If you're looking for broadband but don’t want to shell out for a phone line as well, you might think that you’re out of luck - after all, we all remember when being online and using the phone were mutually exclusive. These days, though, there are still plenty of options for you to choose from.
Yes, because with the rise of fibre and other broadband technologies, broadband and landlines no longer have to be linked. Previously, broadband was linked to landlines because the majority of broadband in the UK used to rely on the home phone network.
With the rise of mobile phones, many people don’t bother with a home phone at all. If that sounds like you, here’s all the different ways you can access broadband at home without a phone line.
There are two main types of broadband available in the UK that don’t need a phone line: cable broadband and full-fibre broadband (also known as FTTP).
Virgin Media is the only provider in the UK that offers cable broadband, which means that it doesn’t use the UK’s home phone network at all to deliver broadband — great news if you want to get broadband without a phone line!
Virgin offers a number of broadband-only deals, all of which offer extremely fast speeds when compared to regular broadband. The slowest broadband-only package Virgin Media offers is its M100 broadband deal, which promises an average download speed of 108Mbps. The fastest broadband-only deal Virgin offers delivers an average download speed of 600Mbps.
Unfortunately, Virgin Media’s cable broadband service isn’t available to all – you will need to check coverage to make sure that your home is covered.
Full-fibre broadband, also known as fibre to the premises (FTTP), doesn’t actually need to use the existing home phone network because it uses dedicated fibre cables from the provider’s broadband exchange to your home.
That means that some full-fibre providers can offer broadband-only deals where you don’t need a phone line. Here’s a roundup of the broadband-only deals on offer:
Gigaclear offers superfast broadband speeds without a phone line. In fact, the company doesn’t even offer the option of adding a phone line to your deal. Unfortunately, Gigaclear only has limited coverage across the UK, so make sure you check it’s available in your area first.
Hyperoptic offers full-fibre broadband connections to its customers which delivers some of the fastest speed you can get in the UK. On top of delivering incredible speeds, Hyperoptic’s pricing is extremely competitive with a lot of the big-name providers across the UK.
Hyperoptic also has lots of customer-friendly policies like flexible contract options, no early cancellation fees and a promise to never increase your price during your contract. The best thing, though…all of its broadband deals can be priced up without a phone line.
If you need broadband but don’t have a phone line at your home and also can’t get cable or full-fibre broadband, you can use mobile broadband to get online. Mobile broadband uses mobile phone networks to give you access to the internet.
Most of the time, you will use a MiFi device or an internet dongle that can be carried anywhere and, because they use the UK mobile network, you can connect to the internet even when you are out and about.
Just like a mobile phone, MiFi can be bought on pay monthly and pay-as-you-go deals, as well as upfront.
All of the major mobile networks offer MiFi options, from pay-as-you-go 4G options to full home broadband 5G home broadband routers. Contracts range from 30 days up to 24 months. Or, if you’d prefer to invest more upfront, you can buy a MiFi separately and use a SIM-card only deal for data.
The following networks offer MiFi and mobile internet dongle deals:
EE
Vodafone
Three
O2
Virgin Mobile
A number of networks now offer dedicated home broadband MiFi devices, which are designed to handle the increased number of Wi-Fi connected devices a house uses.
Even better, the rollout of 5G means that the internet speeds that some home broadband MiFi devices can deliver is the equivalent to fibre broadband – which means that your whole house can stream in high quality, game online, listen to music and browse the internet without any slowdown.
If you are looking for broadband without a phone line because you think it might save you money, you might be better off searching for a broadband deal that has line rental included in the price and only pay-as-you-go home phone calls.
All broadband providers are now required to advertise their costs including all line-rental costs – so the price you see is the price you will pay. Because broadband provided through the home phone network is so widely available, there tends to be better deals available, even with a phone line included! Line rental isn’t actually the cost of using the network for the landline, it’s used to cover the costs of maintaining the broadband aspect of the network too.
It might seem obvious that broadband without a phone line would be cheaper because you don’t have to pay for phone usage, but that’s actually not usually the case!
In fact, broadband options that don’t need a phone line like full-fibre, cable and mobile broadband tend to be some of the most expensive options on the market.
If you are looking to trim the cost of your broadband, then you will probably be best off looking for a broadband deal that includes line rental – these tend to be some of the best value deals available.
The short answer is yes – you can get broadband without a phone line with no contract. However, it will come at a cost.
Both Hyperoptic and Virgin Media offer a rolling 30-day contract which can be cancelled at any time and these can be set up without a phone line. Or, if you’re lucky enough to have good mobile phone network speeds, you could use a pay-as-you-go mobile broadband device.
These no-contract, no phone line options tend to be good choices for people looking for broadband options for second homes.
What happens if you can’t get a phone line in your property, but you still want to have and use a home line? Your best bet would be to find a voice-over-internet-provider (VOIP) solution.
VOIP can be set up just like a landline phone, with a receiver connecting to the internet to make calls, or you can set one up on your computer. You can even have a ‘home phone’ number that will ring as normal. And because it all works over the internet, all you need is working broadband.