Outside the house, I routinely carry my cell phone just about everywhere and enjoy using it to stay in touch with people and the net. Some may see it as a tether, but I find the omnipresent cell phone liberating. You can go anywhere at anytime and be confident that folks can still reach you if needed. That all changes once I get home. At that point, the phone comes out of my pocket and is placed down somewhere, usually in a place where I cannot hear it ring when a call comes in. Missing a desired call under these circumstances can be very frustrating.

For that reason, a small story in the technology section of today’s New York Times got my attention. Panasonic has deployed a cordless landline phone that has “Link-to-Cell” features built in. At the same time that it operates as a standard landline telephone, this Panasonic (the KX-TG6582T) uses Bluetooth to connect with your cell phone. When your cell phone is in the house, any incoming calls also ring on your landline phone which can be programed to sound a different tone for an incoming cell call than for a landline call. The Panasonic can also make outgoing calls through your cell and utilize it’s contacts list.

Although this Panasonic which comes with two wireless handsets retails for only $80, the landline phones I now have are perfectly OK so I won’t be replacing them right now. Still, I’m pleased to know that somewhere in the not too distant future, I will acquire the means to seamlessly integrate my cell and landline telephones while in the house without the need for call forwarding or some other repetitive intervention.