Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Geemarc Telecom, which specialises in the manufacture and sale of products that help hearing-impaired and visually impaired users, has produced an interesting new twist on the humble Analogue Terminal Adapter (ATA) that allows people to plug their old home phone handsets directly to a 4G mobile broadband network. But that isn’t its only trick.
The UK is currently going through a significant shift in digital communications services, which among other things includes the turbulent withdrawal of more traditional analogue telephone methods (PSTN / POTS) in favour of digital internet (IP / VoIP) based alternatives. For many people, this means plugging their old home phone(s) into the back of a broadband router instead of the wall socket.
Failing that, if your router can’t do this or your ISP won’t supply it, then you can always buy an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) device (e.g. Grandstream HT-802) for around £50, which acts as a VoIP bridge between your router and old phone handset(s). You could also buy a dedicated VoIP / IP phone handset (e.g. Yealink SIP-T33P), but that’s not necessary (these will usually connect to your router via a LAN port or WiFi).
However, Geemarc has recently introduced a new twist on the ATA – the CL2000 4G telephone adapter, which doesn’t need to connect via your existing home broadband router and instead connects directly to a 4G mobile network of your choosing (take note that some – not all – sellers ship it with an EE sim, but the device is designed to work with any mobile operator).
The CL2000 is essentially a mini mobile (MiFi) router and ATA in one unit, which means that it can also operate as a limited Wi-Fi hotspot (max speed of 150Mbps) for your other devices. On top of that, Geemarc also had the good idea of including a 4000mAh back-up battery into the unit in case of a power cut (10 hours in use or 40 hours in standby).
Setting all of this up to use a mobile phone number is practically Plug & Play, although it’s likely to be a little bit more involved if you want to retain your existing home phone number. Some third-party services do exist for transferring your home phone number to a 4G SIM card, but novice users may require some help with all this and the approach can mean extra costs.
Geemarc informs ISPreview that they began bringing the CL2000 to market a few short months ago and will be selling them on Amazon within the “next few weeks“, although we’ve seen a few unfamiliar retailers selling them for around the £65 mark (inc. VAT). The fact this device is portable also helps to safeguard against changes of Care Home room or addresses, as you’d simply take it with you (assuming the new location gets a mobile signal).
Despite the positives, we do find ourselves wishing it included a LAN (Ethernet) port, as well as an extra phone socket, and we couldn’t see any mention of being able to work directly with custom VoIP providers/profiles. We’re trying to clarify the latter point at the moment (will update later), as the ability to input your own VoIP / SIP account details is usually a key function for a good ATA.
Admittedly it’s technically already possible to use a regular ATA with a 4G/5G mobile network, but this would require the home broadband router you’re connecting with to actually support mobile data (either directly or via a USB dongle) and is overall a more complex setup. The above device does this without all of that, which is very handy, but obviously the seeming lack of VoIP / SIP profiles is a shortcoming.