Is It Worth Investing in a Cheap Landline?

!±8± Is It Worth Investing in a Cheap Landline?

It was once predicted that the advent of mobile telecommunications would kill domestic landline connections almost overnight. Many years on, the majority of households here in the UK still have landline connections. Even many student households bother to set up their own landlines when the term of their tenancy at a property is rarely longer than one year.

Nevertheless there is a sizeable minority of people who make do without a landline connection. If you fall into this category then you may find that adding a terrestrial phone connection to your property is unnecessary; on the other hand, you may find that getting a cheap landline can save you money.

One of the situations in which a domestic telephone connection is unlikely to save you money is if you already have one of the most comprehensive mobile phone contract deals available - one which includes unlimited call time to landline numbers and mobile number on any network. Even in this situation, many mobile phone operators will charge considerable premiums for calls made to geographically non-specific numbers. These can very quickly mount up to cost more than they would on cheap landline deals.

If you have an average mobile phone package that includes around 500 minutes, you may find it easier than you think to exceed your contract limit and therefore incur extra charges from your provider. Particularly for people who regularly make longer phone calls, for example to relatives or partners who do not live locally, adding a cheap landline subscription to this mobile phone contract can often save on costs. Calls from landlines are far cheaper than those made from a mobile phone once you exceed your contract limit.

As well as these benefits, you may make savings on internet usage. If you do not already subscribe to a cable television or broadband service, you may find yourself unable to connect to the Internet via a domestic connection. This is because the alternative to cable internet, ADSL internet, relies upon telephone connections to transmit data. In many cases this will force you either to use your mobile phone for all internet use, which can be both inconvenient and expensive, or to pay an additional charge for a mobile broadband dongle to connect to your home computer. These can often be expensive and the data limits are often stingy, frequently resulting in users having to pay a premium rate once they have exceeded their allowance.

Perhaps the best method to work out whether you would save money with a domestic phone line is to do the maths. Although this can be unpleasant, you will thank yourself in the long run if your calculations prove to save you money. All you have to do is work out the total cost of calls on your mobile phone in any given month (it is best to average the cost over several months rather than use your most recent bill). Add this to the total cost of internet usage on your mobile phone or broadband dongle. Compare this figure to the total cost of those calls and that internet usage on the cheapest possible landline deal. Whilst this is by no means a definitive answer to the question, it will give you a rough idea of the potential for a landline to save you money.