Gismo stops telephone tag

TELEPHONE TAG IS is the bane of many small buisnesses. They have to give out a fixed line telphone number but frequently only have access to a mobile phone. Burnside Telecom has created a new black box, the Pathfinder, to combat this situation.

Basically you put your mobile's SIM card inside the Pathfinder and then attach it to a fixed telephone line. You then have an electronic switchboard operator.

When an incoming call arrives, if you don't pick up the local telephone handset, Pathfinder's IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system kicks in and tells the caller he or she is being routed to your mobile phone.

The clever bit is that certain mobile operators offer tariffs where calls between handsets in the same group are free such as Vodafone Sharetime or T-Mobile's Daytime 3000. So if the Pathfinder's SIM card and the called mobile phone are on the same tariff, the call is effectively forwared for free.

Pathfinder is particularly suited to small businesses who don't want to reveal their mobile phone number because it is used for personal calls out of office hours.

Th product is similar to Moteo which is offered by Swedish company, Exsero. However, Moteo requires a PC whereas Pathfinder is a standalone product.

Burnside's David Robson claims that Pathfinder is better than BT's still unlaunched Bluephone. You can plug a regular (DECT) cordless phone into the Pathfinder, then switch over to a mobile handset when you leave the premises. µ