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Should I get a cable phone line?

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

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If you want a reliable phone service, bundled with fast broadband and multi-channel TV, you can sign-up for a cable phone and reap the benefits… (Updated 1/4/10)

With line rental at £11.99 a month, and free weekend calls to local and national numbers included, switching to cable may be the right answer for you.

Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) is the UK’s largest cable provider, and has over five million home phone customers, many of whom bundle their home phone with their broadband and digital TV. The company’s cable network is currently available to over 12.6 million homes in Britain.

Advantages of cable

Virgin Media delivers its service over a fibre optic cable network specifically designed to carry ultrafast broadband, digital TV with TV on-demand, and home phone.

Because the network is underground, cable is reliable and unaffected by the weather. This makes it a popular choice for customers who want to switch from a standard copper wire phone line, such as those offered by BT (www.bt.com).

Two plus points if you're thinking of switching to cable are:

1. Bundles - Though line rental is a more expensive than BT line rental, with Virgin Media’s cable service you can get free services with your line rental, such as TV and free calls.
2. Low installation charges - Because cable runs underground rather than through overhead, you'll need a new phone line installed in your house. However Virgin Media keeps the cost of line installation low - often around £35 - to encourage people to make the switch. Sometimes it even has special promotions for free connection too.

Disadvantages of cable

Leaving the BT network and becoming a cable customer does have a few disadvantages:

1. Switching back to BT - If you decide you want to leave Virgin Media, you will probably have to pay a reconnection cost to BT - this could be up to £127.99.
2. Line break - Because Virgin Media and BT use different technology (BT uses ADSL copper wires), engineers have yet to develop a seamless way of switching between the two. This means there may be a break in your service when switching.

Saving money on phone calls: VoIP and cable

Making calls over your broadband connection (also known as VoIP) allows you to make very cheap - or sometimes free - phone calls. For cable customers, it is a great way of making low-cost calls to both local and national landlines, and if you both have a webcam, you can even see who you’re talking to.

Using an internet phone line supplier like Vonage (www.vonage.co.uk) with cable broadband means that you have an alternative to making calls on the phone. Many cable customers take cable broadband bundled with their cable phone, and using their broadband connection with Vonage, they can make great savings on normally expensive phone calls, such as those to international numbers.

VoIP is easy to use and you’ll still have a geographical landline number, so people can call you and you can use a traditional-style handset. VoIP providers such as Vonage also offer packages from as little as £5.99 a month, letting you make cheap international calls too.

Cable bundles

UK households can get everything they need from one company. Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) offers a “quad-play” of broadband, digital TV, home phone and mobile. There is also Virgin mobile broadband available, for those that want to get online anywhere.

Virgin Media’s Size M package is the cheapest cable bundle on offer, at just £11.99 a month. For this you will receive a phone line that gives you free calls during the weekend to any UK landline, as well as 45 digital TV channels at no extra cost.

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