Cutting the Land Line

How to use your house phones with your cell phone.

For the last few years we've had two cell phone lines along with our two land lines. We finally decided that we didn't really need the land lines any more. On the other hand, we did like the convenience of having a number of extensions around the house. I don't mind carrying my cell phone with me all the time, since I can wear it on my belt. But Pat didn't like the idea of carrying her cell phone around the house all day.

There is a solution, a product from X-Link called the ITC-BT. With this little box you can disconnect your house wiring from the phone company and still use all the phones around the house. Here's how we did it. Note that your cell phone must have bluetooth capability.

  1. Order an ITC-BT. You can get it from X-Link, or do like we did and get it from Amazon.
    2. When it arrives, go outside and remove the plug from the jack in your telephone network interface box. That will disconnect your house wiring from the telephone company.
  2. Plug the ITC-BT into one of your home phone jacks. It should be in a location close to where you will leave your cell phone while you are at home.
  3. Plug the ITC-BT's power cube into the wall and connect it to the ITC-BT. Be sure to look for the red light. If you see it, unplug the power connection and go figure out why you are still connected to the phone company's wiring.
  4. Next, pair your cell phone and the ITC-BT. If you're not familiar with that process you'll have to find your cell phone's instruction book, since it may work differently from mine.
  5. You are now done! When you walk away with your cell phone (range is about 50 feet) the ITC-BT will automatically disconnect. When you come back in range it will automatically re-connect.

The ITC-BT will pair with up to three seperate cell phones. When a call comes in on the first one, the house phones will ring in a normal fashion. When a call comes in on the second cell phone, the house phones will ring with two short rings, a pause, two short rings, a pause, etc. And, when a call comes in on the third cell phone, there will be three short rings. Obviously, this is on a first come, first served basis. So, if you're on a call and another call comes in to one of the other cell phones, you can't talk to both at the same time. We haven't tried this, since we're not interested in me being able to answer my cell phone on one of the house phones.