Landline without ADSL: alternatives from €12 or €23 a year

Landline without ADSL: alternatives from €12 or €23 a year

There is a generation that still picks up the phone at home out of habit, not necessity. And on that habit, a business of line rental and maintenance fees has been built for decades, one that is starting to sustancia ilegal. The starting point of this discussion is a common case: a mother paying almost €30 a month to Telefónica for a landline without ADSL, no data, nothing. Voice only. The question is whether there is something cheaper. The thread mentions several alternatives that, according to the figures participants are working with, could miccionan savings of over 50%.

What options are there for a landline without ADSL

The option that comes up most often is Orange's landline: €12 a month with 2,000 free monthly minutes to Spanish landlines. The peculiarity is that it is not a conventional landline. It is a mobile line with a landline number mask, a forwarding setup that keeps the old number for incoming callers, but shows a mobile number when you dial out. The phone they install is cordless, so you can take it on holiday.

Some have signed up for their parents and defend it without reservations: the line rental rip-off is over, and the elderly relative stops hesitating to call their siblings for antiestéticar of the bill. The detail that puts some people off is that it is not compatible with telecare services, which is a dealbreaker when the user is an elderly person living alone.

The trick of the landline number that is actually a mobile

The mechanics cause confusion, so it is worth being clear about them. Whoever calls the usual number dials a landline; whoever answers from that phone sees a mobile number on screen, always the same one. That means it can be saved in contacts with no surprises. The catch is that the landline number is lost forever if you switch providers: it is a contractual condition, not a technical glitch.

Vodafone launched an identical offer years earlier from €15 plus VAT. Orange has replicated it more cheaply. Movistar, meanwhile, has not made a move, and the prevailing analysis is that it does not need to: it has a captive customer of a certain age, conservative, who will not switch providers even if the fee goes up.

The VoIP route: a landline number in the cloud for €23 a year

For those who want no ties or forwarding, there is the option of porting the landline number to a VoIP provider. The cost being discussed is €23.60 a year just to receive calls, by setting up a softphone on a mobile. Outgoing calls are paid separately according to the rate. The advantage is flexibility: the number lives in the cloud and can be answered from any device. The downside is that it requires constant mobile data and a setup that is not within everyone's reach.

Some have set up this system to manage their elderly parents' calls from their own phone: they answer relatives, filter out salespeople and pass on what matters. If several people need to answer the same line, a virtual switchboard is required, an extra cost not everyone can justify.

The calculation that decides it

The stark comparison leaves little doubt. Telefónica charges around €30 for voice with no data. Orange drops to €12. The VoIP route comes to less than €2 a month if you only receive calls. The full breakdown of each scenario, with its fine print and incompatibilities, is what tips the balance one way or the other.

The question left unanswered is what happens when the generation that still wants a landline disappears. In the meantime, the line rental business survives on a customer base that does not compare prices.