Broadband without a landline: what needs a phone line, and what does not
By Tom HartleyFigures checked 20 July 2026
You can drop the phone line and keep the internet. Most home broadband sold today does not need a working landline, and some of it never touches copper at all. The catch is that the label “fibre” covers two different things, and only one of them lets you cut the line.
What still needs a line, and what drops it
The deciding factor is how the signal reaches your house, not the price or the brand. Here is where each type stands.
| Type | Needs a phone line? | In plain terms |
|---|---|---|
| Full fibre (FTTP) | No | Fibre runs all the way to the house. No copper, nothing to keep paying for. |
| Cable (Virgin Media) | No | Runs on its own coax network, independent of the old BT line. |
| 4G / 5G mobile | No | A SIM and a router. No cable of any kind reaches the property. |
| Part-fibre (FTTC, sold as “fibre broadband”) | Yes, physically | The last stretch is still the copper phone line. You no longer pay for calls, but the line has to be there. |
| ADSL | Yes | The old standard, entirely dependent on a live copper line. |
This is where most people get caught. An advert says “fibre broadband, no landline required,” and it means you will not be billed for phone calls. The copper wire is often still feeding the house. Truly landline-free means full fibre, cable, or a mobile signal, and the first two only exist where someone has built them.
The no-line answer where there is no fibre
Full fibre and cable settle it the moment they reach your door. For the 1,471,838 UK homes with no gigabit plan on the way, neither one reaches them, and part-fibre keeps you tied to the copper you were trying to leave. That leaves the one option that needs no cable at all: a 4G or 5G router.
It swaps the fixed connection for a mobile signal, so there is no engineer visit and no line to rent. Expect 10 to 60 Mbps on 4G and more on 5G where it reaches, which is enough for a normal household on several devices at once. The three networks that sell it, ordered by entry price:
Three
from £17 a month
Cheapest unlimited 4G and 5G home broadband of the three networks, and the only one that routinely bundles the router at no extra cost.
Worth knowing. Coverage is the thinnest of the big networks once you leave towns. Check the signal at your address before anything else.
Check Three at your postcodeVodafone
from £20 a month
Strong 5G coverage in and around larger towns, with a 30-day money-back guarantee that makes it low-risk to test.
Worth knowing. Rural 4G is weaker than EE. Worth trying only if the coverage map is convincing at your postcode.
Check Vodafone at your postcodeEE
from £25 a month
The widest 4G footprint in the UK, which matters more than headline speed once you are outside a town.
Worth knowing. Costs more than Three for comparable data. You are paying for the coverage, which in a notspot is usually the right trade.
Check EE at your postcodeWhen dropping the line is the wrong call
Going line-free is not automatically the better choice. A few cases where keeping copper, or paying for full fibre, earns its place:
- You move large files. Mobile uploads sit around 5 to 15 Mbps. If that is your work, a fixed line still wins.
- The mast is far or busy. One rural mast serving a wide area slows down in the evening. A weak signal makes a 4G router worse than the ADSL it replaced.
- You have a telecare or alarm unit. Some still expect a traditional line. Check what it needs before you cancel anything.
If a mobile signal is your route, the 4G home broadband guide and the 5G comparison cover speed, cost and how to test before you commit. For the wider picture on living without fibre, start with the full guide.