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Communications Technology

Connecting Cordless Phones to a Cellular? 40

Posted by Cliff from the communications-in-BFE dept.
dmallery asks: "I live about 40 miles from the nearest Verizon cell. Last week, I put a 13db Yagi antenna about 18' up and voila: a reliable connection! The problem, of course, is that the phone has to be connected to the antenna to be usable. I have two wire lines that I'd love to get rid of, but you can barely hear the cell phone ring! Is there a way I can 'patch' from the digital phone to my cordless phones? There used to be something like that, but it was only for analog phones. Has anyone had this problem?"
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Connecting Cordless Phones to a Cellular? More

Connecting Cordless Phones to a Cellular?

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  • Strange question for you to be asking... (Score:5, Informative)

    by GoRK ( 10018 ) on Saturday June 26, 2004 @12:32AM (#9535105) Homepage Journal
    This is a strange question for you to be asking given that you were obviously resourceful enough to discover and find a place to sell you an appropriate yagi antenna comaptible with your phone and cellular frequencies and resourceful enough to install it. What's more these types of devices are almost always sold by the same people that carry fixed mount high gain cellular antennas, so I find it very hard to believe that you had trouble finding one.

    Anyway, since you didn't specify what phone you need it to work with, I don't know if either of these will work for you or not but try these easily-found-on-google solutions:

    http://store.voxilla.com/customer/product.php?pr od uctid=16136

    http://cellsocket.com/

  • I'm sure there's some sort of tranceiver available that could plug into an antenna and translate between a cell service and POTS (plain old telephone service)...if you wanted to rid yourself completely of the land line, you'd probably need a cheap ISDN capable router to set up the phone system within the house. What you're doing sounds feasible, you're just looking for the tranceiver...have you tried Googling yet?

  • bluetooth? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Hes Nikke ( 237581 ) on Saturday June 26, 2004 @01:04AM (#9535203) Journal
    Can't you use some bluetooth headset? My phone (Sony-Ericcson T616) only has problems talking to my computer when I'm in the garage, and the computer at the other end of the house. So maybe a bluetooth headset will do the trick? Just keep the phone in a central location. :)
  • Cingular has the solution, but i dont know if verizon has anything like it. Its called FastForward [cingular.com]. Basically, you plug your cell phone into this and it into your landline, if your cell rings, all your home phones ring, and you can talk throught them over the cell service. I dont know if any providers or third parties offer anything similar though.

    • Re:Well.. (Score:3, Informative)

      by jokell82 ( 536447 )
      Actually, that merely forwards your calls to the POTS phones (you have to register the number) while the cell is in the device. So he'd have to keep his current POTS service which he's trying to get rid of.

  • There is a device (Score:2, Informative)

    by nelsonal ( 549144 )
    It's a cradle for your cell that either powers your land lines, or has it's own cordless handsets, allowing multiple connections and strategicly placed ringers. I'll get the name for you on Monday (it's in at the office). Quality was no worse than POTS (on a conference call).

    • Re:There is a device (Score:3, Informative)

      by Mattcelt ( 454751 )
      Here's one [eagleid.com] that does what you're talking about. I've seen several others, but the lack of a 'buzz-word' category for them makes them hard to google...

      These [telular.com] are a little more specific (and hence a little more pricey, I'd imagine, but may fit the bill as well.

      Ahhh, here we are! I found the one I was looking for [infosonics.com]... I think this is the one I stumbled acros awhile ago. It doesn't have a bluetooth option like the Dock-n-talk above, though, which might come in handy...

      Anyone know what these devices are coll
      • Hi.

        Thanks for sharing the links. It just happens that right now we are looking for something like those to replace a landline. Unfortunately, we need to be able to connect to the cell phone line to a modem to connect to a regular desktop PC.

        Do you know off the top of your head if this is easily done? I did a Google search for "cell phone modem", without quotes, but didn't find anything. If you don't know off the top of your head, then don't waste time on it.
        • I'm not sure - I've been looking at the devices myself, but haven't actually bought or tested one yet.

          There may be another alternative for you, though... Many cell phones actually have data and fax capability built in - I know my S/E T68i does. There are two ways to use it, IIRC; one is to connect through the data cable, the other is to connect using bluetooth. I prefer the bluetooth option myself. Since most PCs don't yet have BT connections, Belkin Components [belkin.com] has some relatively inexpensive BT/USB ad

          • connect through the data cable

            Interesting. I'm surprised that I never really gave it enough thought to clue into that.

            I did a google search for a data cable for the Nokia 5190, & basically came up with the DAU-9P [nokiausa.com]. It's too bad that they don't have Linux software for that. However, I'm not going to worry about that, because we're using this strictly to connect to our customer's computers for tech support.

            Hope that helps!

            Oh, it definitely did help. Thanks.

            As for the bluetooth suggestions, I wanted to tr

      • I forgot to mention that I looked through the pages that you linked to, but 1 of them said that it doesn't work with modems. The others didn't say anything about modems. Maybe I'm missing the point.

        Maybe all we'd need to do is connect the modem to 1 of the devices, then insert the phone, & then dial out as normal?
  • ... is where on Earth can you be 40 miles out of range of cell service, anymore?
    • Um, the US? Seriously, if you are in a sparse state (most of the states west of the Mississippi, Maine, etc.) cell service is quite spotty especailly in smaller communities where people can't see a Walmart from their doorstep (yes I know, hard to believe, but Walmart isn't everywhere yet...)

      My parents are in remote northern Wisconsin, and have been debating (with the local homeowners association) on allowing a cell tower in the area (a 30,000 acre private community encompassing several lakes.) Cell service
      • There's very few areas that are NOT covered in Colorado by analog service.

        The trick is knowing which carriers have analog licenses (hint: there are only two in every major market) and in buying a phone that does decent analog mode as well as whatever that carrier's digital mode-du-jour is without killing the standard tiny batteries that most newer and supposedly more-desirable phones have these days.

        Sorry if the doofuses in Wisconsin can't get their act together, but out here in one of the "sparse states
        • Last year, I drove accross the country on I80 & I90 from CA to ME. I had an analog / digital phone (AT&T service with no roaming, no long-distance charges plan) with a car installation kit (external antenna.) I can tell you from first hand experience that there is no cell service at all in many, many remote areas even along the interstate highways (which are covered better than most.) Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, Nebraska, and Iowa were all states that had significant areas with no service.
          • Was your phone set to roam both the A-side and B-side analog networks? Most carriers don't set up their phones that way, but you can change it yourself. (Disclaimer: Roaming charges will eat you alive, but we're talking about coverage, not charges.)

            You mention that you had a "no roaming" plan... that would definitely be a problem in the Western States where some rural areas are still serviced by what are almost small "mom and pop" cellular carriers on the analog bands.

            Taking a look here, I don't see any
            • I've had cell service since way back in the early bag-phone days. I know very well the A/B analog setup. Trust me, my phone was setup for both A and B analog.

              The Mom & Pop shops would still cause my phone to show service even if I can't make or receive calls due to contract issues. I've run into this before.

              Frankly, I don't give a darn about what the maps show - I care about what WORKS in real life which is all that's important. I've looked at those same maps and I can tell you from personal experienc
              • Yes and all I'm saying about the maps is that in my experience in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah, and Nevada is that they're accurate on my provider's network (Verizon). So the problem must lie with either your provider (AT&T) or your phone.

                Since I have to take your word for it that your phone works correctly (just because it's set in the right mode doesn't mean it ACTUALLY roams properly -- I've seen it in a test lab) then I'd say that AT&T's network sucks if they can't provide full-coverage o
    • Pretty much most of Nevada, Montana, Oregon, & Utah; with some parts of Hawaii, Main, Kentucky & West Virginia also spotty.

  • Other option (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pbox ( 146337 ) on Saturday June 26, 2004 @01:33AM (#9535306) Homepage Journal
    I think there might be another option. You could just use a repeater for cell bands, this way you could create your own little verizon cell...

    On the other hand it might be that those devices are prescribed...
    • What would happen if you ran the Yagi directly into a small Omni antenna? would that act as a passive repeater with a strong enough signal in the house?
  • When I'm in my house I regularly have my cell phone forwarded to my telephone. In fact once you do that you can turn the cell phone off since the call is routed completely by the cell phone company.

    That gives you a phone number that always works... my cell phone is pretty spotty inside my house.

    I suppose some cell phone services might not offer the feature but Cingular does in Southern California at least...
    • From the original question: "I have two wire lines that I'd love to get rid of"

      I believe he wants to get rid of the wire lines all together. Forwarding the cell phone to the wire lines wouldn't accomplish this...
      • I believe he wants to get rid of the wire lines all together. Forwarding the cell phone to the wire lines wouldn't accomplish this...

        Of course, he could always get a second cheap cell phone and then forward the calls from one to the other. That way, all he needs to do is plug the second cell into... oh wait, never mind.
    • I regularly have my cell phone forwarded to my telephone. In fact once you do that you can turn the cell phone off since the call is routed completely by the cell phone company.

      Except that costs $.15/min regardless of how many of your plan minutes you have used, whether or not you are off-peak, etc.

      That could make for a very unpleasant suprise in your bill.

      • Unfortunately this is the only real solution I could find.

        What he is really asking for is a call bridge. A device like Talkswitch 24 can do this, but it can only use cell phone as a remote extension not as one of the incoming lines. I don't think there's a widget like that.

        Now then, I can imagine someone building such a thing. Take asterix, then you need to find some PCI card which implements the same protocol as the cell phone network you are on. You need another card to connect to your analog phone line

  • several options (Score:2, Informative)

    by anton[1452] ( 188538 )
    These people [cellantenna.com] have several solutions. Check out the Telular base station or the in-building repeaters.
  • We had a problem in our RF shielded building (shielded for data purposes). We chose to put in a cell phone antenna repeater. They can get a little expensive, but the model 150 worked great for us in a 6400 square foot building. http://cellantenna.com

  • Buy another antenna - passive repeater (Score:4, Interesting)

    by stienman ( 51024 ) <adavis&ubasics,com> on Saturday June 26, 2004 @09:54AM (#9536700) Homepage Journal
    Buy another antenna, but this time it should be omnidirectional. The yagi is already positioned, so just attach the omni to the other end of the cable.

    Tada! Instant passive repeater. Now you can keep the phone with you and wireless. The signal strength won't be as good as a direct connection to the yagi, but it should still work well.

    -Adam
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • http://cellantenna.com/Dockingstations/dockntalk.h tm

  • stuff (Score:3, Insightful)

    by XO ( 250276 ) <blade.ericNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Saturday June 26, 2004 @07:25PM (#9539748) Homepage Journal
    You use slashdot. This means you are a geek and/or nerd. This means you have a "high-speed" internet connection. Go get some Vonage love.

    • Speaking of Vonage, I was wondering if anyone has tried Lingo [lingo.com]? If so, any comments or differences in actual telephony quality would be much appreciated.

  • Telular (Score:1)

    by peu ( 163472 )
    this is what you need: http://www.telular.com/

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