Do I need a Landline if I have FTTP

[Lordsnooty]

At the moment I have FTTP to my house in Northern Ireland. This was installed about a year ago and since then they have increased my speed to around 115mbps. I have a Landline which I am paying around £270 a year (because I thought you needed a Land Line to get Broadband). It's a landline I NEVER ever use. Can I cancel that landline and still have Fibre Broadband? Plus if I have a contract of 18 months (which I think is only for the Broadband) will they charge me for cancelling my Telephone Line?

On a side issue does anyone know what is the cost of coming out of a contract (of 18 months for the Broadband Package) and what physically is done when you cancel a FTTP package?.....do they come and remove the Fibre Optic cable from the House? or do they leave it there so that I can get another package from another Fibre Provider?

At the moment I am paying around £70 a month for Fibre Broadband and Phone line (that I don't use)......which I think is very expensive and I thought if I can remove the phone line then I could save around £20 a month.

[licquorice]

At the moment you can't have broadband without a phone service even if the broadband is delivered by FTTP.

If you cancel your contract the fibre will remain.

[Lordsnooty]

So if the Fibre remains then no other provider can use it? So in effect, there is no way to reduce this cost of £70 because no matter what provider I go to I need a Landline? Thanks for your help. What I don't understand is if you don't use the landline (which I think is a separate cable going into my house why I have to pay for it). To my simple uneducated mind I appear to be paying for equipment I don't use but maybe I have got that wrong and the telephone line is connected to the Fibre Optic cable in a cabinet or some other Openreach equipment further down the line. Just interested to know what is going on...maybe someone can enlighten me or give me a link to a website that explains this in simple layman terms.
Thanks

[pippincp]

You should only have one contract as Internet contracts inclues any landline rental if it is necessary for providing the service even if it is only for billing purposes.

Give the FTTP team a ring and discuss it with them. 0800 587 4787

From OFCOM

"Since 2016, broadband companies can no longer advertise broadband and line-rental costs separately. Instead, they have to show the full, inclusive cost of taking out a broadband contract. This reflects the fact that line rental is part of the cost of providing broadband. However, some companies still separate this out in their bills."

FTTP still falls within that ruling. You may find that it already is included but separated out in the bill.

[garybs29]

Also to make it clear the line rental charge you want to drop doesn't cover just the phone line it also covers rental of the line used to deliver the broadband as well

[Lordsnooty]

so in laymans terms in paying for the landline but I am paying for the rental of the FTTP line....so the two go hand in hand to pay for the build up of the distribution of the Fibre network. Therefore no landline no Fibre. So I am stuck with the £70....the only way to reduce the costs is either find a Provider can Give me Fibre for less than £55 or a provider that can equal that price but can give me faster speeds than 115mbps. I suspect that no other provider will be able to beat that other than Virgin (but I will have nothing to do with them because of previous bad experience)....so it looks like I am stuck. Maybe it is better to stay with the devil you know than go to a devil I don't know.
Thanks again

[pippincp]

The copper circuit is being retired from 2025 but don't expect a reduction even then.

[iniltous]

Virgin Media have the option of ‘broadband’ without (phone ) line rental , but it’s near enough the same price as line and broadband, it’s entirely possible that in  the near future ‘OR’ based broadband will be available without having to take a phone service , but it’s naive to think it will be significantly cheaper than phone & broadband, possibly one or two £ per month,
At the present time you have to have a phone service, it can be over the fibre or over a copper pair, but even if the copper pair is not used , the ‘line rental’ just becomes the charge for the fibre rather than fibre and copper, if you lived in a new build , there wouldn’t be a copper pair provided but the price is the same , so in some way , you are getting a copper pair and fibre for the same price as someone else who  gets a fibre only.
If you want to pay less , and are out of a minimum term you obviously could try to negotiate a better deal, change provider or reduce the speed of the package you are on.

[Lordsnooty]

Thanks, that is the most honest I have received all day. I totally understand what you are saying. I don't think I will be able to reduce the price but I do think I can get a better deal....when I say that I think I should be able to get a much faster Fibre speed for the price I am paying of £70 for 115 Mbps. 

On a side issue how much would it cost to come out of a contract because I think I have about 8 months left if my existing contract

Thanks again for your honest and detailed help

[iniltous]

What you pay seems quite a bit higher than current prices, presumably you are on Full Fibre 100, its actually a 150Mb service, because of ASA rules they call it 100 as that’s it’s minimum speed but with FTTP your connection is 150Mb, throughput may vary hence calling it 100, that’s currently £40 on a 24 month minimum ( no split LR/BB it’s just the price ), so as you are paying so much more , you may be taking more service , inclusive calls , TV, TV Sport, Mobile ?
As far as ending early, generally paying ETC may only a little less than if you continued ( 8x£70) so given that whoever you joint would also have a minimum term, arguably they would have to be significantly cheaper to justify paying ETC up front just to get out of your current deal and join them , assuming the new provider was 24 months minimum, they would have to be around £23/month cheaper to compensate for the £500 ETC, to make the maths stack up.
The first thing to do ( to make a fair comparison) is include all services , if you don’t want them, see if they can be removed.
If it were myself, I would see if ‘BT’ will renegotiate, accepting this will be restarting the minimum term , TBH, the chances of getting a cheaper FTTP deal off someone else is slim, especially taking the £23 into account, you could potentially get basic FTTP for £70-23, £47, but BT is £40 for that, I’m assuming you do get more than broadband for your £70, even it you don’t want or use the extras.