A Cell Socket for Other Phones? 39
edstromp asks: "So I just heard about this neat device that lets you plug your cellphone into your home phone(s): CellSocket by Global Garden Group is one, but it only works on Nokia 5100's and 6100's. I am trying to convince my wife that we don't need a land line anymore (we both have cellphones), and I really think this would be the ticket. When you are home you can drop your cell into the cradle, and then all your home phone's will ring instead of your cell when someone calls your cell phone. Has anyone used one, and does anyone know if there are similar devices for other cellphones?"
Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:5, Informative)
We are planning on going to Cali or Col. for a contract job and just need to pack up our Cisco adapter and plug it in there. It does not care what network your on as long as it gets a dhcp address from somewhere.
Only words of caution that I have is that is done not work well behind a software router. Any of the cheap hardware routers for broadband work fine so far. Hell I have even taken the thing down to florida and used it on a dialup network so I could make free calls for 2 weeks while I was down there.
Anyway, not to sound like a comercial but it is a very cool way to save some money on your phone bill.
www.vonage.com
Enjoy,
Re:Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:3, Interesting)
Thanks for any elaboration you can provide.
Re:Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:3, Informative)
I had a lot of droped calls at first going though a software proxy(ISA). Once I striped it out of the picture everything worked great. I have used it though a linksys, dlink, cisco, and one other little no name brand dsl router I can't remember at a friends house.
We love it, although the only drawback is if your broadband goes down so does your phone. Alas that has not happend in over 8 months of use.
Just to catch a couple of other questions I see coming. It has about a 33k stream from what I can tell and does not mess with anything else on your network. I could tell you the ports but that would just take the fun out of it. You can use a poor man's router set up if you like.
What else...you really can't tell any differnce in this and a land line. Dial tone, call waiting, call blocking, called id...we use it with our normal phone. Any phone that plugs into a wall will work with it. I can't think of anyting else, if you have a question about it post it here I will try to answer it to the best of my knowledge from using the service.
Re:Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:2)
Re:Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:3, Interesting)
It is all pretty slick.
Re:Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:1)
Re:Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:2)
This would have more to do with the way your company network is set up. This is one of those questions that you would find in a certification book with the answer "This questions and answer session does not cover the scoop required to answer this question".
Short answer is if it was my network, no because it would end up being blocked...and you would end up going out a proxy..which would hose it up most of the time.
Just set the thing to forward to your phone at your desk.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:2)
When my DSL was set up I had that as a question, and the ISP said that they specifically set up my service so that would be a non-issue. While I must have wires to the CLEC, I don't have to have any phone service at all. They said that they rig it that way now because they had expected problems where people would kill (or lose) phone service, but blame the ISP for lost connectivity. Since the ISP/CLEC relationship is sometimes shaky at best, they said it saves lots of phone calls. They've had a fair number of customers go all-cellular, or switch local carriers and worry about lost DSL in the interim.
If your DSL company doesn't do it and you're willing to hop, shop around for someone who's willing to do it.
My ISP (Soltec [soltec.net]) is a little more expensive than others, but the service is incredible; they're willing to remotely administer my Speedstream (5861) router*, but also willing to let me take over if I want. The tech who helped set me up is a former student of mine when I taught high-school, so there was no jerking around.
* a cool piece of equipment if ever there was one!
Re:Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:2)
Unfortunatly they do not cover the areacodes I am in (Aparently only two citys in Ohio, nether of which are mine)
I emailed to ask if they had plans to support my areacode soon or not, so hopefully Ill get a good reply from that soon.
Do you know of any other companys that provide this same service?
I would love to use something like this to replace my landline, but needs to have POPs in atleast my areacode heh others for family and friends are just a perk.
Thanks
Re:Why not just go the whole VoIP deal. (Score:1)
cell socket? (Score:1)
Re:cell socket? (Score:1)
Expensive? (Score:1)
Re:Expensive? (Score:2)
Re:Expensive? (Score:2)
Amazon link? (Score:3, Informative)
This thing (Score:1)
I will always have a land line... (Score:2)
1. I will never give out my cell number to a company that wants my phone number in order to provide me with a service or product. I HATE telemarketers.
2. I like the security of having a land line as a backup. They are reliable and cheap. When my mother comes to babysit she knows how to use it.
Re:I will always have a land line... (Score:1)
Re:I will always have a land line... (Score:2)
Same here, this is why my cell phone has been my only phone for the past 4 years. I've had two telemarketers call, both from companies I have services from (Credit card and TV service). Before they even got far into the call, I interrupted them with "Do you know this is a cell phone?" Their response was to apologize and promptly hang up. Telemarketing to cell phones is against the law in the US.
To answer the question of the poster, Vox.Link was another product that worked with the same Nokia phones, plus some Motorola and Ericsson phones. Their website is www.vox2.com, though right now I can't resolve the IP.
Since these devices all seem to be a bit behind modern phones, anyone know if it's possible to have two GSM phones on the same phone number? That way, I can stick the Nokia 5100 into this device, but continue to carry around my small 8200 phone.
Re:I will always have a land line... (Score:2)
Re:I will always have a land line... (Score:2)
Thats somewhat of a pain, but a possibility I suppose.
Re:I will always have a land line... (Score:2)
FYI - don't do net (Score:2)
Re:FYI - don't do net (Score:2)
With analog cellular, on the other hand, you've got two actual analog radio channels dedicated to the conversation, and while noise would be a concern, a modem signal with error correction can squeeze through it.
Re:FYI - don't do net (Score:2)
Useless with this thing because the digital connection can only be made through the base of the unit (where this unit connects).
I have the Andrew Extensis (Score:1)
Hey, I worked on one of these! (Score:2)
You can't use a digital phone for any sort of modem, but otherwise, it should work great. The first generation I worked on was for a motorola Star-Tac type phone. These are pretty complex little devices.
Other way around? (Score:2)
J.
Turn your cell phone into a cordless phone? (Score:2)
You'd set up a base station at home that looks and functions exactly like any portable wireless phone base, and when you are at home, your "cell phone" would just be another extension of your home phone line.
The same Motorola facility also had a way-cool "microcell" attached to the local office PBX, so your cell phone would work just like your desk phone when on the local Motorola campus.