Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2014/06/05/londoners_urged_to_cut_landlines_and_take_up_wireless_broadband/

Londoners urged to cut landlines and take up wireless broadband

Pfft! Copper is SO last century, says Honkers-backed Relish

By Kelly Fiveash

Posted in Networks, 5th June 2014 10:28 GMT

A wireless broadband provider is punting a landline-free package to Londoners living in the heart of the city.

UK Broadband, which is owned by Hong Kong's telco PCCW Group, has grown a new tentacle in Blighty's capital to offer what it described as "fibre-fast speeds without any hassle".

The new company, Relish, is able to spurn BT's copper wiring - which the one-time state monopoly wholesales to other broadband providers such as BSkyB and TalkTalk - because its networks run over LTE 4G and Wi-Fi. It is selling the new service to central London-based consumers and businesses in a move to apparently "disrupt" the market.

Consumers who are in Relish's relatively limited range can expect to pony up £20 per month for the service. If they lock themselves in to a 12-month contract, then customers get the hardware kit for free, otherwise there's an added £50 price tag.

Beardy, tech pretenders in Old Street (read: marketing folk based around the Sillycon Roundabout) might feel a little bit peeved, however. Relish has not gifted that part of London with access to its "no hassle" network. The firm's availability checker told us that EC1Y 1BE was "out of range". Quite. ®