Wireless Home Networking - Index of

Chapter 13: Using Your Wireless Network for Phone Calls
Using home phones on the cellular network
For certain types of calls (such as international
calls) or for certain users (folks who burn through
all their minutes each month), cell phone calls
can be expensive. The opposite side of this equation
is that for in-country, in-plan minutes, cell
phone calls are essentially free. You pay a flat
rate every month and get a certain number of
minutes that don’t cost you any more (no longdistance
charges, no per-minute charges, and so
on). And many cell phone plans include freebies
such as free nights and weekends or unlimited
in-network calls. So many folks end up using
their cell phones in the house for almost all calls,
just as a moneysaving device.
To support this, a sort of reverse form of FMC has
arisen: home cordless phones that connect to
your cell phone (via Bluetooth) and let you leave
your mobile phone on the charger while you
make calls from in the home.
An example of this is GE’s Cell Fusion DECT 6.0
phone (www.home-electronics.net/ge/pc/view
Prd.asp?idcategory=2&idproduct=3). This phone
system (which costs about $150 for a dual handset
kit) uses the DECT system (as the name
implies) for transmissions between the handset
and the base station. The cool feature that sets
this phone apart is its ability to pair (or make a
network connection) with up to two Bluetoothenabled
cell phones. When you’ve paired the
phone to your mobile, you can simply press a
button labeled Cell on the Cell Fusion phone
whenever you want to place a call and use some
of your free cell phone minutes instead of paying
for long distance. Incoming calls to your cell
phone will also ring to the Cell Fusion phone —
no more digging through your purse or briefcase
in a desperate attempt to grab the cell phone
before the call goes to voicemail. Pretty neat stuff.
Why would you want to switch to the Wi-Fi network? Well the biggest reason
is to save money. Mobile phones are relatively cheap when you’re in your
local (or nationwide) calling area, making domestic phone calls, and within
your monthly allowance of minutes. When you roam outside your calling
area, try making a call internationally, or go beyond your bundled minutes,
you’ll find that your cell phone company is pretty darned good at separating
you from your money.
Another reason why FMC makes sense is the simple fact that cell phone
coverage isn’t always that great inside many buildings. Big public buildings
tend to have special small cellular base stations inside the building (so you
can make calls from that hotel lobby, convention center, or shopping mall),
but individual homes and apartments often have lousy indoor coverage.
(Pat has to stand in his driveway to make calls on one of his cell phones —
it’s a good thing he lives in sunny San Diego and not some place cold come
January.) FMC can alleviate this problem by switching your phone over to
your in-home Wi-Fi network when its signal is stronger than your mobile
phone carrier’s signal. FMC isn’t something you just do on your own — you
need a mobile phone that supports it, and you need your mobile phone
provider’s network to support the service so that calls are routed to the right
place at the right time, based on whatever rules are set up for the service.
Support from the mobile phone carrier is important, too, to ensure that you
can roam from one network to another. FMC should allow you to start a call
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