The world's first hybrid telephone, designed to switch seamlessly between mobile and landline networks, was unveiled yesterday. In the home, the BT Fusion handset is linked wirelessly to a base station and behaves like a conventional fixed line cordless phone. But outside, the phone automatically turns into a mobile phone, charging full mobile rates. [...] The new phone marks an important technical step towards convergence - the point at which mobile and landline phones are completely interchangeable. To use BT Fusion, homes must sign up to BT Broadband. They will be given a free base station, called a hub, and a free handset. The hub uses Bluetooth wireless technology to connect to any handset within 25 yards. The box also works as a wireless (wi-fi) router, allowing the owner to connect several PCs and laptops around the home to the internet simultaneously.

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