Geemarc Produce Clever 4G Adapter for Old Analogue UK Home Phones
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).
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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).
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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.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I’ve seen similar in the past, albeit using 2G, the main issue though is that when I looked at services to port the ‘landline’ to a sim, they cost more than my current VOIP provider.
As such, I can see this be more useful for older/vulnerable people who wont/can’t use a mobile and ‘regular’ VOIP has it’s issues e.g. power outages.
That said, it’s a shame they didn’t include ethernet and allow this to be used as a trunk as that could have expanded it’s potential use, granted it would be niche.
I’m also hoping that some day they allow you to port landline to mobile, as that would allow for some significant savings (in my case, halving my phone bill).
Does this use the mobile number from the SIM, or do you need to subscribe to a VoIP service from them ?
Yes, by default it uses the mobile number from the SIM, which is the easiest setup. But as above, it seems you’d need to use a special third-party service (at cost) if you wanted to put your existing home phone number on such a 4G SIM, and it doesn’t seem to do VoIP/SIM profiles directly.
Is this just a 4G modem and an ATA in the same box?
When I first saw the title I hoped it is a VoLTE2SIP adapter and I was already looking for the purchase link to replace the 2G adapter I’m using. But re-reading the article I have the impression this is noting more than a modem and an ATA glued together.
Checking the manufacturer’s site, it didn’t become any more clear. The user guide says nothing but implies I just put the SIM in and I can make a phone call. So is this a VoLTE2FXS device or something else?
The title of the user guide says
RADIO CONTROLLED CLOCK WITH APPOINTMENT ALARM
The more I look into this the less I trust it.
I’ve been using one of these for a couple of months. I have a Smarty SIM in it. The unit acts as a wifi hotspot, and also allows you to make and receive calls from the SIM number by plugging any home type phone into it. There is a dashboard type interface which can be accessed via a tablet, laptop etc connected via the wifi hotspot for admin. SMS messages can also be sent and received from the SIM via the dashboard interface. The unit is powered by USB C, there is also a built in battery which will easily power the unit for 12 hours, in the event of a power cut. It was very easy to get up and running – just pop a SIM in and connect to power. The antennas are both for 4g (not wifi), and detachable so it would be possible to fit external 4g antennas.
This isn’t new…
Huawei have had routers for years, so have TPLINK, Nokia etc.
They also run on 5G, some even have a battery in them for use in power cuts.
https://amzn.eu/d/7BCqZSC
An example.
Since you mention Huawei – my gran has had a phone made by them for over 10 years now. It looks and acts as a regular analogue phone, with a dialling tone and all, but it doesn’t plug into the landline – it has a SIM card slot instead.
Nothing new, I remember the Globesurfer devices a decade ago.
This, however, is just straight off Alibaba. The “Black Rock L805A” (probably amongst other names) that can be had for as a little as $25/unit if ordering 50.
Ir there’s this;
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EGQ9FuS
Literally does the same thing, for £45 ish
It would be nice to get any Mobile Signal !.
Does the unit present the caller ID to the attached analogue phone in the standard way? Or indeed handle text messages in the way a Openreach line would (voice the message, or send a data burst with the ring signal, also act as a SMSC so the phone can pass a message to the device to relay on via the SIM to the network’s true SMSC)
On a related point, I can see a market for a “smart digital” (VDSL compatible) NTE5 faceplate with similar features. Just unscrew the current faceplate from master socket, plug in existing phones, and the customer is “digital voice” ready (would need a power supply, ideally a combined power supply/battery pack.