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Connecting Cordless Phones to a Cellular?

Posted by Cliff on 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?"

40 comments

  1. Strange question for you to be asking... by GoRK · · Score: 4, Informative

    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/

  2. Doesn't seem too hard... by erydo · · Score: 1

    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?

  3. bluetooth? by Hes+Nikke · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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. :)

    --
    Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.
    1. Re:bluetooth? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea the bluetooth thing works great!!

  4. Well.. by Cyno01 · · Score: 1

    Cingular has the solution, but i dont know if verizon has anything like it. Its called FastForward. 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.

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
    1. Re:Well.. by jokell82 · · Score: 2, Informative

      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.

      --
      I dunno who it is
      but it prolly is fhqwhgads.
  5. There is a device by nelsonal · · Score: 2, Informative

    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).

    --
    Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
    1. Re:There is a device by Mattcelt · · Score: 2, Informative

      Here's one 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 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... 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 collectively called?

  6. What I'm wondering... by Kusanagi · · Score: 1

    ... is where on Earth can you be 40 miles out of range of cell service, anymore?

    --
    -Major Kusanagi, Section 9
    1. Re:What I'm wondering... by walt-sjc · · Score: 2, Informative

      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 isn't available until about 5 miles out. The NIMBY folks are pretty vocal however. The area is remote enough (and hilly enough) that the fake pine tree towers won't work.

    2. Re:What I'm wondering... by ross_winn · · Score: 1

      Pretty much most of Nevada, Montana, Oregon, & Utah; with some parts of Hawaii, Main, Kentucky & West Virginia also spotty.

      --
      Ross Winn "not just another ugly face..."
    3. Re:What I'm wondering... by NateTech · · Score: 1

      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 West of the Mississippi" we're doing just fine for cellular coverage, thanks.

      --
      +++OK ATH
    4. Re:What I'm wondering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look at any Cell coverage map for any Carrier in the US. New York State alone has HUGE areas of cell dead landscape. Most of it follows the interstate highways or is south of Westchester County...(you know, the county above NYC where 'upstate NY' really begins...)

    5. Re:What I'm wondering... by walt-sjc · · Score: 1

      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. In addition, I found many areas during my travels in California up and down the coast and inland that had no service. Colorado must be special.

    6. Re:What I'm wondering... by NateTech · · Score: 1

      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 gaps in AT&T's coverage on Interstate highways throughout North America on anything *but* their GSM map. There are huge holes on I-80 through Wyoming and Nebraska, for certain and holes in the Colorado mountains on I-70.

      However, their TDMA map shows full coverage on all of the western states I looked at just now.

      Proof-positive that AT&T is going to have problems for a long time to come getting their TDMA network fully migrated to GSM. It's gonna be a while.

      Perhaps your phone was not roaming to/from analog correctly and also being GSM was on AT&T's worst network at the current time, and blocked from traditional analog roaming?

      AT&T's in the process of transitioning from TDMA to GSM and they're spending a lot of money to do it, but it won't be fully completed in rural areas for a number of years.

      I have a Verizon 3G CDMA phone with analog fallback and I can definitely say that on a trip from Denver, Colorado to Las Vegas, NV - I had zero coverage loss other than in the canyons right at the Nevada border on I-15, and even those were brief.

      In two other locations I dropped out of digital coverage and into analog, but even in the rolling hills of Eastern Utah I had 1X CDMA coverage. (How I know is that I left the laptop logged in via their Quick2Net 14.4 service for most of the trip. I had a lot of extra minutes I could use that month and I was finding it funny that people were sending me instant messages while I was driving at *ahem* high rates of speed. No, I wasn't answering them.) As a side-note to one of your comments, I was *not* using an external antenna of any kind on this phone, but it was hanging from the passenger-side sun visor.

      I'd say something was wrong with your phone's configuration if it couldn't find analog service on Interstates in Utah, Wyoming, Nevada and Nebraska. I can't speak for the coverage in South Dakota and it's been ten years since I drove to Iowa.

      But to answer your point... yep, Colorado *is* special! (GRIN)

      --
      +++OK ATH
    7. Re:What I'm wondering... by walt-sjc · · Score: 1

      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 experience that they show areas they claim has service that do NOT have service.

      It's not that there is no service in those states, but the fact that there are significant lengths of interstate (longest was in the 30 mile range) that have no service. The wide-open areas were pretty good (line of sight issues) but the hilly areas teneded to be more problematic.

    8. Re:What I'm wondering... by NateTech · · Score: 1

      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 on Interstate highways in the states listed above.

      When you get out in the open prairie of eastern Colorado for example, you can SEE the cell sites every few miles, being that 900 MHz and up are "line-of-sight" frequencies for RF, this makes sense. So if you can visually see a cell tower and your phone has no service at that location -- you need to switch carriers.

      --
      +++OK ATH
  7. Other option by pbox · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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...

    --
    Code poet, espresso fiend, starter upper.
    1. Re:Other option by ByteHog · · Score: 1

      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?

      --
      - This isn't the sig you're looking for. Move along, move along..
  8. Forward your cell to your telephone number by jhoger · · Score: 1

    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...

    1. Re:Forward your cell to your telephone number by CMiYC · · Score: 1

      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...

    2. Re:Forward your cell to your telephone number by nacturation · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
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    3. Re:Forward your cell to your telephone number by josh3736 · · Score: 1
      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.

    4. Re:Forward your cell to your telephone number by jhoger · · Score: 1

      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.

      Anyone know who sells cell phone pci cards, or external USB PCI cards?

      Alternatively I guess you could just rig up your cell phone to a good soundcard, and connect to control the device via the serial port. Depending on the API to the phone, you should be able to get commands to the phone to dial, detect when someone is calling and send a command to answer it.

      Not rocket science... someone must have done this already.

  9. several options by anton[1452] · · Score: 2, Informative

    These people have several solutions. Check out the Telular base station or the in-building repeaters.

  10. Repeater by jakev383 · · Score: 1

    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

  11. Buy another antenna - passive repeater by stienman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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

  12. I'm sure this is all you need... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure one of these handy "Cell Phone Boosters" is all you need! ;-)

  13. Maybe of no use but... by digitalchinky · · Score: 1

    I'm posted to the Philippines at the moment, had a non-profit org from a place called Tanay (in a mountainous region) ask for a mobile phone solution - I hand built a discone, since nobody here even knows what an antenna is! :-) and stuck it up on their water tank, worked no problems at all when connected directly to their phones.

    They wanted to be able to move around their compound, minus the coaxial cable, so I searched google for something off the shelf (gsm marginal coverage external antenna, repeater - stuff like that) - devices do exist, essentially like those battery powered antennas you stick on your car window, the ones that don't actually do anything more useful than nothing at all.

    I got lucky, GLOBE and SMART installed a bunch of new cell sites, so I never had to persue it.

    For a while now they've been selling mobile phones that work in essence, like two-way radio. I believe they use the same part of the spectrum as GSM (900 MHz) - I don't any more than that though.

  14. Any Cell Phones That Connect To Computers? by eugene+ts+wong · · Score: 1

    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.

    --
    testing out my trending skills
    1. Re:Any Cell Phones That Connect To Computers? by Mattcelt · · Score: 2, Informative

      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 has some relatively inexpensive BT/USB adapters. I use this myself for communicating between the phone and the PC.

      So you may already have the capability you're looking for without spending the extra on the cradle.

      Hope that helps!

      Mattcelt

    2. Re:Any Cell Phones That Connect To Computers? by eugene+ts+wong · · Score: 1
      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. 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 try them, especially since it seemed so easy to use, but this seemed cheaper & more likely to work.
      --
      testing out my trending skills
  15. Oops. by eugene+ts+wong · · Score: 1

    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?

    --
    testing out my trending skills
  16. Dockntalk by psyconaut · · Score: 1

    http://cellantenna.com/Dockingstations/dockntalk.h tm

    1. Re:Dockntalk by omega9 · · Score: 1

      Dock N Talk

      --
      I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it.
  17. stuff by XO · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    --
    "Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
    1. Re:stuff by LiterateWriter · · Score: 1

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

  18. Telular by peu · · Score: 1

    this is what you need: http://www.telular.com/

    --

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