Landline phone necessary?

[marcuspos]

Is a physical landline phone really necessary or will a broadband ethernet cable suffice for our home internet needs? We use mobiles for calls so only have a phone for the obligatory landline charge.

[Webby]

You don't need a physical phone if you don't use the landline to make calls however you still need to pay line rental.

Whether you use the line for calls or broadband, it still has to be maintained, which costs money, hence the like rental charge.

I don't have a landline phone plugged in.

[marcuspos]

Cool, ta, will take away the phone and base and just put the broadband cable direct into the master socket - any other tips for trying to improve the internet speed? take off any microfilters, etc? Open to any suggestions as our speed is a painfully slow 1.5 at best!

[Webby]

Use the test socket by removing the fact plate. This disconnects any unused extensions.

[marcuspos]

Sorry, don't get fully what you mean - what is a test socket on a fact plate?

[Webby]

The faceplate on the master socket should be removable.

Once this is removed it will reveal the test socket, which is the most direct connection to the external line. You connect to the test socket using a microfilter.

[marcuspos]

Ah ok, but surely I will not need a microfilter if it just the broadband cable going in (no phone line going in?)

[Webby · Accepted solution]

You do. The filter splits the frequencies used by DSL and the telephone line.

The new modern faceplates have this functionality built into them.

[Keith_Beddoe]

The filter actually passes the broadband straight through, the only filtering is on the phone side, however you need the microfilter to change the phone style connection into RJ11.