Cellphone to homephone thingy

Dunadan019

Here's the situation. I want to get a cell phone for my mother who is old and does not particularly want a cell phone. I think that she needs it because she drives a 20 year old car that barely runs and lives in the middle of the woods 30 minutes from the nearest small town. I also don't want to give her a phone and find out that the one time she needs it, its dead from not being charged.... so I'm trying to find a way to get her a cell phone and a set up that allows her to charge it and take it with her if she needs to along with acting as a house phone when she is home.

essentially, I'm looking for something that will:
charge her cell phone when she puts it in the cradle
act as a cordless handset for the landline when shes home
work as a cellphone (either on a plan or on prepaid cards either is ok) when she is out or when the phone dock has no power
bonus: has its own answering machine

I've done some searches and I can't seem to find something that does what I'm looking for. does anyone know of such a system?

RUNN1NGMAN

I don't know of anything that will do what you want, but some alternatives might be transferring the land line number to a mobile, or setting up her land line to ring through to the mobile after a certain number of rings (assuming that option is available).

Foomy

It might just be easier to get a cheap pre-pay phone, activate it, charge it to full, then turn it off and leave it in her glovebox all the time. That way there is no risk of forgetting it at home.

and if you really worry about the battery draining away even when off, just stick a hand-crank or AA-battery phone charger in with it,

Dunadan019

Foomy wrote: »

It might just be easier to get a cheap pre-pay phone, activate it, charge it to full, then turn it off and leave it in her glovebox all the time. That way there is no risk of forgetting it at home.

and if you really worry about the battery draining away even when off, just stick a hand-crank or AA-battery phone charger in with it,

yeah that was kinda the backup plan.

but I also want to introduce her to technology in the 21st century

Daenris

Sounds like you want something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/RCA-Cell-Phone-Docking-System/dp/B0009HII2G

However, it only has a few reviews on amazon, and they're all 1-star, so not sure you'd want to risk it. It's also pretty old and the bad reviews mention limited phone compatibility, so I don't know how feasible it would even be these days given the huge differences between phones from 2005 and today.

There are a number of bluetooth products like these:
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-KX-TG7622B-Bluetooth-Cordless-Handsets/dp/B004NBZDTA/ref=pd_cp_cps_2
http://www.amazon.com/iCreation-i500-Handset-Landline-Telephone/dp/B008BW9R1W/ref=pd_sim_sbs_cps_10

They allow you to use a cordless handset that's connected via bluetooth to your cell phone (iPhone only for the second one) while you're at home. But then this is cell-only service, no home phone.

DevoutlyApathetic

You could manage something like this with Google Voice. You could transfer her current landline number to there, it'd ring the mobile and her landline (if you kept it).

Doesn't really solve the charging thing. Maybe one of those induction mats?

Daenris

DevoutlyApathetic wrote: »

You could manage something like this with Google Voice. You could transfer her current landline number to there, it'd ring the mobile and her landline (if you kept it).

Doesn't really solve the charging thing. Maybe one of those induction mats?

Though if you like this idea keep in mind porting landlines to Google Voice is not officially supported last I checked, and requires you to first try to port it to a supported pay-as-you-go cellphone carrier, and then port the number to google voice.

AresProphet

I don't think that you're going to find something that meets your criteria:

-charging cradles still exist for iPhones and that's about it, but you're looking at spending a lot of money on something that needs to be charged every day, there. Cheap phones can be charged every few days.

-"cordless handset for the landline" would mean that she has a landline number and/or call forwarding set up from the cell phone, which means she'd have to toggle it off/on to switch between devices. With the apparent exception of Google Voice, there aren't any cell providers (in the US) that will give you this kind of flexibility.

-see above for the "works as a cell phone while away from home" thing. It's just not a thing people look for.

-basically every cell phone provider gives you voicemail for free, so you're covered there.

You are going to have to convince her that a cell phone is a better idea than a landline. The safety aspect is the biggest thing: you are worried about her, and you want to make sure she's okay. You also need to convince her that cell phones are not hard to use, some very basic set-up of a flip phone (flip open to answer, pre-programmed speed dial, and setting up voicemail for her) removes the biggest hurdles for technophobic cell phone users that I run into. She'll have to get used to plugging it in, but basic phones can go anywhere from 3-7 days between charges depending on the model.

The biggest obstacle you have to overcome is her aversion to new technology, and all you can do there is (to put it bluntly) scare her into realizing it's a good idea for her safety and emphasize how important it is that you can be in touch in an emergency. If she doesn't see any point in having one she won't charge it, she won't take it with her, and it's not going to do any good.

MichaelLC

If you're able to convince her to get a cell, there are several docking stations available that should be easier for her than plugging in a micro USB cable. I haven't tried any of those, but seem to have decent reviews.

And I would recommend an Android phone, since you can customize the homescreen to show main contacts and 9-1-1, etc.