Mobile v Landline

I've been reading old posts and haven't found anything quite on point. Sorry if this is a repeat from a previous discussion.

I've been researching phone service and would like some feedback on whether to just get mobile service or both. I've compared prices on mobile service through O2, T-Mobile and Vodaphone...looks like T-Mobile offers the best prices on international calls (10p/m). I can get 400 anytime minutes and the reduced international rate for about £45-50/m.

What does an average landline phone bill run each month? And, what is the average cost/minute to call the states?

Any feedback would be appreciated,
PaulaH

I have both.  I need both due to using my landline for cable and internet as well.  I use Orange and have 200 min plus 500 texts a month for £30 (and I will get less of both as I don't use that amount at all).  I need the mobile as I use it to get in touch with everyone that way.  I have a BT line for £10.50 and use Onetel for my long distance and international calls...they charge a base of £3.95/mo and I get free local and national calls in the evenings and weekends.  I pay £1/mo for international calling at 2 pence/min.  It works really, really well!  So I usually end up spending about £50/mo for all my calling plans.

I would get both if you plan on calling the states. A 20 minute call to the states on my BT landline costs £1, about half the price you would be paying on the mobile and my line rental is £29 per quarter- £10/month.  I need to have a mobile as well, but wouldn't use it for my international calls. I only pay £20 a month for my mobile - when I had PAYG I paid even less.  Remember over here your free minutes aren't charged for calls you recieve like they are in the states, only for calls you make.

Rosie

Thanks for the guidance. I'll continue my research on both types. Fortunately, I'm not planning on coming over until next winter so I have some time to decide.

Thanks again,
PaulaH

I think when I had an Orange phone on contract, it was about 15p per minute to the States.  And I was glad to have that, because if I felt the need to call my family on a whim, I had that available to me.

I would also suggest a landline, because you can get some really cheap calling plans to call the States with, such as 1899.com.  My calls to the States were half a p per minute, with only a 3p connection fee!  I heard recently that they upped their charges to 1p a minute, but still, that's great savings.  I believe that they also have a special calling plan you can get for your mobile, so that might be worth checking into as well:

www.1899.com

Good luck!

Thanks, hummingbird, I'll check them out. Also, does it matter which local company I use? I'll be somewhere in Greater London. Is there really much difference in the providers in the metro areas?

Thanks, hummingbird, I'll check them out. Also, does it matter which local company I use? I'll be somewhere in Greater London. Is there really much difference in the providers in the metro areas?

I had a BT landline and the plan worked fine with that.  I don't *think* it matters what landline provider you have, but I would check the site just to be sure. 

BT is one of the most common phone providers, as is Telewest and I believe NTL is gaining some popularity.  The nice thing about the 1899.com is that it allows you free calls to any UK landline with only a 3p connection charge as well.  So if you end up using the plan for both national and international calls, you'll probably only be paying the line rental with your preferred carrier.  The only calls I never used the plan for were calls to UK mobile phones and national rate numbers (e.g. 870 type numbers) because they were a lot more expensive.

Thanks, I've visited 1899 and BT websites. Now, I think I'm getting a headache because IT'S ALL SO CONFUSING! Nah, really, it's just difficult because I'm not familiar with the areas and numebr so I'm not sure what's a good price. I'll just keep at it until it sinks in and starts to make sense.

BT has the offer on Broadband and Broadband voice where you cna use your Broadband as a phone. Anyone know anything about that?

Thanks, I've visited 1899 and BT websites. Now, I think I'm getting a headache because IT'S ALL SO CONFUSING! Nah, really, it's just difficult because I'm not familiar with the areas and numebr so I'm not sure what's a good price. I'll just keep at it until it sinks in and starts to make sense.

BT has the offer on Broadband and Broadband voice where you cna use your Broadband as a phone. Anyone know anything about that?

I dunno, I think my flatmate and I paid about 10 quid a month for line rental, and then Broadband Internet was separate for us, at 25 quid a month.  I never used Broadband voice because I didn't have the necessary equipment (microphone, etc.). 

BT web site stated that no special equipment is needed. They provide an adaptor so regular phone can be plugged into system. Sounds kind of cool. The price is only about £11 a month, from what I was reading. Different plans offered for local/national as well as international. Will keep checking and if I find out anything spectacular I will post.

Thanks,
PaulaH

BT web site stated that no special equipment is needed. They provide an adaptor so regular phone can be plugged into system. Sounds kind of cool. The price is only about £11 a month, from what I was reading. Different plans offered for local/national as well as international. Will keep checking and if I find out anything spectacular I will post.

Thanks,
PaulaH

Well, no special equipment will be required for the broadband, as they will provide the modem as part of the package you purchase.  But I don't think that they will include a computer mic with that.  I think that will be down to you if you wish to use your Internet connection for phone calls.  You can double check with them on that, of course, but I think that's how it works.

You are right our system can be complicated to the outsider, for example I have a BT line but my bill comes from TalkTalk.  So BT charges me just over £10 for the line rental and then all calls are charged through the bill provider which in my case is Talktalk.

I'm not sure if TalkTalk still do this offer but I'm on a TalkTalk Plan 2 with the World option.  This lets me get FREE international calls to the USA in the eve. and all weekend.  It works really well and currently I use my phone for around 42 hours per month (most of which is calls to Andrea in the US) and my bill is around £7 .

Just a quick note in regards to mobiles.  Virtually every country in the world (including the UK) apart from the US and Canada only require dual-band mobiles to work.  If you plan to use the phone while in the US or Canada be sure to get a tri-band phone.  You can find a number of tri-band phones out there but be sure to look for it.  They even have quad-band phones although I'm not sure where the 4th frequency band is required!

Matt

Thanks for the info, Jmaster. I'll check into that program. Sounds pretty good! 

Matt, I did some research on the bands and now have a better understanding of what they are and why one might need a multi-band phone. Here's a site with a basic explanation, if you're interested.
http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roadwarriorcontent/quadbandphones.htm

I was looking into T-Mobile's services and they were the only vendor to offer quad-band phones, that I can remember. Guess I'll go back to those sites and recheck.

Thanks for all of the input, everyone. It's a great help to be able to run stuff by y'all when I need some direction. 

The situation has gotten far more complex in recent years due to the deregulation of the market and the numerous competing companies.

To address the original question though, I would strongly suggest getting landline service --  not just cellular --  for several reasons:

1.  Alternate long-distance carriers offering better rates, as already discussed above.  (I use 1899 myself at the moment:  3p flat rate anywhere in the U.K.;  3p plus 1p per minute to the U.S.).

2.  Reliability.   Traditional landline service has far fewer outages than cellular.    In an emergency, that's a big advantage.

3.  Cellular service in the U.K. is "caller pays."    Some people will be rather unhappy if the only number you can give them is a cellular number which is going to cost them much more to call than a regular landline.   

The actual landline service available depends very much upon where you live.  Across much of the U.K., British Telecom is still the only choice.