Why would a phone company alow you to have DSL without a land line phone.?

Question

Why would a phone company alow you to have DSL without a land line phone.?

Answer 1

The simple answer is, because they can make money from it.

It isn't necessarily the most cost effective method for the customer though.  Service companies usually "bundle" their services which cost less per item.  By ordering only DSL, you are more or less ordering "a la carte" and it costs more proportionally than if you had DSL and phone service from the same company.

However, with the advent of VoIP services, DSL or cable is needed to be able to use VoIP as the phone line.  One can "turn off" the phone line and keep the DSL service when they switch to the VoIP service, and is a common occurance.

VoIP services are often less expensive than traditional landline service because the VoIP company does not have the expense of copper wires all across town and countryside.

Answer 2

It's all about law, and money.

Law:

Telcos, by law, now have to allow CLEC's (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) to provide telephone service using the ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers) facilities.

So, now think about it.  If the ILEC's (Bell, AT&T, etc) have to allow a small time competitor to supply telephone service to you, then they have now lost a telephone customer to the competition (usually because of lower prices).

Money:

At least by offering to sell you only DSL service, they (the ILEC) will still have a chance to make money off of you by offering you "unbundled DSL" service.

So now, even if you only use VoIP as your phone service, but use their DSL Internet service to access your VoIP, they will still make some money on you using DSL, which is required to access your VoIP service.

In the end, it's always about money.... except when the law requires otherwise...