Landline Phone, Best Tip to Still Have It and Keep It

The days of the landline are fading like the way of the dinosaurs.  Smart phones have taken over. But what of the plight and needs of those of a certain age, or those wanting to keep what had been of service to them all through the years?  What about those simply unable physically or who lack the dexterity of the smart phone user?  What about those wanting to keep the way things have always been?  My wife who has Parkinson's is one of those who could no longer deal with palm-size gizmos?  What about those where hands free also means larger buttons to press and a speaker phone on a desk?

But then, to make matters worse, keeping the landline was made prohibitively expensive for the service providers and consumers because it is more expensive to maintain cables that go underground, through property lines, and into the homes and buildings.  Then the day of streaming technology made it worst for landline users as the focus shifted to erecting and maintaining cell phone towers

But there is hope, ironically, also by way of the cell phone towers!  Business has  ways of innovating but what followed are a number of providers who have hitched on a ride atop cell towers that apparently have the excess capacity and the willingness to share the air waves. At some cost, of course, but nominally for sure for this business model to work.

Consumer Cellular and  several others like Pure Talk, Ooma, etc., came to the rescue of the landline users.  What is even amazing is the ease and speed that this new technology  can be set up with "plug and play" simplicity.  One will have a phone setup in an hour after receiving the package.  What may take time is setting up the account's code, activating the new phone number and cellular hook up to the nearby cell tower. But from unpacking the box, setting up the home base and extensions to various locations in the home will take about an hour tops. Compare that to waiting for the technician to show up, hooking up your line to the cable outside, etc.

What has woodworking got to do with this?  Well..

first, the base receiver/router need to be by the window for optimum reception from the cell tower.  Below is the photo of the hurry up set up at  the window sill.  My wife will have none of that garish setup, particularly the wires dangling down.

So, when there was short break from the 95-100 degree Texas weather, I went to the work shop.  A friend had given me a few hardwood flooring material a while back. I dimensioned the width on the table saw.

Cut to proper length.

On the router table I created two parallel grooves to which the cable can be laid neatly behind.

I cut the base and top

Voila, a quick T-platform of the height that matched where the window sill is.

My wife is pleased that no messy wires are showing.

Home base with desk speaker phone and one handheld unit shown below are within my wife's reach when she is by her computer on her desk. The base is independent of and separate from internet or streaming network.

Three separate extensions work wirelessly.  The home base works as receiver for the cell tower signals and acts as a router to supply signals to the extensions.  In effect, one can have hand held phones that act like cell phones within the home, with base acting like a mini cell tower.  It is as simple as that.  And best of all, you'd be surprised at how cheap this set up can be. You are buying only the router/receiver and the appropriate charger. You can use the phones you had before - base and extensions - or you can purchase new ones of your choice.