline

None of them require a landline, notwithstanding signing up for one does reduce the cost of the broadband. For example, the cheapest 12-calendar month contract including a phone line is merely £27 per month. But this rises to £49per month subsequently the first twelvemonth.

For the sake of comparison to a traditional broadband provider, Plusnet'south unlimited Fibre parcel, with download speeds of around 36Mbps, costs £19.99 a month for a eighteen-month term. That includes line rental and with the £v activation fee, works out at a grand total of £446, or simply £299 for the beginning 12 months. That'south a lot cheaper than Virgin's best offer.

4G, 5G & mobile Wi-Fi

Mobile broadband is past far the most flexible choice, as you can use this wherever you go. Simply be wary of the fact that 4G isn't available everywhere and performance volition vary from place to identify. Yous volition observe your phone stepping back to slower 3G - or worse - as yous travel around. Fixed 5G is make new, but it is past far the most suitable pick for a home broadband replacement.

The problem is that coverage is extremely express at the moment, and so chances are information technology isn't available in your area.

We're non talking nigh mobile telephone contracts here: we're talking information-only packages which are aimed at replacing your usual broadband.

These might be designed for tablets, or mobile Wi-Fi routers, oft called Mi-Fi or mobile Wi-Fi. We've rounded upwards a few of the best mobile Wi-Fi routers if you want to find out more.

EE

For instance, there'due south the 4GEE Home Router, which will provide a similar signal to what you can await on your telephone. With EE at the forefront of 5G investment, a new 5GEE Habitation Router is coming, but you'll take to be patient every bit phones will probably be prioritised.

Vodafone

Vodafone at present offers its 5G Gigacube. The unlimited plan costs £50 per month with a £l upfront cost, but you're tied in for 18 months. if you're non ready to commit long-term, there's also the option for a thirty-day rolling contract at the same monthly cost, simply the router itself will now set you back £325. Again, coverage is very express, so you lot'll need to live in the right place to get it.

How to get broadband without a landline

3

Three likewise offers Domicile Broadband (formerly chosen Savor) with its Indoor Hub which as you might have guessed, isn't designed to exist portable. Information technology offers 12-month contracts at a flat rate: unlimited information £22 per month, with no upfront cost. Yous can also go a rolling xxx-day contract for the exact same rate, though you lot'll take to pay £70 for the hardware.

3's service uses 4G and coverage is limited to central London and a few outlying areas.

Right now, 4G and 5G home broadband is expensive and only available in specific areas so is merely worth information technology if y'all simply don't have access to Virgin or ADSL in your area.

Satellite broadband

10 years ago, satellite broadband would take been your only choice if you lived far away from a major town or city, only as access past traditional means has gotten both faster and more comprehensive it'southward at present just one of several choices for virtually of us.

At the budget end, Bigblu's entry-level service gets y'all 10GB of 'priority' data with downloads averaging 12Mb/due south.Once that'due south used up, you go unlimited data at an average of 7.8Mb/s.

This costs £24.95 a month, with an initial connection fee of £49.99. The price may be tempting, but neither the speeds nor the cap compare favourably with ADSL.

Satellite might relieve you the cost of a landline yous'll never utilise, merely unless you lot live in 1 of the increasingly rare spots where reliable broadband still isn't an option, it's struggling to compete in the speed versus value equation.

Fibre to the premises

Perhaps the most exciting of all the options is fibre to the premises - FTTP. We're not talking nearly BT Infinity or Virgin Media here, merely a defended fibre line running straight to your router.

Hyperoptic offers synchronous connections upwardly to 1Gb/s flat out. That ways that in that location'due south no departure in the speed of uploads and download the way at that place is with ADSL. It's worth pointing out though that yous won't be able to enjoy those speeds over Wi-Fi - just wired devices will exist able to make the nearly of the 1Gb/south connectedness, and only if your domicile network is properly equipped with gigabit cabling and hardware.

Prices for the top speed start at £45 a month for the kickoff 12 months, and £60 a month thereafter, just if that'due south more than you lot need, you lot tin can step downward to 150Mbps for £twenty.80 a month for the kickoff 12 months (£35 a month thereafter), or 50Mbps for £16.80 a calendar month for the get-go 12 months (£22 a month thereafter). A 500Mbps selection has too now been added, which costs £30.40 a calendar month for the first year, then £50 a calendar month thereafter. In each case, at that place'south complimentary activation and installation.

At the top cease of the scale, then, y'all're looking at a yr one toll of £540 - roughly what y'all'd exist paying for the 350Mbps deal with Virgin Media, while enjoying far higher speeds. The other packages all offer excellent value for money.

But there is a grab.

Because it'due south building its own fibre network, Hyperoptic is concentrating on multi-dwelling buildings and, requires enough residents to express interest in the service before it will commit to installing anything.

Its service is installed in 100,000 homes spread beyond 1,000 buildings, and if yours is amidst them you lot'll already know. If it'south not, and you lot live in a cake of flats, your best bet is to enter your postcode on Hyperoptic's site, make full in the form to register your interest in the service and become your neighbours to do the same. If y'all live in a terrace, semi or detached house, though, don't become your hopes up just all the same.

Are landlines a necessary evil?

So it's non as articulate cut equally you might think. Yes, a lot of united states are paying for landlines that nosotros don't utilize, and that hurts, but the alternatives aren't always better value for money.

Fibre to the premises is the fastest option since it's 21st century technology all the fashion from the substitution to your router, rather than fibre to the chiffonier in your street, and limiting copper (which tin't push downloads beyond 76Mb/s) from there to your house.

Cable has better coverage, and again it'south faster than ADSL at present, but it's not been rolled out everywhere. And then in that location's 5G, which is promising gigabit speeds, but as with FTTP, unless you're in primal London or alive in the heart of one of the UK'southward bigger cities, y'all'll probably find you can't really go information technology.

Which brings usa dorsum to traditional ADSL. It doesn't make the line rental whatever easier to swallow, but at least you can console yourself with the thought that your landline fee is paying to maintain the line from your house to the nearest box on the street. In that respect you lot can think of it as a digital standing charge, like the one yous pay to claw up your home to the National Filigree, the gas lines and the h2o supply - or, indeed, the Vehicle Taxation yous pay to drive your car on the road.

And if at that place's 1 modest consolation, it'southward that nearly ASDL providers now combine broadband and landline costs into one price so it's easier to come across what you'll pay and compare that with other services.