Use my Land Line with Android?

Question

Is it possible using a computer and WiFi, hardware plugin box or something to allow me to make (and receive) telephone calls using my Android phone through the existing land line?

It would be more convenient if I could carry one phone and receive both home phone and mobile phone calls. Also I want to make outgoing calls and have it use my home phone connection for the reduced charges and the correct caller ID.

I'm OK with using WiFi LAN (VoIP), but I don't want to use the internet connection, I want it to go through the hardware phone line that the phone company put in. Is there such a solution?

Answer 1

The Answer to the question is Yes and I do it.

I use a Raspberry Pi running RasPBX so within the house most things are SIP or DECT. My Main phone is a Gigaset DX800A which supports SIP and also DECT. These DECT phones attached to the DX800A become SIP extensions. The Phone in my office is an Aastra 6739i (SIP) with a Sennheiser DECT headset. I have a Linksys SPA3102-UK which connects the PSTN Landline to the Raspberry Pi. The Mobile phone can run any SIP software and become an internal extension, and thus make and receive landline calls.

As to being a workable solution then it depends on your cellphone coverage and how you use your cellphone (do you need SMS?). Another useful configuration is the DX800A will allow you to connect to you Cell phone via Bluetooth and make a receive calls from the DX800A or any DECT handsets attached to it. So in this situation you carry around a DECT handset and you can make and receive calls from both the Mobile number and landline number.

I would like to find an app that converts the Mobile into a SIP/GSM gateway such that the Android phone can be connected to the Asterisk based RasPBX and be used to make outgoing and incoming calls via GSM. This way I could use my calling plan to make calls from my SIP based Desk phone going out via the mobile (routing controlled by RasPBX). But don't know of one as yet.

Answer 2

Sounds like you'll need to roll your own telephony gateway. This kind of thing can get complicated very quickly, so your milage will depend on the amount of free time you have to devote to the project and your knowledge of telecommunications.

At its most basic, you need to do this:

[Android (SIP app)] --Ethernet/WLAN--> [VOIP Gateway]

[Home Phone] --Analog Line --> [VOIP Gateway]

[VOIP Gateway] --Analog Line--> [PSTN (your phone company)]

A quick Google search revealed Asterisk as a free, open-source option for creating your own gateway. You'll need desktop/server hardware that can communicate with ethernet and analog phone lines as well as SIP client software for your Android phone (like Sipdroid). This kind of setup should allow you to receive all calls on your Android phone and place calls from your Android through your land line. Asterisk seems to have decent documentation and community support so it should just be a matter of putting it all together and getting the gateway configured correctly.

Answer 3

You might want to buy this phone.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-KX-PRW130W-dect_6-0-1-Handset-Telephone/dp/B00ISKW1J2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1433663228&sr=1-1&keywords=KX-PRW130W

Answer 4

I was looking for the same sort of thing; android smartphone that can use tariff-free landline for incoming/outgoing calls at home (ie smartphone as a cordless landline extension).

So far I have run across the Panasonic KX-PRW120 which is a DECT phone that use WiFi to connect to the associated android Smartphone Connect app (Google Play). Not decided whether to buy yet as quite expensive, but simpler than creating my own VOIP gateway.

Answer 5

I was looking for a device like this myself, and could not find anything, so I will put it on my wish list for some fun with electronic projects to make someday.

However an alternative for now but not exactly what you want because it still uses the internet however at least you can use the android to answer your landline calls is to get a free google VOIP or other fee based VOIP service like callcentric and set up the softphone app on the phone (softphone not work with google voice, have to use googles software for that) then set your landline to forward all calls to your VOIP phone, if not know how to set a landline to forward calls ask your phone service they will tell you its a few key presses, however your landline will not ring until you deactivate that setting, unless the phone service has option to ring n# of time then forward the call, but probably an extra fee for that.

Anyway that is kind of a work around until someone makes such a thing, but the demand for that is probably low, since the trend in the public is to only have cell service, and not use landlines.

However for me it is a neat idea and want to make it for myself, will probably use scraps from an old useless phone, add in a cheap microcontroller with a bluetooth to talk to the android then write some software to make it all work the way I want it to.

Probably can do it with a PC and PC modem, and route the audio to the bluetooth, but I not want to have a full big box PC on consuming power 24/7 just for that.

Answer 6

If you 're looking to get your home phone call to your cell device, you just need to call your cell from your home phone and then press *72 I believe and your calls will be send to your cell phone. Check your land phone provide to find how to do that... not sure it is 72... but pretty sure, then to get the call back to your land line, you press *73 on your land phone. Hope this help.

Answer 7

There are consumer products like the OBi 110 that will allow you to bridge calls between a SIP network and the regular phone network. These are consumer products with web interfaces for configuration. You don't need to program anything, but the configuration may be difficult. A box for your needs will run you ~$65 USD. I have no affiliation with OBi, but have used their products and some of their competitors. I found OBi to be much easier to use than the competitors, but that was in 2011.

I have only personally setup simple outgoing connections, which look like this: Android SIP client -> LAN -> OBi -> phone network

This works with any SIP client, so you can also use linphone from a laptop, for example.

If you wanted to also receive calls from your regular phone line on Android, you would probably need to configure a static IP for your Android phone on your LAN, and automatically forward calls from the incoming phone line to your SIP client. This might be a large power draw to keep your phone awake to receive these SIP calls.