Customer Reviews

GE 21518EC1 Dect 6.0 Cell Fusion Bluetooth Adjunct (Black/Silver)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I first got addicted to using a landline phone to answer my cellphone calls with an old Uniden phone I purchased here at amazon, years ago. That Uniden branded phone was only compatible with Bluetooth 1.0 cellphones however, so when I upgraded, I could no longer use the Uniden. This was very frustrating to me so I eventually looked around to find the XLink BTTN gateway. I used that for about six months before I found the GE Cell Fusion here. I weighed the pros and cons of the XLink device, and ultimately decided that the GE Cell Fusion was cheap enough to give a try.

I am so glad that I did. If you are considering the XLink BTTN, or any of the XLink models for that matter, try the GE Cell Fusion first. For starters, the XLink devices are nearly a hundred dollars. That alone should make the GE Cell Fusion worth a better look. Score one.

Once you dive in, you'll find that the GE Cell Fusion pairs very easily. It has a far greater range than the XLink. I live in a two story town home and found that with my main wireless telephone upstairs, the XLink device would never link up with my cellphone until I had walked upstairs and into the room with it, sometimes I even had to initiate the pairing manually. Meanwhile the GE Cell Fusion almost always pairs automatically with my cellphone the moment I walk through the front door. Score two.

Conversations over the GE Cell Fusion are perfectly normal when using your landline number. You will never know that the GE Cell Fusion is connected. Conversations over the GE Cell Fusion when using your cellphone are almost just as well as the landline. There are some occasional pops, clicks, very light staticky sounds that happen with any Bluetooth voice connection, however, on the GE Cell Fusion these are few and far between. Additionally, the entire volume of the call is much louder over the GE Cell Fusion. The XLink had the pops and crackles much more frequently even when the cellphone was placed right next to it, these noises were also louder than I experienced with the GE Cell Fusion. Score three.

If you've seen the XLink devices, then you've seen three big blue buttons on the top of it. Those buttons LIGHT UP, VERY BRIGHTLY when your cellphone is paired. This annoyed me greatly at night, it was almost like having a new night-light in the room. The GE Cell Fusion on the other hand has LED lights that are inside the unit for a more subtle indicator of status, one is red to show that it's powered on, the other two are blue to indicate pairing for up to two phones. The lights are nowhere near as bright as the XLink, much more sensible and less offensive on the eyes. In fact, the whole unit just kinda looks like a neat little appliance gizmo, so you can set it anywhere in your home or office and it doesn't stand out. Score four.

Like with most things in life, there are cons and things it does not do as well as its competition. Thankfully, they are at a minimum here.

The XLink device has a USB port to allow you to upgrade its software. The GE Cell Fusion does not have any such upgrade path as it lacks any other means of connection at all. I have used it with three different cellphones successfully, so it seems compatible enough, but if issues come along in the future they will not be fixable via firmware without exchanging the unit. Normally this would be a knock against the GE, however, I could never use the XLink software to update it; for some reason, XLink's software is incompatible with Windows 7, and because this is what my computer has, I couldn't use it. I don't know that I needed it or that it would have helped with my problems (like turning off that bright blue light), I just know that I couldn't use it. So this is a knock to the GE, and a potential plus for the XLink--if you ever need the upgradeability and can use it.

The GE Cell Fusion has the ability to pair up to two different cellphones simultaneously. It cannot pair more than this at the same time, nor can it have more than two set up for pairing at the same time. The XLink on the other hand can accept up to three pairings, and have each of them paired at the same time. So if you need that many different phones ringing throughout your household, the GE might not be the one for you. Note also that neither of these devices can actually run calls from multiple cellphones through your landline handsets simultaneously, but this is rather understandable.

All in all, I found the GE Cell Fusion to be a much better, full fledged device on its own than the XLink. While the XLink does have USB upgrade access and one extra cellphone pairing, I couldn't use or didn't need either of them, and found that every other feature of the XLink was replicated in the GE Cell Fusion, which did all of those things better. The real kicker is the price, at under thirty bucks you'd have to really need those extra features of the XLink to choose it over this wonderful gizmo.

Links two bluetooth cells to your home phone system.
You must press a key then "1" or "2" to connect to your cell line.

Does not drop calls and is clear if cells are kept close to unit (bluetooth requirement).

There are integrated phone/bluetooth systems that are more functional, but this one allows you to connect it to the main incoming line and use it on all phones in the house.

I'm not sure if some of the low ratings and bad reviews are justified.
BlueTooth is NOT a perfect technology -- so expect it to perform as good as the BlueTooth does on anything else with your cell phone.

That being said... This device works great, andeven better than advertised.

Keep in mind, please... I DO NOT have residential land-line service. You don't need residential service for this to work. What I do have is two cell phones... a cell phone of my own, and one provided to me from work.

When I come home, I plug both cell phones in to charge on a table by the door. On the same table is the GE Cell Fusion unit.

I connected the Cell Fusion's "phone" output to the wall jack instead of a single phone (Not the normal procedure, but keep in mind, I don't have residential phone service). -- WHat this does is feed my ENTIRE HOUSE with connectivity to BOTH cell phones.

No matter what room I am in, living room, bedroom, basement, or driveway with the cordless... I can answer calls coming in either cell phone -- or place calls through either phone. (yes, it involves a 3-button sequence to do so, but keep in mind your house phone is land-line by default. The sequence tells the GE device that you are selecting the cell option, and which cell phone you want to dial from)

What isnt mentioned anywhere on the package or in the manual is that 'Incoming Caller ID' *IS* supported. It sends the Caller ID info* to the house phones that have such displays. (*you must have Caller ID service on your cell phone, AND your cell phone must support sending this info over BlueTooth signal)

This device is simple to set up, easy to use -- and works great.

The Product work Great as Long as your cell phone stays within 15 feet of the box, the only thing i really dont like is the #1# to make a outgiong call, but im sure future models will make better adjustments to the product. but overall i give it a 4 star rating....

This device offered acceptable sound. Not great sound. It was nice to be able to talk on my cordless phones and not have to run up and down stairs looking for my cell.

Device began to have noise/static after only one month. Called and spoke to a horrible tech support department. Clueless is an understatement. I mailed the device back to GE at my expense and was told it would be 8-10 weeks before they would send me a new one. How crazy is that?! Not happy at all.

It works! We have a cordless house phone with 3 extensions, and two cell phones. The sound quality varies, according to where your phone is and the distance from the device, but it works. My older LG phone connects automatically as I approach the house. The other cell phone is a new SonyEricsson and sometimes the phone will grab the call after the GE device does, which cause the house phone connected to the GE device to go dead. I think this is a problem with the cell phone though. It never happens with the LG phone. Dialing out is easy, #1# for the first cell phone, #2# for the second, and then # again after you enter the number to call. I have not been able to get the house phones to copy the cell phone books, but I can enter them manually. Caller ID is passed through to the house phones.

All in all, I can recommend this to those who have a multi-phone house system, and do not want to run to find their cell when it rings.GE 21518EC1 Dect 6.0 Cell Fusion Bluetooth Adjunct (Black/Silver)

It works pretty good, there is some delay when the cell phone ring and is answer on the house handset, but then it works great, I would rather talk on the house phone than on the cell at home. Interface into the land line is seamless.

I was easily able to establish a bluetooth connection and gain house-line access with both my phone and my wife's phone; however, I could only dial out using my wife's phone (a newer model). Combine that with the annoying inability to use the numbers stored in my house-line handsets and the requirement of dialing a special code to access the phone, and I have to give this item only three stars. It works fine for incomming calls, but that's about all it's good for.

edit:9/25/09 Well, the item is now exiled to the basement. After two successful first trials, the unit routed cell calls to the house line, but then it mysteriously stopped working. It would still link up when the cells were brought back in range, but no routing of calls.

This box does what it says it will do - it allows you to use your cell phone but talk and dial from a regular phone. However, that being said, it's one of the most user-unfriendly products I've had in quite some time:

- #1#. You will get to know these numbers very well. You have to dial #1# (or #2# if you're dialing out on the second line), then the phone number you want to dial, then # when you're done dialing. It has no internal mechanism to figure out when you've entered a valid number and to send it to your cell. I view this as a major safety issue because in an emergency, will everyone in your home remember to do this? Or will a visitor even know about this requirement? #1#911# is a whole lot more complicated than 911. Xlink allows you to dial just "911".

The xlink has software that also figures out which cell phone lines are present, and allows you to customize the priority of each line (i.e., you may want to dial out on line 2 before line 1, or dial line 3 if line 2 is currently in use). If you just want to dial, for example, it lets you do that and it figures out the highest priority cell phone that's available.

- The xlink gives you a software package that allows you to customize things like ring patterns, caller ID options, and even voicemail. The CellFusion box doesn't give you any software, so you can forget customization of any kind.

- 800-number phone menus. This box is really touchy in terms of what automated phone menu systems it works with. Many times, it will eat numbers that you punch in instead of passing them on to the automated phone system. This gets annoying because now you have to run to your cell phone and punch them in from that. The xlink offers no advantage over this - I've found it to be touchy with phone menus as well.

Voice quality between the xlink and CellFusion are pretty similar - both are good. But, in my view, the annoyances of the CellFusion make it an inferior product.

I bought this gateway mainly because of its price compared to others. I have had it now for almost a year and it has woked absolutely perfectly! I have used a total of four different phones and the device has performed great with all of them. It connects perfectly and call quality is great, range is great too. I can clearly talk in any room and even go outside on the porch! Ease of use and overall performance makes it one of the best electrical devices I have ever bought!