The (Controversial) Phone Extension Device
So what else can you do with SUN’s unlimited-calls mobile service?
How about turning your mobile phone into an extension of your home phone?
Last Saturday, the guy who owns an electronics repair shop near our place nudged me aside and showed me a device that he had just invented. Norman had a long history of tweaking with phone hacks and has a significant background in electronics.
In a cramped corner of his store, amidst the dusty, roof-high stacks of old and unclaimed VHS machines, DVD players, and stereo components, he showed me a black plastic case that was about the size of a jewel box. It had phone jacks and a COM port, on which was attached a classic black Nokia 6230 phone.
“This device can turn your mobile phone into an extension of your landline,” said Norman.
Here’s how it works. You will need two SUN cellular accounts, one of which goes to the mobile phone that you carry with you (of course), while the other goes to the 6230 (which stays at home). Plug the black box to your phone line, and you’re set.
If the device is running, anytime you get a call on your landline phone, it automatically forwards the call to your mobile phone as well (via the 6230). So now, both your landline and your mobile phones are ringing. You can choose to pick up the landline if you’re home, or take the call through your mobile phone if you’re on the road.
And since you’re riding on SUN’s unlimited calls service, you won’t be paying a cent for taking the call. What you now have is an extension phone that you can take with you anywhere!
So far so good, and you probably are just a little bit impressed, but not exactly blown away.
Using your mobile phone, call the number of the Nokia 6230. The black box automatically patches you to your landline, so you will now hear your landline’s dial tone on your mobile. Type a number, and you are now placing a call through your home phone. You can now call any local landline number… without having to pay anything!
In short, using your SUN accounts, you can now place unlimited calls to landline phones from your mobile phone!
“Here, try it out,” said Norman. I listened to a landline call through the mobile phone. It was quite choppy, but I guess it was a signal problem more than anything else. The device worked in principle.
He had thought of everything, down to using the 6230’s address book to pre-screen incoming calls: if your number is not on the address book, then you won’t be authorized to patch a call.
Norman has already patented the device, and he has even managed to get NTC approval for it. In fact, the folks at NTC –and even at SUN Cellular– loved it, according to him.
But there’s a catch.
While the SUN officials were amazed with the device, they could not officially endorse it because it was bound to hit a nerve with the bigger telecom companies. Mainly because you can now place unlimited calls to landlines without having to pay anything extra.
(Incidentally, the device can also be attached to a VoIP box, allowing you to place calls abroad at dirt-cheap rates… but that will definitely just add more fuel to the fire.)
So Norman is selling his devices below the radar. You probably won’t see them promoted aggressively anytime soon. But anybody who is interested in this device, just let me know. He’s selling them for P7,500, inclusive of the classic Nokia 6230 that serves as its mobile interface. And of course you will also have to invest in not one but two SUN cellular unlimited-call accounts.
Me? I’m seriously thinking about it…
A very nice, brilliant illustration of that good ‘ol “Filipino ingenuity.” I must suggest though that Norman find a big backer. He’ll need a big brother to protect him if the telecoms try to take his technology out of the picture.
There’s someone who’s bound to have the resources and the guts to take them on. If Norman’s gadget really works, there’ll be a huge profit potential, and that alone will make it worth fighting for.