Cell phone only, no land line question

[KeithP]

I have used a cell phone without a landline for awhile now. One problem that I am still working on is convenient access while I am at home.

To make sure I don't miss calls, I have to make sure the ringer is on and carry the cell phone from room to room so I can hear it and have it accessible. Not the ideal situation especially since when I leave the house I almost always have it set to silent.

Has anyone used this Panasonic Bluetooth cordless phone system?
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-KX-T.../dp/B0073W729K

The reviews on Amazon seem reasonable. I would be using it with a HTC DNA.

-KeithP

 

[Ashenor]

Ever think about just getting Magic Jack service or something at home?

I had it for awhile when my parents would come down so they had a landline to use, super cheap and actually decent to use.

Never heard anyone using that phone or anything like it though.

 

[compman25]

I use it and it works fine with SG3 and iphones. This is in a 2 story house and I have handsets upstairs and downstairs. I just leave my cellphone next to the base station when I'm home.

 

[Dulanic]

OBi110 for a backup at all times. I do this myself. Cell Service is never 100%... a tower near me has been flaky for a week and I miss calls all the time right now.

http://www.amazon.com/OBi110-Service...eywords=OBi110

 

[RockinZ28]

Damn another one of those tech goodies I didn't know existed lol.

Definitely need this. I'm on call 24/7, and often leave my work cellphone by the bed or whatever when I'm downstairs, have missed a few important calls.

 

[railer]

What's the difference between the OBi110, OOma, and magic jack?

I think we'll be ditching our landline phone service here in a few months as well, but as the OP states, the convenience of having multiple phones throughout the house is going to be the biggest PITA in doing so.

 

[Dulanic]

What's the difference between the OBi110, OOma, and magic jack?

I think we'll be ditching our landline phone service here in a few months as well, but as the OP states, the convenience of having multiple phones throughout the house is going to be the biggest PITA in doing so.

OBi110 runs off google voice. So if you use GV it is even better. My home phone rings and my cell phone all ring together. No monthly fee rocks. I think OOma has no monthly fee but charges taxes? And Magic jack is a joke... rip off for shitty service.

 

[KeithP]

In the interest of keeping the OP brief I left out some info.

I use Google Voice on my phone, it is the number I give people. I have tried MagicJack, an OBi box and VOIP from two different ISPs for use with my home cordless phone system. I have been experimenting for awhile, all of these solutions work most of the time but I experienced enough problems with them that I am looking for something else. Keep in mind these problems have occurred with different hardware, in two different cities (Huntington Beach first, now living in Sacramento area) and 3 different ISPs (Verizon FIOS in HB, Surewest and Comcast in Sacramento).

For instance, with the OBi device (currently using it) it sometimes refuses to ring and if I had the Google Talk plug-in running on my computer I couldn't make calls reliably from it. From my research on the OBi, it seems the best solution is to get a SIP number, and get that set up on the OBi and have GV point to that (a possibility).

I have talked to some people that have no problems with GV and others that have experiences closer to mine, it seems GV doesn't always work reliably with VOIP unless the service in question uses SIP. As I understand it, Ooma is a SIP system with "custom extensions" so it might be a solution.

Frys carries the Ooma and generally has good return policies so I might give that a shot before the Panasonic system.

-KeithP

 

[compman25]

The Panasonic system I use will also allow for more than 1 cell phone to be tied to it at a time if that matters. I can set different ring tones for the different lines so my wife and I know who the call is for before answering.

 

[AlexAL]

Now that I've managed to go without a hard line it turns out that ADT security (for the house) requires a hard line otherwise the house system will not connected with their HQ. Is there a way to not have a hard line and have ADT? If not, what is the cheapest, featureless hard line phone service that I can purchase?

 

[compman25]

Now that I've managed to go without a hard line it turns out that ADT security (for the house) requires a hard line otherwise the house system will not connected with their HQ. Is there a way to not have a hard line and have ADT? If not, what is the cheapest, featureless hard line phone service that I can purchase?

Maybe dump ADT for SimpliSafe

 

[AlexAL]

Maybe dump ADT for SimpliSafe

Looks good. Wish I had known earlier.

 

[corkyg]

ADT can now provide that link to a wireless system. Check out ADT Pulse Select.

 

[AlexAL]

ADT can now provide that link to a wireless system. BTW, ADT has now been acquired by Tyco.

Thank you. I had a representative come over yesterday, and he did not mention this. I also ran across http://info.nextalarm.com/, who will monitor an existing alarm system via broadband.

I feel like I've derailed this thread now, but now I know two useful new things.