If you are hooked on your cell phone or are one of the many people who have recently ditched their landline to go all cellular, this is one gadget you should know about. The Link-to-Cell is a Bluetooth device that lets you take and make cellular calls using a Panasonic cordless phone.

Most of us have encountered problems when using a cell phone in a home environment. The four major ones are:

     1. Dead zones where you can’t get good reception
     2. Batteries you forget to charge
     3. Keeping track of the location of your cell phone
     4. Not being able to hear the cell phone ring throughout the house

This Panasonic Link-to-Cell device, along with the included cordless handset, proposes to solve all of these problems. The documentation says that it will allow you to be able to use the most reliable cell reception that you can get throughout all parts of your home. It will also let you talk with clarity, talk on the cell phone without draining the battery, and to be able to talk using a more comfortable cordless phone. We put the Link-to-Cell through some vigorous testing to see if the claims were true and if it really does solve our 4 major problems.

As shown in Figure 1, The Panasonic Link-to-Cell (KX-TH1211B DECT 6.0) telephone system includes the Link-to-Cell transmitter, one telephone base unit, one telephone base unit stand, AC adapter, telephone line cord, handset cover, belt clip, and operating instructions. Two AA rechargeable batteries for the handset are also included.

click to enlarge
Figure 1: What's in the box.

The Link-to-Cell is not compatible with all cell phones. So before you decide to buy, you will want to surf over to the Panasonic website and make sure that your cell phone is compatible. We tested it with an Apple iPhone, a Nokia 6085, a Motorola Razor V3, and a Samsung SGH-J600. All were on the compatible cell phone list and all worked well.