broadband without phone line

[mandimoo]

currently we pay sky 7.50 for u/limited broadband when taken with line rental (c/w free eve & wkend calls) at 12.25.

thing is, 3 months ago we were having work done on the house and unplugged the phone. to this day we have not missed the phone and want to save the 12.25 line rental.

sky wont let me have broadband at all without line rental, effectively meaning we are paying 19.75 for unlimited broadband.

the only real options i see without line rental are those dongle things, which i have never used, but doubt their reliability and speed.

are the dongles a real contender in terms of reliability & speed?

[boxtops]

Not in my experience - we have them for work, and it's quite patchy.

[Mosaic]

When NTL were around I chose them because their broadband came via a separate fibroptic cable and this was all part of the deal. I still have this although it's gone to virginmedia. Personally I would do without the BT phone but OH likes it, so it stays put.

[WyeDyed]

It depends where you are. I have used a '3' and a Vodafone dongle. The '3' one is reasonable as it can live stream video and download at a reasonable rate. Vodafone is only good for checking e-mails and surfing on low content pages in my experience.
The only downside with '3' is that the pay as you go option is a 30 day, use it or lose it deal. £10.00 for one gig, £15.00 for three gig.
As I said, you need to check the signal strength for your particular area.

[ChuckFickens]

There is no such thing as naked ADSL (ADSL without a phone contract) in the UK, it's not allowed (sadly)... I haven't had a phone plugged into my phone line for 4 years even though I need to have a working phone line for my ADSL.

IMO dongles are not a suitable replacement for a "proper" broadband connection unless you have a really strong 3G signal where you live and are a very light user.

[mandimoo]

Thanks all, I guess I will stick as I am then.