A statement from The Verge author, Ashley Carman, completely cracked me up when I first read it. She says, “Before I start telling you about this new gadget, let’s have a moment of silence for the landline phone number”. I laugh because it’s true. How many folks do you know still use a landline? I say “use”, rather than “own”, because the two are completely different, as my own mother has a landline still, but hasn’t used it in years. In comes my reasoning for bringing this topic up- telecommunication design and development company Invoxia has a new device in town, designed to separate the “bridge” (there is an incoming pun here) between our landlines and our smartphones. Because technology has improved so much over the years, landlines are pretty much considered useless, despite the statistics that claim about 40 percent of U.S. households still use a landline. Hard to believe anyone uses one at all, with the exception of the elderly, and others who don’t really leave their homes of course. But how about a device that can make your landline useful again?

Let me begin by saying, this has got to be one of the coolest new technologies I have heard about in quite some time, and I’ve honestly been somewhat wondering when we were going to end the vintage form of communication, that or come up with a solution for its loneliness. Cleverly named, Voice Bridge is a little square device that “puts your landline inside your cell phone”. Digital Trends says the device isn’t actually that new, and was unveiled by Invoixia’s Swissvoice division (est. 1893) during the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

As you could easily imagine, Voice Bridge works by forwarding your landline calls to your smartphone by using your home network. This means, using either your Android or iOS app, you are instantly able to make or receive phone calls using your mobile devices (both smartphones and tablets included). Further, Voice Bridge gives you the same opportunities your smart device does, including reviewing your notifications and missed calls, and the ability to add up to five people to a line (Digital Trends).

By June 30th, Invoxia will be updating the system to “allow users to make landline calls from ANY Wi-Fi network, not just their home network”. Lengthening the span of Voice Bridge will be great for a variety of reasons. Small business owners could take calls without giving up their own private number, or, anyone in an area with spotty service could connect to Wi-Fi to check your messages or phone calls. I’ll end on another funny quote I couldn’t get over. As Forbes writes, “While this new feature may be saving the landline, it is effectively killing the excuse “I wasn’t at home to answer your call because I ran to Starbucks for a little bit”. Now that’s where you’re on your own, folks.