Broadband-only versus dual play

Dual play is a habit from a time when the phone was the product and the internet was a noise on the same pair. In 2026 the internet is the product and the phone is either a care requirement, a number you cannot bear to lose, or a line item you have not looked at since 2017. Comparison tables still mix the two. Your year-one cost should not.

Unbundle the poster

Check whether the ‘from’ price includes voice. Check whether the ranked plan you clicked is the one with the handset rental. Add or subtract until the product matches the house.

A broadband-only FTTP can look dearer than a dual-play FTTC until you add the phone you would have to buy back.

Who still needs the number

Alarms, care pendants, a relative without a mobile, a small business printed on a van. Those are reasons. A handset in a drawer is not.

If you need the number, port it. If you need the analogue behaviour, that is a harder, more honest conversation about digital voice and power.

Digital is not copper

When the pair goes, voice is a box that needs power. Backup batteries exist. So do mobile alternatives. Do not discover this in a winter cut if voice is a care product.

Broadband-only households already live this way. They should still keep a charged mobile. Dual play is not a generator.

A landline is a specification or a ghost. Price them differently.

The cheaper line at the door might be cheaper because it stopped pretending you still talk on a pair. Check whether you do.