Home phone recommendations

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Yetti92

62 posts

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#293826 15-Feb-2022 20:51

We have a free VoIP connection with our ISP and need a recommendation for a wireless home phone as the wife runs a business from home and some of her older customers prefer calling on a landline and our old panasonic phones are now old and failing. Anyone have any recommendations on a cordless phone. Is Bluetooth any use on a landline phone?

jonathan18

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#2869186 15-Feb-2022 21:34

Some landline phones use BT to tether mobile phones, if that makes sense. Our Panasonic automatically connects to up to two mobiles, allowing calls to either mobile to ring and be accepted on the home phone, if that’s what you want. Equally, we can choose to make calls on the landline using the mobile connection (ie, will use the mobile to call). I thought it could be useful, but that I’ve not bothered to connect my own current mobile for the 2.5 years I’ve owned it indicates otherwise!

pih

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#2869336 16-Feb-2022 08:06

How about a VOIP app on your mobile?

shanes

258 posts

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#2869377 16-Feb-2022 08:52

We've got a Yealink SIP-W56H handset and matching base.

Great range, uses DECT rather than WiFi which I feel probably makes it a little more reliable.

Would have liked Bluetooth connectivity for Mobiles, but in hindsight that's probably not a feature that would get used.

I've also got a SIP client on my Mobile... it's a bit clunky so I never use it.

Spyware

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#2869380 16-Feb-2022 09:03

OP is most likely after an analog phone to plug into ATA on router or ONT.

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neb

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#2869942 16-Feb-2022 21:28

I used to really like Uniden but between myself and other family members we've owned multiple models operating in different areas that all have the same problem, they'll randomly drop out in the middle of a call and then spend awhile reconnecting while you sit there hoping the person at the other end hasn't hung up. Actually my preference for Uniden was really that they sucked less than Panasonic, but that was some years ago so Panasonic may have gotten better in the meantime.

Yetti92

62 posts

Master Geek

#2870109 17-Feb-2022 09:42

Yeah was looking at maybe a uniden. And yes I have an ATA that they plug into. I was reading you can make mobile calls with the home phone handset via Bluetooth but does it work the other way round, eg taking home phone "landline"calls via mobile also?

jonathan18

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#2870125 17-Feb-2022 10:25

Yetti92:

Yeah was looking at maybe a uniden. And yes I have an ATA that they plug into. I was reading you can make mobile calls with the home phone handset via Bluetooth but does it work the other way round, eg taking home phone "landline"calls via mobile also?

The BT function of the cordless phone won't provide for that; I imagine that could be managed by an app on one's phone if using a VOIP service that's compatible, eg this old thread talks about Android apps for using with 2Talk.

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neb

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#2871007 18-Feb-2022 17:44

As @shanes pointed out, if it's a VoIP service you could just get a VoIP phone and bypass the ATA, seems a bit pointless to go digital -> analog -> digital again when you can just go digital direct to the phone. Another problem with the ATA-based solution is that the DECT base station needs to be near the ATA, and if that's in a networking cupboard you're wasting an whole handset just so the base station can be there.

For VoIP phones there's two main players, Yealink and Grandstream, which for general home phone use seem more or less identical but the Grandstream is cheaper and you buy the base and handsets separately so you can mix and match as required. I've just started the move from Uniden (the multi-stage digital/analog above) to Grandstream, which simplifies a lot of things.