Marry your home and cell phones with Xlink

(Credit: Xtreme Technology)

A few years ago, I bought a fancy home phone so I could set it to forward calls to my cell. Not long after, I found a better and cheaper solution by ditching the landline completely.

I am not alone. According to Nielsen, 17 percent of U.S. households--some 20 million homes--are without a wired telephone, instead relying solely on mobile phones.

This brings up a question of what we should do with that fancy home phone. I do miss the comfort of using the big handset rather than fumbling on the tiny, onscreen keyboard of my iPhone.

Xtreme Technology has an answer. It recently announced two new Xlink Bluetooth gateways, the Xlink BT and the Xlink BTTN, that allow you to use your regular telephone to handle your cell phone service.

Both gateways let you take cell calls on your landline phone and support up to three Bluetooth-enabled mobile handsets. The new XLink BT, however, is for those without a landline service, like me, while the XLink BTTN lets you take your landline calls on your mobile phone and vice-versa.

I don't care much for the Xlink BTTN but the Xlink BT would definitely do, at least by letting my cell charge while I can still talk. And when I get mad, I wouldn't risk smashing my beloved headset on the ground.

The new Xlink BT and BTTN cost $80 and $110, respectively. They also come with optional unlimited long distance calling for $25 a month, which is expensive compared with other options out there. I would recommend having long-distance calling incorporated on your cell phone plan.

[chrisrobey77]

I'm a big fan of the "GE Cell Fusion Cell Manager DECT 6.0 Phone System" It also work with and without a landline. It comes with two handsets and marries to two bluetooth cell phones. I was able to grab one on sale at circuit city for less than 70 bucks but it doesn't have the fancy call forwarding.

[dilchien]

After doing a lot of research, I bought an Xlink device about a year ago. It's pretty good once you get used to it (by changing your habit). The smart thing to do is to put the Xlink right at your doorway entrance and remember to take out your cell phone and put it there EVERY TIME you enter the house. This way - the bluetooth marriage of your cell and Xlink is pretty good. If you ever forget and bring your cell phone upstairs, it's a pain because the bluetooth connection just doesn't work for anything more than a couple meters.

[BenFlavoredCandy]

Does the Xlink do anything to boost your cell's antenna? I don't really get a signal in my house [only sending and receiving texts in some rooms... sometimes] and if the device could act as a better antenna, it would make a lot of sense. I suppose positioning it in one of the 'hotspots' might work, too, but it isn't an $80 chance I would really want to take.

[dilchien]

It can in an indirect way. You might have already mentioned it when you said "hotspots". But if there are spots in your house where your cell phone receives a good signal and there's an electrical outlet there, you can leave your cell in that exact spot and connect the Xlink to it. That way, your cell will always be at the best location (in terms of signal) in your house. You should be able to find whether you have good spots in your house right now without first buying the Xlink.