I am currently on a copper landline with ASDL provided by Pulse8, costing £32/month for landline and broadband. The speed is poor - 1.5 Mb/0.5Mb, but adequate for email and browsing. Unless a tree falls on the line, the copper landline is rock solid. I have had problems with VOIP though, often dropped connection, a 2-second lag or an echo, so I usually resort to using the landline to make and receive calls. I have just been informed that they are bringing forward the termination of my landline from January 2027 to July 2026. My only option is FTTP, which is available in my village.
I am over 70 and live alone in the Worcestershire countryside. There is no reliable mobile signal in my village and none at all at home.
I am now being forced to look at my options. Pulse8 are offering a FTTP VOIP package, a 2-year contract for £40/month with modem thrown in, but they cannot provide a backup battery.
Pulse8 is a small operator, and Sam has been very helpful, pushing hard Openreach recently when a tree brought down the line, but it still took them 10 days to fix, and I was therefore completely cut off. It was quite a distressing experience because I am so isolated. I prefer to support the small company rather than the big companies, who tend to scam their customers when they can get away with it. I really dislike the policy of low initial rates and then sneakily up the price, forcing the rigmarole of negotiating new deals each year. Life is too short for that game. BT even slapped on a £20 late payment charge when the bill was ten days in arriving, because they can.
If I stick with Pulse8, I save on a modem, but I will have to buy a backup battery.
The other thing that bothers me is that, at the moment, if I suspect someone is listening in, either official surveillance or a hacker, I like to turn the modem off and disconnect from time to time without warning. I am very wary of anything that does not have an off switch I can control.
Broadband Genius’s guide to the Switchoff has a few issues. The advice on free backup telephone which is supposed to be offered to the vulnerable (I am over 70 and have no mobile signal) only applies to BT retail contracts, not to other ISPs. BT refuses to acknowledge any entitlement to other customers, despite them having control of Openreach.