Sorry for the thick questions but -

If I switch to VOIP am I right in assuming I can cancel my BT line rental?

If so - does this affect my Sky?

You can, but you'll not get any broadband / sky talk service.



no.. just you can't get sky talk or sky broadband and well your telly wouldn't be impacted as it's a satelite.

VoIP is carried over Broadband, which is a service that runs on a phone line, so an active phone line is required to receive it. So if you want VoIP you need broadband and if you want Broadband you need a phone line.

Suppose it depends on what you need. BT are doing line rental free calls for £10.50 a month.

Thanks for the reply.

I suppose if I'm stuck with line rental from BT anyway then I may as well get the free calls.

no worries.

there's lots of people trying different flavours of VoIP, there are a lot of start ups offering cheap or free calls. just cause you have to have a bt line doesn't mean you can't try it out.

suppose at the end of the day, it's about ease of use. if you don't have to bother about set up etc then the landline is less hassle.

in saying that.. nothing like experimenting though.

With cable broadband you don't require a landline, this was the set-up I had for over 2.5 years.

With ADSL broadband you require a landline,

Currently in the UK you can't have ADSL broadband without having a working phone line & thus phone rental (OK BT do offer an option for business but you pay for the privilage). The only ADSL providor who is swallowing the cost of BT line rental is tiscali which would be the nearest thing you could get to what you need (albeit with a landline there as backup but effectively no line rental charge) apart from cable broadband which obviously does not require an active BT phone line.