Landlines versus mobiles

Pacemakers and mobiles?

No landline

My aunt doesn't have a mobile, and rings me on my landline, she gets free calls with TalkTalk for one hour.

I also like having it as an alternative, for example the bank scams where they ask you to 'phone them back'.

I am old fashioned and prefer the landline. It comes as a package with the WiFi. I find mobile phones so annoying at times.

No landline phone here for about 13 years, we both have our mobiles on us all the time, as do family and most people we know. I’m distinctly unsettled on the rare occasions it’s not on me!

You don't need a landline for internet. Depends where you live.

www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/broadband-no-landline/

And how do you think you are accessing the internet on your phone if you are away from the house?

There is almost no mobile signal here, unless I stand on the pavement at the end of our drive or next to one particular window upstairs. We also can’t get satellite signal for internet so a landline it is for WiFi. It’s mainly my mum who calls the landline, though.

I have my landline for free in my Wi-Fi package. Also evening and weekend calls are free on it. My receiver used to crackle like mad until I replaced the handset with one from Tesco for a tenner. Only use the mobile when out and about.

Please come round here and try to use your mobile.

We have zero mobile reception unless we walk up the garden which can be slightly inconvenient when it’s tipping down/pitch black so our landline will be staying.

I have next to no mobile coverage so have to use the landline. In an emergency if you have no landline and your mobile coverage goes down, what do you do ?

If all mobile towers go down across the whole of the UK , meaning you cant even use another providers signal, the end of the world is nigh. In that instance landlines would probably be down as well.

I prefer to chat on the landline as I think the quality is better. Mobile is ok for short calls but I often miss a mobile call whereas I always hear the landline ringing.

I've still got a landline. I prefer it to talking on my mobile.

I prefer landline to mobile any day, but it’s cheaper to just have the mobile really, chill continue as I am for now.

I prefer to use my landline for important calls, bit hardly anyone uses it.
I spend my calls with the doctor pacing around the house, bellowing "Hello! HELLOO!!!", despite having told them the landline is better to contact me on.

SueDonim

There is almost no mobile signal here, unless I stand on the pavement at the end of our drive or next to one particular window upstairs. We also can’t get satellite signal for internet so a landline it is for WiFi. It’s mainly my mum who calls the landline, though.

Do you live in my house?

We now use our mobiles via the Internet but prior to that I have been found in the middle of the road when the signal is really bad.

We have a few relatives who only call the land line and people who have that number from before we were able to use our phone on the Internet.

Calmlocket

You need a landline for the internet, I use my landline phone more than my payg mobile as its cheaper.

NO YOU DONT.
And yes I am shouting because I posted earlier that I don’t have a landline and I’m communicating here through the internet on my ipad
My daughter has never had a landline, and yet has successfully run a business from home for years. How can that work.
My next door neighbour doesn’t have a land line yet manages to work for the council from home. How can that work.
My step daughter doesn’t have a landline yet manages to work for Deloitte fixing companies internet problems all over the world. She must be using alchemy because obviously she can’t have the internet because she doesn’t have a landline.
I think I’ve made my case that YOU DONT HAVE TO HAVE A LANDLINE TO HAVE THE INTERNET.

I agree with Meryl , we havent had a landline for years. When we moved earlier this year we even removed the old BT wires before decorating.
We have fast Broadband delivered through a separate cable as well as 5g internet.
It does depend on where you live as to whether you can get this service but good broadband means that you do not need a phone of any kind to communicate. I can chat to my children through my TV or even my watch.

Both DH and I have had mobiles for more than 25 years. We have lived in this house for about 35 years and brought our old house number with us so have had the same landline number for long before mobiles were able to go in a pocket.

We get our broadband through our landline which is currently copper cable and have a broadband and landline package. Voice calls are made via the landline at lower frequencies and broadband signals use higher frequencies on the same copper cable. A filter, plugged into the incoming landline socket stops the broadband signals from interfering with voice calls.

Our 'house phone' (two handsets) is cordless and the handsets have their signal from the control unit attached to the voice side of the filter. The handsets use Bluetooth to communicate. I can also transfer phonebook numbers between the handsets and the mobiles using Bluetooth. I can bar numbers and use the caller ID to see who is calling. I can access messages remotely. One handset lives upstairs and the other downstairs. They have a really loud ring and we can hear them anywhere in the house and garden. We have many callers, old friends use the landline and so do family. We recently had a lot of crackling on the line, our provider sent out an engineer and now it is crystal clear again. I don't carry my mobile around at home (shortage of pockets deep enough).

Current mobile phones use masts which need 'line of sight" (5G is different). One house can have a good signal and its neighbour awful if the area is hilly or heavily populated. If you are using the mobile for the internet, you are using mobile data, which you switch on your mobile. You pay for a data package to your mobile provider. You can also use WiFi calling in your house with a mobile phone using the broadband line if the mobile signal is poor (if your provider supports WiFi calling).

In 2025 BT will be switching off landline signals. This does not mean the end of landline phones but there will be a problem with supplying electric signals to the handset and battery backups may be needed. There will also need to be a conversion from the analogue signals still used for voice to all digital. This will probably mean an extra 'box'.

New houses no longer have copper cables and are all digital (voice over internet protocol-VOIP) and many houses are switching to fibre optic cable to the house.

I would not be without my mobile but find that the house phone has its uses too especially while in lockdown and I've been at home.

Forgot to say that I don't have a watch with my mobile. I'll have to consider it but they are expensive.

We still have copper, no fibre.

People need to be aware that the conventional landline will be phased out by BT (and other providers using their network) by 31st December 2025.

The only way to use a landline (digital) telephone after that date will be via broadband, customers who do not have broadband, will have to have this fitted.

Currently landline phones still work during a powercut but this will not be the case, BT are advising customers to have a mobile phone available for emergencies.

This is all well and good but if there is a power outage in your local area it will also mean that mobile phone masts may be down. Not sure how much backup supply they have.

We have both, and I do sometimes find that the sound quality is better on the landline.
I use WhatsApp on my phone for making nearly all calls to friends and family though.

I wouldn’t be without the landline, in case my mobile got lost or broken, or I dropped it down the loo, like dh once did.

Calmlocket

You need a landline for the internet, I use my landline phone more than my payg mobile as its cheaper.

I get my internet through cable with Virgin, no need for a landline. My landline if from Virgin as well so included in the package. Sky also provide internet through their dish.

Neither of my children have a landline.

I still do as I get calls relating to the WI on it, although I might change that when I next renew.