Broadband and Phone Deals

Here is the change behind every one of these deals. The analogue phone network, the PSTN, has carried Britain's landline calls for over a century, and Openreach is retiring it by 31 January 2027. There is no single switch-off day. It is a phased migration that has been running for years, with providers moving customers across in waves; the deadline is when the last of it closes.

What changes is the plumbing. Calls move off the old copper voice line and onto your broadband, which providers call digital voice. The handset plugs into the router rather than the wall socket, your number comes with you and the dial tone sounds the same. So every phone bundle you compare today is really a broadband deal with a calls service on top. Buy it on the strength of the broadband first.

Some homes genuinely do. An older relative who has answered the same number for forty years and is not about to switch to a mobile. A mobile notspot where the landline is the only call that does not drop. A care line or monitored alarm that dials out over the phone line, which may need upgrading for digital voice, so tell your provider before anything is switched. Everyone else is better off without it.

Pay as you go is the usual starting point: no calls plan, but every call is charged by the minute and the charges add up fast. In between, a bundle of minutes suits the household that rings family at set times, the Sunday call to a parent being the classic example. Unlimited plans add a monthly charge and pay for themselves once the phone is in daily use.

Your last bill is the test. Count the calls. A handful a year means pay-as-you-go and the cheapest deal you can find, because a call plan you never use is just a standing order with better branding. Daily calls mean unlimited wins. If you have had the same bundle for years, check whether you are overpaying for the whole package.

Three things matter more than price. The number moves with you, onto digital voice and between providers, so nobody has to relearn it. The handset plugs into the router after the switch. If the router lives in the wrong room, your provider can send an adapter. Most existing phones, corded ones included, work fine once connected.

Then there are power cuts. The old copper line powered itself from the exchange, which is why the phone in the hall kept working through every blackout since the Three-Day Week. A digital phone dies when the router does. Ofcom requires providers to keep customers who depend on their landline able to call 999 for at least an hour in a power cut, typically with a free battery back-up unit. You have to ask though, before the switch is booked, not after the lights go out.

Check what calls are included, because many phone deals come with pay as you go calls and charge for every call unless you add a plan. Check the price after the introductory period: Ofcom has banned percentage-based mid-contract rises on contracts signed since January 2025, so any rise must be shown in pounds and pence before you sign. And check the broadband underneath is a line you would buy on its own, with enough speed for the household and ideally full fibre rather than part-copper.

The list starts with best value: the deals that cost least over the first year once intro prices, setup fees and gifts are counted. Call plans don't change the order, so check what calls each deal includes. You can also sort by the cheapest monthly price or the fastest speed.