Ditching the home phone

I had a two-hour conversation on my mobile phone last night, and it cost me absolutely nothing. That's the wonderful thing about modern cell phone usage, at least in the United States. As I have a nation plan through Verizon Wireless, I can call anyone, anywhere in the United States on weekends or after 9PM, and I don't pay a cent.

My cell phone bill each month is about $70 - not cheap, but I'd probably end up paying that much anyway as I can't imagine life anymore without the instantaneous ability to call anybody I want whenever I want (...and I do. I've called people in Ireland, Hong Kong and New Zealand (people that I KNOW, not crank calling) when stuck in traffic on the 405).

Mobile phones are the biggest communication innovation in decades, and I have enthusiastically embraced it. Some complain about the "always available" aspect of mobile phones. Well, if I don't feel like talking to somebody, I don't answer. Problem solved.

In fact, I'm so enthusiastic about mobile phones that I don't bother to get fixed-line phone service in the home. Fixed-line phone service feels to me as antiquated as driving a horse-drawn buggy to the supermarket. Besides, it's anything but cheap. Granted, my experience with fixed-line phone service is a bit dated (haven't paid for a home phone in the United States since before I left to Europe in May of 2000), but I remember paying at least $40 / month for the service. For a service that is tethered to my home, that seems a lot of money to pay. Besides, given that I'm going to pay for a mobile phone, anyway, why pay for a second number that can't go with me when I leave the house?

That being said, there are advantages to fixed-line phone service, albeit ones that have nothing to do with the technology involved. Namely, fixed-line phones have handsets that are a much better form-factor than those designed for mobile usage.

Mobile phones are designed to be portable, which is why they are so small. Small is good for portability, but it becomes a real nuisance after you've been talking on the phone for two hours. Fixed line phones, in contrast, are larger and easier to hold. Furthermore, a fixed line phone can have multiple handsets all over the house all of which link to the same number. With a mobile phone, it's a mad dash downstairs to hunt for the device when it rings, which inevitably has fallen into a crack in the couch, not that that matters much, as you've already broken your ankle falling down the stairs.

So, as part of my policy of broadcasting ideas that I don't have a hope in hell of productizing myself (and, perhaps, finding out already exists), why doesn't someone make a docking station for a mobile phone that links a bunch of handsets to a single mobile device? Here's the usage scenario: you'd come home and stick your mobile phone in the docking station. While docked, all incoming calls get broadcast to the other handsets linked wirelessly to the docking station. That way, all your phones are linked to your cell phone, your cell phone isn't lost in a crack in the couch, and when you leave, you can take the number with you.

Another advantage is that handsets could use a wireless technology that isn't likely to cause cactus-like growths to sprout from your ears. Granted, the risks of mobile phone usage are inconclusive, but it MUST be the case that more radiation is emitted from a cell phone that must reach a more-distant broadcasting tower than is required to reach a small docking station in the kitchen. It could use standard 900-Mhz technology used in fixed-line cordless phones, which is likely to be less of a risk than mobile phone radiation.

The only problem is mobile phone interface ports are completely incompatible. A docking station would probably need to create some standard connector. Mobile hardware vendors - or third parties - would then need to create something that converts from device-specific interfaces to the standard.

Anyway, if such a product already exists, someone tell me where I can find it. If it doesn't exist, then chop chop, someone, drop a few mill on the idea and build it. This would make mobile phones a complete replacement for traditional home phone service, which I'd think mobile network owners would be tripping over themselves to enable.