Landline Phone and Calls
There are 3 elements to landline phone costs: line rental, call charges and handset cost. Intrinsically linked to line rental is internet usage. As internet usage is a pre-requisite for most of the money-saving and money-making on this site, the question is: can you ditch line rental without losing the internet? Going this route means making your phone calls exclusively over the net (PC to PC VOIP - free) and/or over your mobile phone (get one of the free packages above - bundled calls free).
One option is satellite broadband. However, the majority of satellite broadband services are serviced by one of two main satellites, and neither offer good reliability or speed. BT satellite broadband is arou
nd £80 per quarter - so comparatively expensive - and is reported to be slow and suffering connection drops. Now Wireless Broadband uses secure radio signals instead of a phone line or cable connection. Packages are £10 to £18 per month, but geographical availability is currently very limited. Plug in your postcode on the site to see if you are eligible.
Another option is mobile data cards: internet over your mobile phone connection through 3G. However this is currently both slow and expensive.
Another option is cable. If you can get NTL or Telewest in your area, they are relatively cheap and offer free installation. You are not required to subscribe to the cable TV or telephone services to have the broadband.
If you are friendly with a neighbour who has broadband and a wireless network, you could possibly share their connection and costs. If your neighbour is too far away for the signal, a super hi-gain waveguide antenna (a cantenna) for wi-fi may be required. This sharing isn't illegal, but maybe against the T&Cs of the Internet Service Provider, so check. Connecting to a neighbour's network without their permission may also be possible if they haven't secured it, but is illegal.
You can get an internet telephony handset now for less than £15 (e.g. here in-store at Argos). You can then download Skype for free and make calls over your PC for nothing to others who have Skype downloaded and a handset of some kind. You need your PC on to receive and make calls, but if it is off your calls can be forwarded to voicemail. If you wish to call regular phones from Skype or have your calls forwarded to a mobile phone when your PC is off then you pay for these calls, as they are not internet to internet. This is more expensive than normal landline costs, so only Skype to Skype is recommended.
If you are a regular caller from home to friends and family then this is a solution whereby you can always call for free - both parties just need to get a handset and download Skype. Equally, if you are often travelling abroad then dialling home through Skype from an internet connection abroad will work out much cheaper than using a mobile or landline.
TV, phone and broadband bundles
Companies like Sky, Virgin Media and BT are packaging up deals on the premise that you'll get the components cheaper by getting them all from the same supplier.
For example, Virgin Media's '3 for £30' bundle of TV, broadband and home phone, is £360 a year. If you took the products individually you would be looking at about £14.99 a month for broadband, £11 a month phone line rental, £5 a month for a cheap calls package and £15 a month for a basic digital TV package. This adds up to £551.88 a year. Likewise, Tiscali TV's £19.99-a-month deal for digital TV, broadband, line rental and weekend phone calls cannot be beaten by buying the products separately.
However, many people committing to bundles are signing up for TV channels they never watch. Freeview boxes can be bought for as little as £19.99, for which you get around 30 channels for no monthly subscription. Remove the digital TV and the savings aren't so clear. Also, the bundles are on contracts of typically 12 or 18 months, meaning you're stuck, should offers come up on the individual components, which they often do.
Broadband speed
Many people are paying for 8mb broadband speed but rarely get it. There is a simple way to improve this, if you are happy to dip into your phone socket. Don't worry - full instructions are here.
In a nutshell, landline telephones only use wires 2&5, but in the majority of houses wire 3 is normally wired because old phones use to have to be told there was an incoming call when on extensions. This is line 3's sole purpose and is called the ring line. This no longer needs to be connected as modern phones can detect incoming calls without it. So, disconnect line 3 (wire 3) from the master socket and your extension leads and this gives a permanent speed boost. It has no adverse effects.
Before going ahead, go into your router and note down the connection speed. Once you have disconnected wire 3 it will connect at the new speed. However it will take 3 days for your actual download speed to increase as the BT exchanges monitor your connection for 3 days before upping the speed. Go back in and check your router connection speed on day 4 or 5 and see the difference.
Mobile Broadband
Here are two useful articles on dongles from Motley Fool. Dongles are plug-ins for your laptop that give you mobile broadband over the 3G network.
The first article looks at the possibility of doing away with a fixed landline phone and wired broadband package at home and going just with the dongle. And the second compares the six service providers offering dongle packages.
The beauty of a dongle is that you can make money and save money - in the PTS way - through your laptop whilst you are on the move. But, it also allows you to do away with a landline phone package. Combine it with a 12-month free mobile phone and contract deal - like we feature on our site - and you have a cheap and high flexible set-up. But pay attention to these things when choosing your dongle deal: What is the signal coverage like where you are or where you will travel? What is the broadband speed going to be; What is the download allowance and if you exceed it what are the charges? You need to make sure all these things work for your specific needs.