Xlink Gateway rigged to PBX.

[Greg G.]

I got an Xlink Gateway and successfully tested it on my PBX.  This makes the PBX act as a Bluetooth on my cell phone.  I can now dial out on my rotary phones using my cell network.  I called my landline and also had a friend call me, and vice-versa, the audio quality was fine.  Setup for the Xlink was very easy, no different than any other Bluetooth device, except you just plug it in instead of waiting for it to charge. 

Here are a couple Youtube vids demonstrating the way it works.  I'll keep my landline for a while at least, but eventually will drop it.  That will mean the Xlink will pay for itself in less than two months after I drop my landline.
Part 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WFiR570Cng

Part 2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdbx5fISEBU


2-19-15: I've since went back to a landline and no longer use the Xlink.

[gpo706]

Bb if you get a programming set (7130E) you can use the Xlink as your CO2 port and programme certain extensions to ring or access only on that line.

[JorgeAmely]

Except for the small bout of dizziness at the end of the second video, everything seems perfect.

Where did you get the Xlink?

[Greg G.]

Except for the small bout of dizziness at the end of the second video, everything seems perfect.

Where did you get the Xlink?

Ebay.  There was one available that was around $50 with free shipping when I saw it, but I paid $72 by the time bidding ended.  Next closest one in price I found was $79 plus shipping on Amazon.com, so I saved at least a few dollars

[Greg G.]

Update on the sound quality.  Did some errand type calls, and there's a background noise that sounds like rain drops on a tin roof.  To make sure it wasn't the PBX, I plugged the phone directly into the Xlink and still heard it, then plugged it directly into the land line, did not hear it.  Voice quality on the menu systems I called is not crystal clear, but still acceptable.  That seems to be consistant with some of the reviews I read on Amazon.

I cancelled my landline with Comcast anyway.  I found out I was being charged more than I thought, because they said it's going from $162 a month for phone, internet, and TV to $105 a month for just the internet and TV.

The only other problem is when I plugged in a touch tone to one of the other ports, then took it off hook when I needed to navigate a tone menu while I was on the rotary on another port, the menu couldn't hear it.  That's probably something I'm not understanding about the tech part, I guess these don't work like a party line.  Time to RTFM.

[gpo706]

Bb, if its through the PBX, DTMF doesn't work atall unless you programme the CO line to DTMF or pulse, its preset to pulse convertion. (You can hear it busily clicking away when you dial out).

I tried a DTMF phone and it doesn't work, the easy way round it is to split your incoming CO line with one half to the PBX and the other socket as a "straight through" DTMF to the PhoneCo, then it works fine.

This was on a linesman butt set which has switchable dialling.

Don't try a pulse phone on the splitter as it reverses back and every phone goes nuts ringing!

[Greg G.]

I'll have to RTFM and play with it some more.  I would like to be able to have my touch tone plugged in so that I can just take it off hook and navigate touch tone menus when I'm using my rotary phone.

More on the sound quality.  I called Mom who is not local, and there was no "rain on the tin roof" sound, we could hear each other fine.  At one point she started sounding very garbled, but she said it was because she was on her cheap touch-tone that she can sometimes hear other people talking in the background.  So I asked her to switch to the 62 WE 500 I gave her, no more noises!

[gpo706]

The other alternative is a tonesender pad, no very practical.

I'm not sure if you can programme a seperate CO line for DTMF though, have to plough through the manual (238 pages)!

[Greg G.]

I was going to give this thing a month or so, but all I needed was a week.  

Sorry to say, the complaints about the audio quality are accurate, I was a bit premature in saying it was good.  It ranges from poor to acceptable, mostly on the poor side.  There is a hesitation on incoming calls, and after losing a call from my insurance agent today, then calling him back and listening to a lot of garbage in the background, I packed this thing up.  Fortunately, the seller has a 30-day full refund policy.

The theory behind it is great, it functioned as it said and was extremely easy to set up, but they're going to have to do something about the audio quality.

The sad part is I can't dial out on my rotaries now.  With the PBX and the money I'm saving not having a land/voip line, and the fact I don't make or get very many calls anyway, I can't justify a land line and a cell phone both.  I just hope I don't misplace my cell now, because I was always calling it with my land line to find it!  Maybe sometime down the road I'll get the land line back, but not for a while.

[dsk]

With the s.w. from X-link home-page you may set the X-link to accept different types of dialing, pulse ratio etc. Mine accepts both DTMF and pulse now, and even quite untuned dials.
Cant remember what setting I put up, but the x-link and the PABX is located on the loft.
The mobile has to be as near the x-link as possible to get maximum speech quality.
(I use to put may mobile on the top of the bookcase straight under were the x-link are located on the loft.)

dsk

[gpo706]

Bb thanks for the warning about the Xlink, glad your Panasonic is fine anyway.

[Greg G.]

I did an interesting experiment with this.  Somewhere, I think on Amazon, I read a review that said something about keeping it away from a wireless router, which I have sitting on the other side of the computer from the Xlink.

So I moved the Xlink as far away as I could, to the farthest corner of the kitchen (I don't have a very large place).  No static.  But that left me with a dilemma - how to set up a practical phone station in a very limited space out in the kitchen/dining area.  My computer desk, PBX, and phone "shop" is in the bedroom (yes, I sleep with my phones, got a problem with that?).

I did a few more experiments with the Xlink to make sure it wasn't just a fluke.  I set the cell phone down on the breakfast counter on the other side of the kitchen from the Xlink and called out on the rotary (this is the only time I'm glad Comcast has bullpoop verbage on their 888 number).  I was hearing the "rain drops on a tin roof sound" and staticky, almost garbled verbage again.   Hmmm.  So I reached over, picked up the cell, and placed it next to the Xlink.  The verbage was still going, but no more static.  When the verbage ended, I called the number again and repeated the process, same result.  Move the cell away, static, move it back next to the Xlink, no more static.

So was it really the wireless router that was interfering?  I moved the Xlink back to where it was originally.  I repeated the experiment of moving the cell phone away from the Xlink while listening to Comcast's recorded bs.  Same result.  It only took moving the cell phone about 2 ft away before I started hearing the garbage again.  Normally I leave the cell on the entry table in the hallway where I empty out my pockets when I come home.  As I'm sitting here typing, I'm listening to Comcast's recorded message and waving the cell around in a big arch away from the Xlink and back again.  It acts like a reverse geiger-counter, the farther away I move it, the louder and more rapid the "rain on a tin roof" sound gets and the more garbled the recording.  I also plugged the Xlink back into the PBX, it made no difference one way or another.

I've got at least a couple more weeks on my 30-day refund, I'm going to keep checking this out.

[JorgeAmely]

Greg:
If you can figure out what RF channel your Xlink box is using, you can select a router channel as far as possible from the one used by the Xlink Box.

[Greg G.]

It's not the router that's interfering with it though.  It behaves the same way whether it's in another area of my apartment, or in close proximity to the router, that is the audio quality greatly decreases when the cell phone is more than two feet away. 

[JorgeAmely]

I really don't know if you can tell the Bluetooth transceiver to avoid certain channels. I think they use frequency hopping to avoid interference.

My wife uses a BT handset to connect to her phone in the car. It still sounds terrible at such a short distance.