Tips on getting a broadband deal without a phone line
Along with Virgin Media, which has offered broadband without a landline for years, most providers now offer a broadband service without a phone line, with a choice of contract lengths and download speeds.
Types of broadband without a phone line
First let's establish what we mean by 'broadband without a phone line'. And before you slap your forehead at how obvious that is, it may surprise you to learn there are a few different definitions, both in terms of what us consumers might mean by it and what providers might mean by it. Note that with all Full Fibre packages a phone line is optional, and is supplied as a digital line (you still get to keep your number, though).
- Broadband without line rental – Some people are trying to find a way to not pay line rental, so to them 'broadband without a phone line' means paying for broadband, but without paying for rental of the line the broadband arrives on. Hopefully you can see the problem with wanting that, and why that doesn't exist when talking about broadband brought to your home via a physical line. Basically, there are no lines without line rental, whether you attach a phone to the end or not
- Broadband with no home phone package – Providers refer to this type as 'broadband-only', which is a bit of a misnomer, since you will get a landline and you will get a home phone number, it's just there's no calls package attached to it (such as free evening and weekend calls), so you will have to pay for every call you make
- Broadband without a phone or phone number – This is what most of us are after when we look for 'broadband without a phone line', although within this definition we're also, usually, hoping to not have to pay any line rental. Deals such as this are now available from a number of providers, including BT, EE and Vodafone
- Broadband with no fixed line – This is broadband that arrives at your home with no physical line at all. The only types of broadband that fit this description are 4G or 5G mobile broadband, 4G or 5G tethering and satellite broadband, all of which we will discuss in further detail some way down the page
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Can I get broadband without a phone line?
Providers are increasingly aware that an awful lot of us no longer use our landline phone, and so are coming to the realisation that if they offer a broadband-only deal that is cheaper than bundling it with a phone package, customers will snap it up. Virgin Media was the first major provider to offer broadband without a phone line, and now the likes of BT and others have followed suit.
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Providers
- Virgin Media broadband – Virgin Media was the first widely-available provider to offer broadband without a home phone or home phone number. However, bizarrely, it has never offered broadband-only deals that are cheaper than broadband and phone. For some peculiar reason, they are still more expensive, which completely defeats the object
- BT broadband – BT, along with a number of other mainstream providers including Vodafone and EE – have now caught up with Virgin Media in offering broadband-only deals, and happily, they are cheaper than their comparable broadband and phone options.
- Full Fibre providers – If you're extremely lucky, you may live somewhere where you can get a Full Fibre, or 'FTTP' broadband package. FTTP stands for 'fibre to the property' and differentiates itself from 'FTTC' (fibre to the cabinet) in the sense that the fibre optic cable runs all the way to your door, where with FTTC it only runs as far as the green cabinet you see on street corners. The remaining distance is copper wire. Copper is much slower than fibre, so FTTP broadband (also sometimes called FTTH – fibre to the home) offers speeds much, much faster than anything else. But it's still only available to a relatively small percentage of UK properties, so it's unlikely you can get it. Hyperoptic is your best bet if you want to take a punt and see, but increasingly there are other, small FTTP providers on the market also worth investigating, including Purefibre, Giganet and Gigaclear
- Mobile broadband – This type of broadband arrives via the same masts and signals as your mobile phone data. It's 4G, basically, but a number of big providers now offer it as a proper alternative to cabled home broadband, and will provide you with a home router. Plus, in an increasing number of areas, 5G is also now available as an alternative to fixed home broadband
- 4G or 5G tethering – Tethering is where you tell your smartphone to act like a wifi router, allowing your other devices to connect to it. Is it a practical alternative to home broadband? Not really. Some unlimited data deal also allow unlimited tethering, but not all of them. Plus your smartphone is, frankly, a terrible router with very limited range
- Satellite broadband – Yes, you can get broadband from space, via a satellite dish. No, you don't have to have a phone line with it. Yes, it will cost you many multiples of what you'd pay for a regular broadband deal. No, it's not an effective way to dodge line rental
- Check if you can get it – You can use our comparison tool to find out if you can get a broadband only package where you live. If you can, you will be presented with a list of available packages. If you can't, you will be presented with the alternatives that are available where you live
- Look for packages with 'no phone line' – These are the packages that come without any phone line or phone at all. You can then also filter down according to price, speed, and provider – if you have a preference
- Click through and buy – Once you've found a deal that suits, click the button to be taken through to the deal on the relevant provider’s website. Simple
4G/5G home broadband
Several mobile providers now offer 4G (or 5G where available) home broadband packages that also come with unlimited usage, putting them on a par with fixed broadband. EE’s 5G home broadband comes with download speeds of up to 110Mbps. Although you won’t get the speeds available with a cabled connection, a 100Mbps service is easily capable of supporting the requirements of most households.
As well as EE, other mobile providers offering 4G/5G home broadband include Three, Vodafone and O2. To find out what is available, visit our 4G home broadband comparison page where you can filter down the options to show unlimited deals and those on 1-month or 12-month contracts.
