Let’s take you back a few years, to the year 2000 to be precise.

Mobile phones were really starting to take off but the services you could get on them were basic - texting was only introduced on the island for the first time that year.

Broadband was in its infancy and it was not uncommon to phone a friend in the evening - on a landline of course - and find their line engaged for hours because someone else in the household was on the internet.

It seems unthinkable now that this was less than 20 years ago.

Then along came ADSL broadband, which was still internet access via your home telephone line but which basically ’split’ the line so that you could make calls and go online at the same time.

Broadband was set to revolutionise not only the way we accessed the internet but also how we access media - how we watch films and TV programmes, how we get our news. Upgrading the island’s network to provide ’superfast’ broadband to 93% of premises was intended to facilitate this even further

According to the Isle of Man Communications Commission: ’Many of us now consider broadband to be a necessity and no longer a luxury.’

And, in a world where we have so many more options for communicating, how are things changing for the traditional home telephone and should broadband tariffs be changing with it?

The Communications Commission’s report, Telecommunications Market Statistics - Q1 2017, tells us: ’Consumer habits around how we use voice services, such as the fixed line (landlines) have changed dramatically in recent years.

’Across the world there is a tendency for consumers and business to move away from using fixed landlines for voice calls, towards mobile phone or internet use.’

Even the line itself is under threat as new services mean that customers now have the alternative of a 4G home router which basically offers mobile broadband.

Sarah Jarvis, marketing and PR manager for telecoms provider, Sure, said: ’We now offer home broadband without the need for a landline: something our customers have long asked us for.

’Via our 4G+ network, you can have broadband at home, saving you money and freeing you from expensive charges or services such as a landline that you do not want or need.’

Manx Telecom also offers internet access via a 4G router with a pay monthly and pay as you go options. The router is free with some pay monthly tariffs. Customers who want a 4G router on pay as you go can buy the router and use it with a pay as you go SIM, with data allowances for usage.

Kevin Paige, chief information and technology officer at Manx Telecom, told us: ’We recognise that customers’ needs are changing as mobile and fixed line broadband technology evolves and opens up new possibilities due to increased bandwidth, and faster upload and download speeds.

’With 99% population coverage and the fastest mobile broadband speeds available on the island, customers have the freedom to use a Manx Telecom 4G router if they want to use our mobile network as their primary or only source of broadband.’

However, he goes on to caution that 4G may not give customers the same broadband speeds as fixed line if customers are using a number of devices in their homes at the same time.

He said: ’Even though our 4G network provides excellent coverage and speeds - in fact, better than providers in many UK cities according to an independent Which?/OpenSignal survey published earlier this year - some customers want the very fastest available broadband speeds and bandwidth, and that means fixed line broadband.

’Many customers still see a fixed line phone as a vitally important service in case of emergency and, from a broadband perspective, may wish to use many devices at the same time (TVs, tablets and phones), in which case fixed broadband would be the better choice.’

So you can now decide whether to have cheaper broadband via 4G or better quality broadband via a fixed line.

But here’s the rub.

The issue no one is addressing at the moment is this: if you already pay a monthly fee for a mobile phone contract and you also pay a monthly subscription - which covers your data allowance and speed - for your fixed line broadband, should you really still have to pay a line rental as well?

Is there any reason why contract mobile customers can’t have fixed line broadband without paying for a landline they will never use? Let us know what you think.