End of an Era

[SocketRocket]

not sure when was the last time i saw one..... More importantly how many people still have land lines? We have ours because it is free with virgin media. I am not sure when the equipment is though

Surely a lot of people have land lines for their internet. We have a land line telephone, as you we get free phone calls on it.

 

[Mudball]

Surely a lot of people have land lines for their internet. We have a land line telephone, as you we get free phone calls on it.

Not needed for Virgin, as it is fibre. slowly providers are getting of BT copper onto fiber - either their own or someone elses.

 

[Robster59]

not sure when was the last time i saw one..... More importantly how many people still have land lines? We have ours because it is free with virgin media. I am not sure when the equipment is though

We have a land line, although it is the new system that plugs into the router. It's free with Sky Broadband and my missus prefers the landline. The trouble is, if you lose broadband, you also lose the phone. But we have our mobiles anyway.

 

[Robster59]

I remember looking for us in the book and being chuffed there was only two with the same surname in and around Middlesbrough. On a visit to a girlfriend’s in north Lincs I was amazed to see 2-3 pages with our name in.

There's a lot of people called Hobbit in North Lincs?

 

[Mudball]

We have a land line, although it is the new system that plugs into the router. It's free with Sky Broadband and my missus prefers the landline. The trouble is, if you lose broadband, you also lose the phone. But we have our mobiles anyway.

So more a VOIP number than a regular telephone..

 

[Lord Tyrion]

So more a VOIP number than a regular telephone..

That is how it is all going. Is your Virgin set up not the same?

 

[Mudball]

That is how it is all going. Is your Virgin set up not the same?

yes.. all running on fiber backbone rather than BT POTS Copper

 

[CliveW]

We moved into our current new built house two years ago and there wasn't a landline. My wife, who isn't tech savvy, wanted a landline as she detests mobile phones so we ordered one from BT/Openreach. It took over nine months to have a line installed and on checking with BT the best internet speed the can guarantee is 2 Mbps. Currently we have to rely on 4G for our internet at around 8 Mbps. Now we are being told that Openreach is replacing all copper phone lines by the end of next year. I'll not be holding my breath!

 

[Mudball]

We moved into our current new built house two years ago and there wasn't a landline. My wife, who isn't tech savvy, wanted a landline as she detests mobile phones so we ordered one from BT/Openreach. It took over nine months to have a line installed and on checking with BT the best internet speed the can guarantee is 2 Mbps. Currently we have to rely on 4G for our internet at around 8 Mbps. Now we are being told that Openreach is replacing all copper phone lines by the end of next year. I'll not be holding my breath!

If it is a new build, these days they install fiber to cabinet by default .. was it Boris or one of the many PMs in recent memory who has made ‘access to fast internet’ as a utility a promise. ?? Hence developers are doing it. Many also wiring house with cat 6 cable by default.

 

[CliveW]

If it is a new build, these days they install fiber to cabinet by default .. was it Boris or one of the many PMs in recent memory who has made ‘access to fast internet’ as a utility a promise. ?? Hence developers are doing it. Many also wiring house with cat 6 cable by default.

As far as I know, it is different in Scotland. Ours is a rural property built by an independent builder and not part of an estate. The Scottish Government claimed all properties would have access to superfast broadband within two years of their proposal back in 2019 however the goalposts keep getting moved by Openreach who claim they will install fibre within the time scale but it keeps getting moved back to just be within the timescale.

 

[jim8flog]

I have a landline via VOIP but there is a charge for it.

One of my memories of BT land lines is having to pay a rental charge for the phone. When we moved to this house we took our phone with us BT insisted it was returned and if not they were going to bill us for it.

 

[jim8flog]

. Currently we have to rely on 4G for our internet at around 8 Mbps. Now we are being told that Openreach is replacing all copper phone lines by the end of next year. I'll not be holding my breath!

Do you have a dedicated 4g Router with a sim card slot ? If yes have you considered buying a sim card that gives faster speeds (sim cards can be bought with different speed settings)

I have been considering ditching broadband at the end of my current contract and going that route and sim card speeds is one of the things that has been highlighted in my search for information.

I am considering 5G but at the moment the routers are pretty expensive compared to 4g and only EE has decent 5G coverage where I live.

 

[CliveW]

Do you have a dedicated 4g Router with a sim card slot ? If yes have you considered buying a sim card that gives faster speeds (sim cards can be bought with different speed settings)

I have been considering ditching broadband at the end of my current contract and going that route and sim card speeds is one of the things that has been highlighted in my search for information.

I am considering 5G but at the moment the routers are pretty expensive compared to 4g and only EE has decent 5G coverage where I live.

I do have a dedicated router and currently use an O2 SIM card. The only mobile supplier I could find that gave a decent signal. I tried EE but they couldn’t get a signal, whilst Vodafone wants over £60 a month for a sim only contract. I have no idea about SIM cards with faster speeds, where to get them or who else could provide a service.

 

[jim8flog]

I do have a dedicated router and currently use an O2 SIM card. The only mobile supplier I could find that gave a decent signal. I tried EE but they couldn’t get a signal, whilst Vodafone wants over £60 a month for a sim only contract. I have no idea about SIM cards with faster speeds, where to get them or who else could provide a service.

Several operators use the O2 network may be worth checking them out , GIffGaff in particular.

Having mentioned Vodaphone - Lebara mobile uses their network and do rolling month contracts so may be worth a try.

 

[CliveW]

Several operators use the O2 network may be worth checking them out , GIffGaff in particular.

Having mentioned Vodaphone - Lebara mobile uses their network and do rolling month contracts so may be worth a try.

Thanks, I'll give them a try. My only other option is Starlink, but at £75/month + £450 initial outlay it is expensive for what I need!

 

[cliveb]

Several operators use the O2 network may be worth checking them out , GIffGaff in particular.

Having mentioned Vodaphone - Lebara mobile uses their network and do rolling month contracts so may be worth a try.

While waiting for FTTP, we ran our internet on a 4G router with a giffgaff SIM. (O2 network as Jim says - I think O2 may actually own giffgaff?)
Typically got about 10Mbps - good enough for general use, even able to stream a bit of Netflix.

giffgaff has a strange way of charging. No contract, you buy a "goodybag" which lasts for a month. £20 gets you 100GB of data.