This thing better be called Felicia’s Phone
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Yes, the Garmin DriveSmart 65 has a Wi-Fi icon that appears in the middle of the top bar of the home screen to indicate (a) the Wi-Fi is on and (b) the strength of the Wi-Fi signal. You easily can turn off Wi-Fi by touching Settings on the home screen, touching Wireless Networks on the next screen, and unchecking the Wi-Fi checkbox. I leave this device’s Wi-Fi off unless I want to check for updates. There is no Wi-Fi icon at the top of the home screen when Wi-Fi is off (unchecked).
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Good point. You’re right: It fails for your needs. I don’t use the answering machine, so the “ANS ON” light is always off on my CL4940. Instead, I use the fabulous voicemail functionality that comes with AT&T Phone.
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If your home is not wired for Ethernet cables, with Ethernet jacks in various rooms, then you don’t need the adapters to which I was referring. If you still need to run telephony cords, then I recommend instead that you check out flat telephony cords.
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confused…you use the awesome voicemail vfunctionality of the at&t phone? do you mean the functionality of the at&t service? you have to log in online to get your voicemail, correct?
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could you still share the links? you are amazing. with you and i, we have hacked every single thing that is needed. you rockkkk.
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I am referring to the functionality of what AT&T calls “AT&T Phone” – its VoIP service formerly called “U-verse Voice”.
And, no I don’t have to log in to get my voicemail. When I pick up the receiver and hear the stutter-tone (vs. the usual dial-tone), then I know that voicemail is waiting, and I need dial only *98# to retrieve my voicemail. After retrieving my voicemail, the usual dial-tone (vs. the stutter-tone) returns with subsequent pick-ups of a telephone receiver.
If you go to https://www.att.com/home-phone/plans/, scroll half-way down the page to the “AT&T PHONE” section, and click the “See calling features” link, then you will get a popup with “25+ calling features such as Locate Me and Do Not Disturb”.
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IF you want to run a telephony line from your telephony-jack source (or a telephony-jack splitter, such as you show in your blog post), then I recommend these two items (or something similar):
IF you want to convert for telephony an existing Ethernet cable that now is plugged into a router or switch but starts near a telephony-jack source and terminates at an Ethernet jack elsewhere in your home, then I recommend these two items (or something similar):
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08T7V12DC/ – You plug this adapter’s male RJ11 end into your telephony source (jack or splitter), and you plug your Ethernet cable, which you have unplugged from your router or switch, into this adapter’s female RJ45 end. At this point you are starting to dedicate this Ethernet cable to be instead a telephony cable. It’s still technically an Ethernet cable, but you are going to use it only for telephony, which means that you are going to take advantage of only one of the four twisted-pairs (two of the eight copper wires) within the cable.
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B4SB2FX/ – You plug this adapter’s male RJ45 end into the elsewhere-in-the-home Ethernet jack that the aforementioned Ethernet cable feeds, and you plug your telephone’s cord into the this adapter’s female RJ11 end.
Each of the above Ethernet/telephony links takes you to an Amazon page where you are buying a package of two such adapters at a time. So, if you buy one of each package, then today for about US$20 you can convert two Ethernet-cable-to-Ethernet-jack lines in a home into two telephony lines.
The beauty of this $10, two-adapters approach is threefold:
- You don’t have to run a telephony wire.
- You don’t have to replace a female RJ45 Ethernet jack with a female RJ11 telephony jack.
- Later, if you decide that you want to use the line for Ethernet again, then you simply revert the setup to what you had before you introduced the two adapters.
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thanks for explaining that. I have that option through Xfinity too, but I don’t like it NEARLY as much as having voicemail on my answering machine with a softly red blinking light which signifies that i have new mail! 
thank you for alerting us to the fact that we can have phone lines with SOME fiber optic!
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Wow, thank you so much for sharing your incredible knowledge and work that you have put into this.
I can now see how this benefits someone who already has ethernet wired in the home, and wants to start using home phones.
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Yes, but the answering device is very small. It sits by my plant. My corded phone has a long cord and I can drag it all over my living room. I don’t like cordless phones. I have another corded phone in my bedroom.
If you don’t want another device, you could opt for the answering service. I think when you pick up, the dial tone is different if you have messages. I like see the red blinking light and just pressing “delete”, “play” …
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I like the look of these as well, but I’m sure it goes against one of my other main values - don’t buy made in china. If I can find a used/second-hand one that would be great.
Joyce, regarding the 1740 digital answering system at&t — does the light from the number of messages you have, remain ON? I understand that the lights blinks when you have a new message, and it would stop blinking after you listen to the message, but it also looks like the number showing how many old messages you have is displayed using a red light on the screen. If you had this in a dark room, for example, would there be light eminating from the device?
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Once you delete the messages, there is a “0” (not flashing) and another red light is on indicating that the machine is on. It’s not a bright red light because it is a “white plastic” button and the red bulb is lower so it’s muted. Also I have it by my plant and my living room remains bright at night. You can press the button to turn the machine off when you’re home. I don’t think the light emanates in a dark room - if you have glossy white walls and ceilings, it’s not going to reflect red or anything like that.
Joyce, thank you for sharing this information in such detail.
I agree that for most people with a “typical home”, that it doesn’t matter if the answering machine has a light, even if a soft one. But for those of us, who have to live with roommates, or in a studio apartment, it really matters. Yes, one could turn off the machine’s answering machine every night so that no light is being emitted while one is sleeping, but that is def. a nuisance.
I continue to point out that the people of this world (even those who do not yet realize it), who must live in small spaces and cannot yet own their own home, need a phone or answering machine that doesn’t emit light at night that would disrupt sleep. And there is no phone or answering machine to attach to a phone, that is manufactured today which achieves this. But, i think you raised a great option for those who do own a typical home.
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