Cheap Thoughts: Cellphone Home Adapter

Yesterday I was reading how virtually worthless Vonage stock is now. Analysts question why anyone would want to get into the landline business now, with the assumption that VoIP is essentially landline service provided over broadband. I know at least two friends who have eschewed landlines completely, relying instead on their mobile phones for their service. It kind of makes sense: why have a number anchored to your house when you’re always on the go?

Then I had to reset my Asterisk box this morning as it had gotten hung somehow overnight. It too has a landline connecting it to Bellsouth. I began to think: what a waste! Why am I paying Bellsouth close to $40/month for service with half the features of my mobile phone service? Why am I paying two bills for two separate phone services?

Do you know what would make Bellsouth go positively ape-shit with fear? Someone selling adapters to connect your inside phone lines straight to your cellphone. No landline would be needed. Just like the cradles used to pipe your calls through an amplified speaker in your car, you would just plug a cable into your mobile phone and your inside telephones would magically make their calls through your mobile phone. No fussing with ‘talk’ and ‘end’ buttons: just use it like a regular phone.

Most mobile phone service providers have “family” plans which allow you to share minutes with phones in your family. You could hook up your home to the same number as your “mobile” mobile for something like $10/month extra and have the best of all worlds.

So the question I have about this is, would this provide any real benefit not already present in simply using a mobile phone in your home? Personally, I like the reduced RF exposure it would bring, as the caller wouldn’t be right next to the antenna during a call. Admittedly, though, only geeks like me worry about that kind of stuff. I would also like not having to hunt for my mobile phone when I need to make a call: wired phones tend not to walk off. Lastly, I would like not having to worry about whether my mobile was charged or not: a wired adapter would keep it always topped off.

Most importantly, though, I’d love to make Bellsouth go ape-shit with fear! The days of stodgy old phone service are long gone. Time to shake things up!