Reattaching the Cord

As many of us have cut the cord on traditional wired phone service we end up with several old style extension phones located throughout the house just gathering dust.  As old school as it seems, having a phone close by is a great convenience and unless you keep you mobile phone on your person 24/7, cutting the land line cord can get inconvenient.

Well, you can have your cake and eat it by installing a mobile to wired phone interface in your home or office.  Once you terminate the land line, or if you have two land lines like we did, terminate one wired Bell line, this device allows calls to be placed and received on your mobile phone and mobile number using any wired or hands-free telephone device in your home or office.  When you come home you place your mobile phone near the device and, via a wireless Bluetooth connection, all the wired phones in your house are connected to the mobile phone.  This also provides a good time to plug your phone into the charger to refresh the battery.  The phone can stay charging until you leave the house again at which time you just pick up the phone and go.

There are several options available with devices starting at prices of around $35 up to more than $100.  Most of them work the same way and use a Bluetooth connection and your existing home phone wiring and telephones.  Some can handle up to three mobile numbers all connected to the same home phones.  You can program different rings to identify which mobile phone line is ringing.

I recently installed one in my home and the set up was quick and easy.  The device is about the size of a box of cake mix and is plugged into the wall for power.  The only other plug connects the device with the home phone wiring and uses a traditional telephone cable.  The first time you turn it on you must pair the mobile phone or phones with the device using Bluetooth.  This is done in much the same way you pair Bluetooth hands free devices for your car or home audio system.  This needs to be done only once and takes only a minute or two.

Once connected, all the wired or hands-free home phones work almost the same as they did when they were connected to Ma Bell.  There is even a dial tone.  The only discernible difference is a short delay in connecting after you dial an outgoing number.

This connection allows you to use the free long distance calling that is standard with most mobile plans as well as any other features you might have such as call waiting, conferencing etc.  There is no additional fee or costs for using your mobile phone and mobile number in this fashion.

Here are some links ifyou want more information on where to purchase these devices.