How to Use Landline Phones With Cell Phones

Most people these days have a cell phone in addition to their landline, or don't have a landline at all anymore in favor of their cell phones. Landlines are slowly being phased out, with many people switching to cell phones exclusively, or to VoIP + cell phones.

But that doesn't mean you have to give up the landline form factor! In fact, I predict development of landline-style phones will continue even after the phase-out of copper landlines, being powered by VoIP or being Bluetooth-linked to a cell phone. Or they may stay with analog line connections for compatibility purposes.

Many cordless phones today include Bluetooth so you can link them to your cell phones, but what if you want to use non-Bluetooth landline phones with your cell phone? There are many devices, such as Cell2Jack and Xlink, that can connect to your cell phone via Bluetooth to become a landline replacement. You can then connect your landline phones to these devices to make and receive cell calls with them. Your cell phone becomes a provider of landline service to your phones, allowing you to, for example, use an answering system with your cell phone, something that's not possible with today's Bluetooth cordless phones. Ironically, most Bluetooth cordless phones have answering systems. There are also very few, if any, corded phones (aside from corded/cordless phones) with Bluetooth calling capabilities.

I have a Cell2Jack which is connected to many landline phones in my room, and when I travel, I bring Cell2Jack and a cordless phone with me. When I make a call, it goes through my iPhone. Similarly, when I receive a call on my iPhone, the landline phones ring and support most of the features they would if they were connected to a copper or VoIP line. It's very easy to set up. You just plug the Cell2Jack into a USB power source and search for "Cell2Jack" in your cell phone Bluetooth settings. You can then connect your landline phone(s) to Cell2Jack and use them just as if they were connected to a landline or VoIP service. Cell2Jack also has a few other features that take advantage of your cell phone:

• You can talk to your cell phone's voice assistant (e.g. Siri or Google Now) through your landline phone by going off-hook and pressing the star key (touch-tone phones) or by dialing 1111 (Rotary Features must be enabled in Cell2Jack Utility on your Mac/Windows device).
• You can set the Cell2Jack to broadcast all cell phone audio to your landline phones by picking up and pressing 61# (touch-tone phone required for entering codes). Cell2Jack will reboot and reconnect to your cell phone as a Bluetooth speaker device using the Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP) profile.

Important:

• *67 is the only supported star code as of now. For other features like redial or last call return, you can ask your voice assistant things like, “Redial” or “Return my last call”. It’s technically possible to implement a redial feature (most providers use *66) as that’s available on Bluetooth headsets.
• To use *82 to unblock your caller ID per-call, ask your voice assistant to call *82<phone number>.
• There isn’t yet a quick dial for voicemail. Ask your voice assistant to call voicemail (or whatever number is used for voicemail).
• If you want to make a call while audio is playing on your cell phone with the Cell2Jack media audio feature activated, you must stop the audio before making the call. Cell2Jack doesn't currently support using dialing codes to control media playback, although it's technically possible.
• Dialing 0 for the operator isn’t yet supported. Ask your voice assistant to do it instead.
• Make sure to periodically check cell2jack.com/update4 for firmware updates.

Pairing your cell phone to a Bluetooth cordless phone is also very easy. Go to your cell phone's Bluetooth settings and search for devices. Then on your Bluetooth cordless phone, do one of the following depending on your brand/model:

• Panasonic: Press MENU #624 on the handset or base* and then press the cell line number (1-2 on most models, 1-4 on the KX-TG95xx series). On 2015 and later models, you can also press and hold the desired cell slot button on the base until it beeps. For bases without displays, a registration tone sounds. You can re-pair your device or change device pairing without having to first unpair from the given slot.
• Vtech/AT&T with menus that display more than 2 items at once: Use the Bluetooth menu on the handset/base, depending on your model, to enter pairing mode.
• Vtech/AT&T with menus that display only 1 or 2 items at a time: Press and hold CELL 1 or CELL 2 on the base for a few seconds until it beeps.
• Vtech/AT&T with handset menus that display only 1 item at a time and base menus that display 2 or more items at a time: Use the Bluetooth menu on the base to enter pairing mode.
• Uniden: Press CELL and select Add Cell Phone.

* Only for KX-TG95xx and corded/cordless bases.

Bluetooth cordless phones offer many cell phone integration features. The available features depend on brand/model of your cell phone and your Bluetooth cordless phone.

• You can download your cell phone contacts to your phonebook. Your downloaded cell phone contacts will either be stored in the phonebook along with your regular phonebook entries, or as a separate phonebook. Bluetooth cordless phones have larger phonebooks compared to their non-Bluetooth counterparts, if any, to accomodate a large contact capacity.
• You can talk to your cell phone's voice assistant using the handsets and base.
• You can be notified of incoming text messages and other cell phone notifications.
• Your Bluetooth cordless phone can ring using your cell phone's ringtone.
• You can change select phone settings via an app on your smartphone (Android users only).
• You can reject incoming calls either by pressing a dedicated button or saving numbers to the phone's call block list. Rejecting a call will perform the "reject" action of the app that's receiving the call (e.g. sending the caller to a voicemail service). Vtech/AT&T Smart Call Blocker phones will play a block announcement to blocked callers instead of simply rejecting the call--to reject, press REJECT while a non-blocked call is ringing.

iOS users: You may need to configure some settings for the paired Bluetooth cordless phone in order to use some of its features.
Android users: You may need to download an app to use some of the features of your Bluetooth cordless phone.

Most cordless phones today show a warning when the line isn't connected, letting you know you won't be able to dial out. Bluetooth cordless phones can be set to not show the warning if you only use the cell lines. Each brand/model works differently as follows:

• Panasonic single-landline models: You can turn on the cell line only mode by pressing MENU #157 on the handset or corded base. After saving the setting, the base will reboot to tell the handsets to refresh the menus, hiding landline options like ringer volume and dial mode. You can then press PAIR on a Bluetooth handset, TALK, or SP-PHONE, or pick up the corded receiver, to make a cell call.
• Panasonic 2-landline models: You can turn off the "Check tel line1/2" alert by pressing MENU #189 for line 1 and MENU #190 for line 2. The message will return if the base loses power or reboots, in case you decide to use a landline.
• Vtech/AT&T single-landline models with a "Display alerts" menu: You can turn off the no line alert by pressing MENU on the handset or base and scroll to Settings>Display alerts>Home line>No line alert and turn it off.
• Vtech/AT&T 2-landline models with a "Display alerts" menu: You can turn off the no line alert by pressing MENU on the handset or base and scroll to Settings>Display alerts>Line 1/2>No line alert and turn it off.
• Vtech/AT&T models without a "Display alerts" menu: Press MENU *662# (*NO2#) to turn off the no line alert (all lines).
• Uniden: "Check TEL Line" will disappear if you pair at least one cell phone to the base.

Panasonic is the only one with a true cell line only mode, because the cell button is a soft key and not a physical button (exception is the KX-TG95xx series), whereas on other brands, there are physical home/cell buttons which would make such a mode pointless.