Re: texst to a landline

Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> wrote:

On 1/4/2025 10:22 AM, Theo wrote:
 

I think you might be using DECT without realising it.  eg from a search on
Amazon.com for 'cordless phone', #4 is an AT&T branded DECT base and handset:
 
https://www.amazon.com/AT-BL102-2-2-Handset-Answering-Unsurpassed/dp/B086QB7WZ1
 
and similar are at #6, #9, #11, #12.  Most of the others are Panasonic or
V-Tech, many of which have DECT in the title too.
 
What model of cordless landline phone do you have?
 

 
    Panasonic. But note that the phone in the picture has an
antenna. Mine is wired directly to the phone line, which
goes to the VOIP device but used to go to a modem and
before that wen't to public telephone lines. The extensions
are wireless, but not the base station/answering machine.
 
    I've never seen a fully wireless landline. But maybe it's not
really different. Using radio waves to get to the phone line is
not fundamentally changing the technology. The phone in the
picture has the same basic display and functions. The only
difference seems to be that it doesn't need to be direct-wired.
>

DECT handsets are cordless, as the name suggests.  They talk via radio to
the base station, hence the antenna.  The base is corded, either to the
classic copper phone line or to a VOIP converter box (maybe in the ISP's
router).

It's also possible to get bases which do VOIP directly, ie plug into an
ethernet network - they're doing DECT between the handset and the base and
converting it directly to VOIP rather than going via a copper phone line.
Some routers also include this DECT-VOIP gateway, ie you pair your DECT
handset with the router and then the outbound phone call is all VOIP.

DECT range can be up to 400m from a single base, so is useful for people
with a large property without needing to install boosters everywhere.

      If DECT eventually goes to the landline
then it would seem that the lack of landline texting in the
US may be more due to simple lack of support rather than
technical issues. Not that I mind. I have no interest in
receiving 100 characters of misspelled trivia, scrolling
across my tiny phone screen like news headlines. As it
stands, I'm glad that people can't text me.

My Gigaset handset with VOIP base will actually scroll the news headlines
and weather on its tiny screen, fetched from some Gigaset server.  It's not
the most useful feature :-)

Landline SMS can be useful when you don't have mobile signal locally but
need to receive verification SMS from various companies.  Although the
takeup of wifi calling on mobiles has made that less relevant.

Theo