Rethinking landline phones: Do you really need one?

Landlines as we know them will soon be a thing of the past. By the end of 2025, making and taking calls via a copper line into our homes will be replaced by calls over the internet, something OfCom and leading neworks are calling “The Future of Voice”. 

I’m sure for a lot of you this won’t make any difference. Personally I’ve not had a landline for the last four years, and even before, though I connected a phone, it wasn’t used for many years. Instead, all my calls are made via my mobile phone.  

But three-quarters of homes still have a landline, and that figure is even higher for those over 65 years old. When the switchover happens you’ll need to plug your phone into your broadband router rather than a phone socket.  

This could require new digital telephones or adaptors. If you don’t have the internet right now a new router will be provided for free, and in some cases that might require engineers to visit. You won’t have to pay more than you do right now though. 

The big concern is that you’ll no longer be able to make a call if there’s a power cut. Similarly if your internet goes down there won’t be a line to use. Even people who use a mobile phone more and more have liked the security of a landline as back up.

You'll have to plug your phone into your broadband router

Faced by this criticism, a gradual roll out to homes has been delayed by BT while it looks for more resilient solutions, such as longer battery lifes and mobile signal back ups. But that doesn’t mean the big change won’t still happen in three years time, and other companies might still want to move you over earlier, especially if you switch providers. 

So this is coming, whether you like it or not, and I think it’s worth getting ahead of the change—and hopefully save some money in the process. 

First up, rethink your mobile phone tariff. Most of these now offer unlimited calls to other mobiles and local rate calls (anything 01, 02 and 03), while 0800 and 0500 numbers are free anyway. 

If these make up the majority of your calls, then ensure your plan covers these, and use this instead of your landline. 

You may be paying for more than you need

This will allow you to ditch any call plan you have with your landline, or if you don’t have one, save the money you would have spent on the pay-as-you-talk individual calls. 

The savings here can be decent. It’s possible to get unlimited calls on a mobile plan for as little as £5 a month. It’s likely your existing mobile deal is more than this, so not only can you reduce that bill, but wipe another £5 to £10 a month off your landline bill. 

Where you could miss out is on calls to 084 and 087 numbers, which some landline providers might include in packages. However, these aren’t as common as they used to be, and you can often find alternatives that are included on your mobile plan. Try saynoto0870.com, or check the websites and letters from providers. 

As you move your use more and more to your mobile, it’s also an opportunity to stop paying for other extras you might have on the landline, such as voicemail. The likelihood is you won’t need them. 

You might also want to reassess your mobile phone handset too, but don’t worry it doesn’t have to be a smartphone. There are still relatively cheap “dumbphones” available which will make calls and send text messages—and that’s it.  

If smartphones don't appeal to you, go old school

Eventually you might feel you can get rid of the landline completely, saving yourself even more money. There are more and more broadband tariffs which are internet only so see if you can get one of these, or haggle with your provider to pay less as you don’t need or use a home phone. 

But it that’s a step too far it’s still worth seeing if your phone company provides a landline saver rate. You’ll pay upfront for 12 months and get a discount on the monthly bill. However, these aren’t anywhere as good as they used to be, and you might be saving just £20 a year. 

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