Sorry, I wasn’t sure how to word the title so it’d make sense. But what I want to do is simple enough in concept.
I find it pretty uncomfortable to have long phone conversations holding my smartphone (HTC Thunderbolt) up to my ear. Speakerphone isn’t a good option for me because it isn’t very loud so if there is much background noise it’s a no-go. I’d like to hook up my cell phone to my old, landline, desk phone so I can use its receiver to talk/listen through.
I don’t need it to be so fancy that the touch-tone buttons on the desk phone are usuable… in fact, I don’t need the phone itself at all. Just the receiver.
Some months ago I spent a lot of time poking around online looking for a solution but I never found one that was satisfactory. I don’t remember what I came up with then–it seems there were some external “black-box” devices that you placed your cell phone into and then plugged that device into a phone jack, making your cell and all your house phones on one network.
But it was more than I wanted to pay ($150 or so IIRC) because I don’t need such a “complete solution”. I always hoped I could rig something myself for a lot less money that simply attached the landline phone (or just the receiver) to the hands-free device jack on my cell (or something kinda like that.)
Help! does anyone have any idea how I can use a real, good ol’ fashioned, landline phone receiver with my cell phone?
Perhaps what you want is this bluetooth handset. At the time of this writing, it’s on sale for $25, which isn’t a bad price for a bluetooth headset. The other choice is a regular bluetooth handsfree headset.
I know people look like idiots walking around the supermarket mumbling to themselves while blue flashes come out of their ear, but the handsfree factor can be very convenient around the house.
Actually the worst thing about those using bluetooth headsets in public is when you get the impression that they are talking to you. You start to carry on a conversation with them and then suddenly realize they have one of those earpieces and are talking on the phone. It always makes me feel like a complete moron :smack:
I think it will cost money, but you can sign up for Google Voice, and then you can set that up so it rings your cell phone and maybe it can ring your house phone, too? And then just answer the home phone if you’re there…
But, a caveat, that will only work when people call the Google Voice number, which will be a new phone number, it can’t be the same number as your home phone or your cell (unless you have Sprint, which has integration with Google Voice…but the Thunderbolt is Verizon, so…)
That’s right. I use it that way and it works great. You can have it ring as many numbers as you want, and it’ll pipe the call through whichever one you pick up. There’s also a common voicemail box.
As you say, the downside is that it’s a new number. On the other hand, that’s a one-time change; if you get a new cell/landline number in the future, your GV number can stay the same.
It doesn’t cost anything; or at least it doesn’t for me (possibly I got grandfathered into something). Though you can use it to make international calls, and that does cost.
I’m not sure if this fits your definition of “a lot less money”, or if a DECT cordless phone would meet your criteria, but there’s always something like this. It does indeed even let you keep using the touchtone buttons.
Thanks for all the suggestions. The Bluetooth handset mentioned by echoreply comes closest to what I want to do. Which is a bit ironic because that item is meant mostly as a gag–i.e. to get some giggles when folks look at you oddly as you walk down the street using it. But I would only use it at home (where no one is looking) just because it’s more comfortable for me.
I’m not very interested in a hands-free device… call me crazy, but I want something I can hold on to. Something like a phone receiver! (preferably the one on my landline phone).
golmund’s suggestion would be great for some, but for me those phones aren’t much better to hold than a cellphone. And I appreciate the heads-up about Google Voice but I don’t want to have a new number (the one I have is great!), I don’t want the possible signal lass/delay, and in any event, I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to go to such a work-around.
See, I naively assumed that there would be some simple way to run a line out of my cell phone (via either the 1/8" phone jack or USB), connect it to some sort of adapter (which would probably have some sort of D/A converter involved), and then run a standard analog telephone cord from the adapter to my standard desk phone. Anyone know if such an adapter exists?
Bonus hypothetical question!!! (Just to make this thread a little bit more Dopish, and a little less “all about me”):
If I had a fully stocked electronics shop and a master electronics whiz at my disposal–how hard/expensive would it be to make a device like that? How would it be done (basically speaking)?
We dropped our landline a while ago and ported our number to anther line on my cellphone contract. But, like you, my wife dislikes using her cellphone most of the time. So I bought an XLink Bluetooth bridge that takes a Bluetooth connection from the third cellphone, and has a wired connection to any other landline phone, in our case a cordless phone. We just leave the cellphone plugged in right next to the BT receiver so it gets a good signal.
It works ok, except for a couple nitpicks - if the power goes out, it doesn’t automatically reconnect, so you have to manually connect from your cellphone; and when you pick up, there’s about a 1.5 second delay before the BT connections made, during which you cannot be heard by the caller. Works fine for outbound calls, but you do have to hold down keys when using a phone menu system, to get the tones to register. But it may be alright for you.
Cost zero. Set up up your land line as 3 way calling, answer it, and hang up the cell. Also when you are home, set the cell phone to forward to the land line.