Most UK Net Users Only Keep a Fixed Telephone Line for Home Broadband

Do we still need a fixed telephone line? The latest ISPreview.co.uk poll of 998 website visitors has found that 64.3% of respondents would happily get rid of the phone line if it wasn’t still required for their home broadband connection (20.9% answered with “no” and 14.7% said “maybe”).

Perhaps unsurprisingly the vast majority of respondents felt that the price of telephone line rental, which has been racing upwards for the past few years (often above the level of inflation), was the services main drawback. At the same time most people now tend to make voice calls via a mobile phone instead of their fixed line.

Which do you use most for making voice calls?
Mobile (Smartphone) – 62.3%
Fixed Phone Line – 29.8%
Separate VoIP Service – 6.6%
Other – 1.2%

Would you get rid of your fixed line if it wasn’t needed for broadband?
Yes – 64.3%
No – 20.9%
Maybe – 14.7%

Does the high price of a fixed phone line represent its main drawback?
Yes – 73.9%
No – 15.9%
Maybe – 10.1%

Do you currently save money by paying for line rental 12 months in advance?
No – 64.1%
Yes – 35.8%

Mobiles are becoming increasingly dominant for voice calls and so we shouldn’t be surprised that fixed lines are now under pressure. People still require a fixed line for their home broadband service but in the coming years this too could face a threat from the increasingly sophisticated 4G and future 5G based mobile broadband services (assuming their usage allowances become more flexible and that’s tricky due to the higher cost of mobile data capacity).

In the meantime people who wish to save money will either have to commit to a longer contract and pre-pay their line rental (aka Line Rental Saver), or lose the fixed line entirely and take a mobile-only approach. At present the only real exception comes from Virgin Media and a handful of altnet providers, which can offer a naked line style service where you only pay for broadband.

Meanwhile this month’s new survey asks how much broadband data do you consume (download) each month and how long do you spend online? Vote Here.