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Broadband and home phone deals

How to compare broadband and home phone deals

New customers often get the cheaper broadband and home phone bundles. Could you save by switching providers? Compare with us.

Key things to know about broadband and home phone deals:

  • Many aren't sold as bundles anymore - you might have to select a landline deal when signing up

  • If your broadband connection uses a phone line, you don't have to pay for a home phone

What are broadband and home phone deals?

A broadband and home phone deal is a type of bundled service. It combines your broadband and your landline phone service into 1 plan, so you get a single monthly bill from your provider for them.

Broadband and home phone deals are the most popular way to pay for a landline. Just 5% of UK landline customers opted for a stand-alone phone line in 2022.

Can I get a home phone and broadband deal if I have full fibre?

Yes you can, but it's a digital rather than an analogue (copper) phone line. Part-fibre broadband (30-70Mbps) is currently available to 97% of the UK population.

With these services, if you're with a provider on the Openreach network, you need a landline connection for it to work, but not a landline phone. You don't have to pay extra for line rental - it's all bundled into the broadband cost even if you don't use a landline phone.

In the past, line rental was a necessary cost of having a broadband connection. The landline was there whether or not it was being used.

For Virgin Media broadband and other providers with their own networks, the landline connection is optional.

If you get full fibre broadband installed, your provider disconnects your old copper phone line for good.

If you opt for a full fibre broadband product with a phone service, you automatically get a digital phone line.

Most analogue phone lines are going to be migrated to digital by 31 December 2025. Some broadband service providers may do it even sooner.

Can I get a broadband and home phone package where I live?

You should be able to get a broadband and phone line package installed. It doesn't matter if you live in an area where full fibre isn't available.

Your provider might use a connection that uses the old copper cable phone infrastructure, or one that uses digital services to connect your voice calls.

Even people in remote areas who struggle to get an internet connection can now ask a provider to install one under the Universal Service Obligation (USO). This means you have a legal right to request ‘decent’ broadband. Decent broadband is currently defined as 10Mb download speed and 1Mb upload speed.

Following a government review, these speeds may be updated to 30Mb download and 6Mb upload. There are a few eligibility conditions, so it’s best to check out the Universal Broadband Service information in detail before contacting your provider.

Which broadband and phone deals are the best value?

Good value depends what you need and what you want to spend.

The best-value option for you may not be the cheapest broadband and home phone package, but the one that offers everything you want at a fair price.

To weigh up what you need from your combined home phone and broadband, think about:

  • Monthly fee: The monthly fee tends to be the ‘headline’ when considering different packages. But it needs to be weighed up against what’s on offer. If there’s a package you like the look of but the price is a bit high, consider contacting the company and haggling. There are no guarantees, but this can help lower the price or get more included in your package.
  • Call costs: Check the call cost per minute for national, international and local calls. Costs may depend on who you often call and where they are based.
  • Inclusive call minutes: Some packages might include inclusive minutes, for example free weekend and evening calls. To see whether these are good value, think about your typical phone usage. Checking your recent bills should give you an idea of how often you make calls and what type of calls they are.
  • Download and upload speeds: It’s a good idea to do a bit of research on what speed you need. Faster isn’t always better, as there's no point paying for speeds you don’t use. Think about upload speeds. These are important for things like video calls, online gaming and uploading social videos.
  • Router: A new broadband and home phone package often comes with a new router as part of the deal. The model of router you get depends on your provider, and some routers are more sophisticated than others.
  • Connection or installation costs: Check whether you have to pay to install your new connection. If you’re switching to a full fibre connection, you may need to pay a fee to install the digital services needed for landline calls.

Do I really need a landline phone if I already have a mobile?

Choosing a landline as well as a mobile is a personal decision. It mostly comes down to your individual circumstances.

But our landlines are gathering dust – literally in some cases. Ofcom data for 2023 showed that 62% of households with a broadband and home phone package didn’t make a single outgoing call in 3 months.

Whatever the rest of the nation is doing, it could still be worth maintaining a landline phone if you:

  • Live in an area with poor mobile phone signal coverage.
  • Want a more reliable means of making phone calls than a mobile. (although it’s worth noting that the new digital phone services stop working in a power cut. You need a battery back-up for extra reliability.)
  • Use your landline to make and receive international calls, which are often cheaper on landlines than on mobiles.
  • Make and receive a lot of landline calls.
  • Want to keep your household landline number based in your home, instead of porting it to your mobile phone.

For many people though, it makes more sense to just use their mobile phone, especially if they have switched to a full fibre connection.

Can I add TV to my broadband and home phone deal?

Yes, in most cases you can choose a package deal that includes broadband, TV and phone.

A lot of TV, both live and streaming, is now delivered digitally through an internet connection. So it can make sense to bundle everything together.

How do I find the best broadband and home phone deals?

The best way to find the broadband and phone deals available to you is to search on a comparison site.

You can use a service like our broadband partner Uswitch to see deals from different providers who offer broadband and phone packages in your area.

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