Xlink Bluetooth Gateway

[Devansphones]

Hi everyone! I'm sure this has been discussed before, but does anybody have experience with these "Xlink Bluetooth Gateways"? Are they worth the approx $70 USD? Thinking of giving it a try. Any feedback would be appreciated. 😁☎️

[Jack Aman]

I've used one for years and it works great.  It drives five old Western Electric phones in my home.  Two 302's, two D-1's on subsets and one B-1 on a subset.  All ring strongly even without the "extra ringing power" you can set in the firmware if you need it.  All dial out perfectly.  I use the BTTN model and my cable VOIP runs through it too.  Calls on the VOIP "house phone" ring with the standard US ring.  Calls on my wife's cell ring with the British "ring-ring" pattern, and calls on my cell ring with a "long-and-a-short" pattern.  All settable in the firmware.  You can even adjust for sluggish dials in the firmware settings. Voice quality excellent.

[AL_as_needed]

I too have used it and very much enjoyed my XLink for three years now. I only keep three phones wired to it at any given time as some of the older rotary phones (like 302s) start to strain its ring voltage capacity when a collection worth is on it 

Your cell phone will have to be fairly close for the best sound quality and most stable connection, but for a collector who doesn't have POTs service, an awesome substitute.

[Protel8000]

I've always wondered about the XLink. Do you know if it passes on Caller ID information from the phone?

[AL_as_needed]

portel8000:

I honestly do not know. Rotary phones don't really tell you who is calling. It does have an option to sync contact information with the paired cell phone and there are caller ID options within the XLink menus, so I'd assume it can support caller ID on more modern phones.

I sort of cheat and leave my cell (muted) on my desk so if I need to see who's calling me, I just glance over.

[Jim Stettler]

The xlink is blue tooth from your smart phone to a rotary. Use the smart phone for caller ID.

If you aren't in a hurry you can get a xlink for cheap. Just keep bidding a low max max wheneevr they come up on ebay. $30-50 is my price range (with shipping)
JMO,
Jim S.

[Devansphones]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate all the info!

[oldguy]

I agree with Jim, you will eventually win one on the cheap. I have one I mess with people at work. We have a web based business phone system. I have a 302 I put in different places & I have someone call my cell phone & the 302 rings with that distinctive ring, nothing like a modern business phone. They always answer it 😀😀😀

[dsk]

May I use an old cellphone with some voip software, and then use the X-link as an voip adapter, or even a google talk/hangouts adapter?
What android app will be OK

dsk

[AL_as_needed]

dsk: I have used my cell over google voice (briefly) and it worked well. As google voice is web based, the set-up was something like this; Rotary Phone-> XLink -> Cellphone -> WiFi / google voice -> rest of the world.

I stopped using it as it only worked when the cellphone was within range of the wifi, and as I pay for cell service, it was sort of pointless to go through all the connections when my xlink could just go off my cell service.  As to a specific app, I cannot say as I have an i-phone 

[GLadstone]

Hi dsk,

May I use an old cellphone with some voip software, and then use the X-link as an voip adapter, or even a google talk/hangouts adapter?
What android app will be OK

I can also confirm that wifi calls can be made through the Xlink via an old bluetooth-capable android-based smart cell phone with the the Google Voice and Google Hangouts apps installed.

In my case, the cell phone is not activated and was purchased primarily as a wifi device to make "local toll" and "long distance" phone calls using the Google Voice / Google Hangout apps.

Here are the links to the apps (at the Google Play store) installed on the cell phone:

Google Voice:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice

Google Hangouts:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.talk

Google Hangouts Dialer:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.hangoutsdialer

Take care,
GLadstone

[dsk]

I found an old Samsung and found that on the telephone setup, I could register a sip account and make it send and receive calls, that works far better than downloaded apps.
This is in Callcentric called: "the native Android SIP Client"
Works great, but I have no dial plan options.

Still I  by now has the most tolerant rotary dial reading adapter I have tested so far.
dsk

[dsk]

My way of solving the need of simper dialing was to go via an old laptop running 3CX and make rules there. 8 digits for Norway, 3 digits for intercom, and 011 (or 00) and country code for other countries.

dsk

[dsk]

Now I have used the Xlink more regularly the last months, it has delay from connection to the other party to the sound is getting trough, but when it works after 1-2 seconds it works well, and it accepts rotary dials failing on the  BK Precision 1045/1050 Telephone Tester.

dsk

[AL_as_needed]

Now I have used the Xlink more regularly the last months, it has delay from connection to the other party to the sound is getting trough, but when it works after 1-2 seconds it works well, and it accepts rotary dials failing on the  BK Precision 1045/1050 Telephone Tester.

If you have the Xlink utilities program load on a computer (available from XLink support online), you can check and adjust settings for call delay and dial characteristics. I have a 354 wall phone that dials rather fast and had to allow "off spec" dialing on the Xlink for it to be accepted reliably.