Why did broadband used to require a phone line?
Standard ADSL and FTTC broadband were technically delivered over the same copper telephone infrastructure as landline calls. Even if you never made a landline call, you needed that wire active and you needed to pay line rental to keep it so.
Full fibre (FTTP): the cleanest solution
Full fibre broadband uses entirely separate fibre optic infrastructure with no connection to the traditional telephone network. There is no line rental, no phone line requirement, and no legacy copper involved.
SoGEA: if full fibre has not reached you yet
SoGEA uses the existing FTTC cabinet-based infrastructure but removes the requirement for a separate phone line. You get standard FTTC speeds up to 80Mbps without the line rental overhead.
Cable broadband (Virgin Media)
Virgin Medias cable network is entirely separate from BTs copper telephone infrastructure and has never required a traditional phone line. It delivers fast speeds up to 1Gbps in many areas.
5G home broadband
Delivered over the mobile network via a dedicated home router. No cable or phone line of any kind. Simple to set up, portable if you move, and increasingly fast where strong 5G coverage exists.
