Answer mobile calls from house phones (without landline)?

(Moved from General Broadband Chatter forum)

I miss many mobile phone calls when I'm home because I inevitably leave the cursed device at the opposite end of the house. It's especially stressful now that so many virtual appointments are (for example) "we will call you between 9am and 1pm".

So I have wired & DECT land-line phones throughout the house & garden - important parties know to call the land-line if I don't answer mobile.

With the digital switch-over coming, I figure it's time for a more elegant solution that would let me do away with the land-line number, but still be able to answer calls via wired or cordless handsets.

I thought this would be a common requirement - but my google-fu has failed and I've not found anything suitable yet.

Ideally I would like something like WiFi calling so that when I'm home, voice calls to my mobile number would also automatically ring some WiFi handsets.
Even better if there was some magic to connect my router to my current wired &/or DECT handsets so I don't have to fork out for WiFi handsets.

I've seen some "bluetooth to home phone" bridge devices, but this means the mobile phone is trapped near the device (so I couldn't use the mobile phone in other rooms). Bluetooth also generally sucks (random disconnect, pairing issues, forget to turn it on etc.).

Someone suggested a virtual phone number, but these still seem to require a separate mobile phone number for the SIM/carrier and don't appear to integrate well with other messaging apps, banking apps etc. on the smart phone.

Any thoughts?

Cheers.

@moon69a,

I use apps on my desktop like Airdroid (www.airdoid.com) and MySMS (for texting only)(www.mysms.com). I have always used Android phones and so use the 'Droid apps on my phones and then the webpages on my other devices (whether Windows, Linux or Android tablets). This allows me to not always need to have access to my actual mobile to send texts or be notified of incoming calls. Fortunately for me I live in a small 1 bedroom flat and this means I would never be too far from my mobile but it's nice knowing that if I were to be in your situation I could handle being a distance away from my mobile if I had to.

HTH,

On your mobile, you should be able to set up "call forward on no reply" to your landline number.
by default, this is set up to go to voicemal but can be changed, see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_forwarding

your landline could be implemented as POTS or VoIP, makes no difference to the call forwarding

In reply to a post by mking90031:

@moon69a,
This allows me to not always need to have access to my actual mobile to send texts or be notified of incoming calls

Thanks - I've had a look at https://www.airdroid.com - the website is surprisingly vauge on it's capabilities...

It seems like you are notified of a call on the PC (and possibly pick up the call), but you have to speak via the mobile phone itself (or headset connected to the phone).
So even if I had a PCs all over the house (and assuming they were awake, unlocked etc.) I could answer the call, but I would still need to run and try and find my phone before the other party hangs up (since they can't hear me until I get to the phone)?
Am I misunderstanding how AirDroid works?

In reply to a post by essex_man:

On your mobile, you should be able to set up "call forward on no reply" to your landline number.
by default, this is set up to go to voicemal but can be changed, see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_forwarding

your landline could be implemented as POTS or VoIP, makes no difference to the call forwarding

That's likely to be an expensive way of doing it as the forwarded calls aren't usually included in call bundles with the mobile. Unless things have changed recently?

In reply to a post by essex_man:

On your mobile, you should be able to set up "call forward on no reply" to your landline number.
by default, this is set up to go to voicemal but can be changed

Thanks but my shoddy memory won't remember to change the call forwarding everytime I leave/arrive home. I'm also keen to make things simpler - ideally without a landline.

I've just found out Amazon Echo/Alexa can answer mobile phone calls - but currently only Vodafone and EE subscriptions are supported.

This would be perfect, but so expensive compared to virtual networks (I only spend £30/year currently).

This is a different use case to the usual 'migrate PSTN to VoIP and terminate calls on a VoIP client on the mobile phone'.

As the mobile phone terminates the mobile voice calls the only solution is to extend these with something which connects to the mobile as a bluetooth headset and emulates a landline or DECT device.

I use an Iigo Bluewave Hub, which I believe is a variant of the XLINK BTTN, connected to the house phone system. As the majority of my online access is via laptop rather than mobile the phone mostly lives in one spot near the interface and I can answer mobile calls on any of the house phones.

IIRC Gigaset made a unit which connected to a mobile as a headset and appeared as a DECT handset which could be paired with a DECT base allowing mobile calls to be made and received from the other DECT handsets, but I don't know if this is still available.

Edit: It is the Gigaset LM550 / LM550i

Edited by tdw42 (Fri 01-Sep-23 14:27:42)

Interesting thanks!

The closest I have seen to this is the use of eSIMs on mobile devices with a plan that allows the use of the same number across multiple devices.

I am currently using Vodafone One Number in addition to my main Vodafone airtime and data plan. I have the main eSIM in my phone on the main airtime and data plan. I've then added Vodafone's One Number service (this has additional charges on top of the main plan) which allows for an eSIM in my watch (although I think it could be any device that has eSIM support) and both devices ring when the main number is called (the additional eSIMs have their own number but I don't think these additional numbers are used to call in or out). So, in effect, I can answer an incoming call from either one of the devices. I can call out from either one of the devices and the person I am calling will see my main number on their caller ID display. Both eSIMs share the airtime and data allowances from my main eSIM plan.

I think that other networks have similar plans. Each network will have its own brand name for it (for example Vodafone has OneNumber), and the costs, features, and supported devices depend on the network and plan. A quick Internet search suggests the following:

EE Smart Number
Three Smartwatch Pairing

I have not been able to find anything for O2, however, they should be able to provide more information.

The various mobile virtual network operators may or may not have similar plans so you'd need to check with the individual operators.

Edited by teshy (Sat 02-Sep-23 19:48:26)