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Recommend me a cordless phone

Started by Armorfiend, January 14, 2012, 04:32:28 PM

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Armorfiend

I just need one that has high quality sound, and a good mic.  Preferably a thin one.  What re you guys using?


RonR

VTech DS6421-3 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone

The VTech DS6421-3 phone system merges cellular and landline technology. It comes with three handsets, Connect to Cell technology, a digital answering system and handset speakerphones. With Connect to Cell, you can make and receive cell phone calls with the comfort of your VTech cordless handset. No more mad dashes for the misplaced cell phone at home. DECT 6.0 Digital technology delivers long range and also prevents wireless networks and other electronic devices from interfering with conversations.

I have the DS6321-3 predecessor and couldn't be happier with it.

Stewart

What features do you need and how much are you willing to spend?  Many high-end phones include:

Direct IP calling.  No issues with DTMF, talkoff, doubletalk, echo heard by remote party, etc.

Concurrent calls.  When one handset is in use, you can make or receive a call on any other.

HD voice.  Usually limited to intercom and calls between users of the same provider, though sometimes also available between different providers via SIP URI or iNum.

Support for connection of a wired and/or Bluetooth headset.

Cellular integration, as described by RonR.

Speakerphone.  They aren't very good, but still useful for hearing an IVR while entering digits, or when waiting on hold for a long time.

Non-voice functions, e.g. send and receive SMS, view Internet content, etc.

Contact lists, call history, etc., comparable to modern smartphones.

You might look at Panasonic KX-TGP551T04, Gigaset C610A IP, Gigaset A580 IP, other handset models compatible with these bases.

Armorfiend

RonR; Looks like a high quality phone, but it is more than I need. 

My goal is to find a good cordless phone with:

- Better-than-landline call quality
- Comfortable to hold
- Integrates completely with the obi100 and GV (Kind of misleading.  Is there a cordless phone that has a frequency response or transmission frequency that works better than others with GV?)

I plan on taking full advantage of GV's online answering machine and message transcription.  Therefore, I do not need a cordless with an answering machine. If I completely integrate ALL of my phone lines (Work, work cell, personal cell) into GV, I really do not "need" the cellular integration.

I guess my real concern is call quality and what "frequency" of a phone am I looking for?  Last time I shopped for a cordless phone, 900 mHz was all the rage in call quality and range.  (You could get a whole 25 feet away from your base station!)

lhm.


Stewart

Quote from: Armorfiend on January 16, 2012, 07:11:28 PM
- Better-than-landline call quality
I'm somewhat of a voice quality nut, though I also give some consideration to the wallet.

If you want much better than landline quality, e.g. to hear your grandchildren almost like you are visiting them, you have to bypass the PSTN.  Period.  The best phones in the world can't reproduce frequencies higher than 3500 Hz on PSTN calls; this is a limitation of the G.711 codec.  An easy way to have wideband voice is to use Skype or similar, with decent headsets on both ends.

Nearly all IP phones sold today have wideband, often called "HD voice".  Though getting an HD connection usually requires that your contact have the same provider (and of course an HD phone), these phones also generally perform better on the PSTN, because the mics and earpieces are of higher quality.  A cordless IP phone has less quantizing noise; using a cordless POTS phone with an ATA involves needless conversion from digital to analog and back to digital, in each direction.  Though not directly related to voice quality, IP phones are free of DTMF and talkoff issues, and usually have better doubletalk performance and fewer echo problems.

Last year, I bought new phones for our winter apartment: two Aastra 6730i corded desk phones, used for most calling, and a Gigaset A580 IP with three handsets, primarily for convenient answering from bed, living room and kitchen.  On a higher budget, I would have chosen Polycom and Panasonic.  An old SPA3102 allows the Aastra phones to access the local POTS line.  My OBi is at another location, providing access to the pseudo-POTS (triple play) line there.  (It could also provide access to Google Voice.)

Most good cordless phones sold today (IP or not) use the DECT standard, which operates at 1.9 GHz.  A handset should work anywhere in an apartment or smaller home.  If you have a big house, put the base near the middle and on a high shelf, away from obstructions, and you will probably be fine.  If you have a big yard and want it to work anywhere on your property, putting the base in the attic may work, or you may need a commercial system with multiple bases, e.g. Snom.

Rick

My AT&T Dect 6.0 phone works 100s of feet from the house with no problems.  Consumer Reports does regular reviews of phones and phone systems.  Panasonic usually ranks quite high.

Of course AT&T phones were sold off years ago to a third party and have no connection to AT&T the phone company...

lk96

Quote from: Stewart on January 17, 2012, 12:36:00 AM
Last year, I bought new phones for our winter apartment: two Aastra 6730i corded desk phones, used for most calling, and a Gigaset A580 IP with three handsets, primarily for convenient answering from bed, living room and kitchen.  On a higher budget, I would have chosen Polycom and Panasonic.  An old SPA3102 allows the Aastra phones to access the local POTS line.  My OBi is at another location, providing access to the pseudo-POTS (triple play) line there.  (It could also provide access to Google Voice.)

I know my comment is a little off topic but speaking about HD voice: does anyone know
if the Obi HW is able to support any type of HD codec (be it G722, AMR-WB, G711.1 etc) assuming an HD capable
handset is connected to the port ? or is there any info regarding future support plans for such codecs ?

Additionally: assuming that the Obi does not have to do any encoding/transcoding to an HD codec because
an IP phone can do that, will the obi pass on such a codec type in the SIP request/offer?
I have a GS phone which is HD capable and I have it connected through the Obi. In this case
the Obi doesn't even have to do the encoding because the IP phone is capable of doing that.
But the Obi naturally doesn't offer an HD codec even if no voice processing is required.
It would be really interesting to have HD quality even in a limited set of scenarios
where the calls are between Obis or that the Obis are connected to HD capable IP phones.

It would be interesting to know if there is more info or plans on this front.

regards

L.

Ostracus

Quote from: lk96 on January 17, 2012, 08:40:32 AM
Quote from: Stewart on January 17, 2012, 12:36:00 AM
Last year, I bought new phones for our winter apartment: two Aastra 6730i corded desk phones, used for most calling, and a Gigaset A580 IP with three handsets, primarily for convenient answering from bed, living room and kitchen.  On a higher budget, I would have chosen Polycom and Panasonic.  An old SPA3102 allows the Aastra phones to access the local POTS line.  My OBi is at another location, providing access to the pseudo-POTS (triple play) line there.  (It could also provide access to Google Voice.)

I know my comment is a little off topic but speaking about HD voice: does anyone know
if the Obi HW is able to support any type of HD codec (be it G722, AMR-WB, G711.1 etc) assuming an HD capable
handset is connected to the port ? or is there any info regarding future support plans for such codecs ?

Additionally: assuming that the Obi does not have to do any encoding/transcoding to an HD codec because
an IP phone can do that, will the obi pass on such a codec type in the SIP request/offer?
I have a GS phone which is HD capable and I have it connected through the Obi. In this case
the Obi doesn't even have to do the encoding because the IP phone is capable of doing that.
But the Obi naturally doesn't offer an HD codec even if no voice processing is required.
It would be really interesting to have HD quality even in a limited set of scenarios
where the calls are between Obis or that the Obis are connected to HD capable IP phones.

It would be interesting to know if there is more info or plans on this front.

regards

L.


Well I was thinking that the Obi202 has an USB port. That port, if they wanted could be the connection point for an H.264 webcam making it an audio/video solution. Currently  the only others doing that are some expensive TVs with a proprietary camera.

jimates

Panasonic KX-TG7644M Link-To-Cell 1.9 GHz Digital DECT 6.0 4X Handsets Cordless Phones Integrated Answering Machine
Currently $87.99 at Newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16876101396&Tpk=76-101-396&nm_mc=EMC-GD011812&cm_mmc=EMC-GD011812-_-index-_-Item-_-76-101-396

aot2002

I bought a panasonic 6.0 and it works awesome !

radparker

Quote from: Armorfiend on January 14, 2012, 04:32:28 PM
I just need one that has high quality sound, and a good mic.  Preferably a thin one.  What re you guys using?

If you look at Amazon's page for the OBi100, it says "customers who bought this product also bought" and it links to the VTech CS6419 cordless phone for $20. So if you're looking for something that cheap, that's probably the way to go.

goob

Another Panasonic fan here.  I've been using the Kx-tga101s for probably close to 2 years and love it.  Long battery life still, and sound quality is excellent.

mariahcarey

Quote from: RonR on January 14, 2012, 08:28:30 PMVTech DS6421-3 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phonerankdle

The VTech DS6421-3 phone system merges cellular and landline technology. It comes with three handsets, Connect to Cell technology, a digital answering system and handset speakerphones. With Connect to Cell, you can make and receive cell phone calls with the comfort of your VTech cordless handset. No more mad dashes for the misplaced cell phone at home. DECT 6.0 Digital technology delivers long range and also prevents wireless networks and other electronic devices from interfering with conversations.

I have the DS6321-3 predecessor and couldn't be happier with it.


The VTech DS6421-3 phone system seems to offer a good combination of features for those who are looking for a phone system that integrates both cellular and landline technology and is worth considering for those who want to streamline their communications at home.

danialmicik

Quote from: mariahcarey on April 24, 2023, 07:21:07 PM
Quote from: RonR on January 14, 2012, 08:28:30 PMVTech DS6421-3 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phonepositive s words

The VTech DS6421-3 phone system merges cellular and landline technology. It comes with three handsets, Connect to Cell technology, a digital answering system and handset speakerphones. With Connect to Cell, you can make and receive cell phone calls with the comfort of your VTech cordless handset. No more mad dashes for the misplaced cell phone at home. DECT 6.0 Digital technology delivers long range and also prevents wireless networks and other electronic devices from interfering with conversations.

I have the DS6321-3 predecessor and couldn't be happier with it.


The VTech DS6421-3 phone system seems to offer a good combination of features for those who are looking for a phone system that integrates both cellular and landline technology and is worth considering for those who want to streamline their communications at home.

What I love about the VTech DS6421-3 is that you can connect up to 4 Bluetooth devices and add up to 12 handsets. I am using DS6421-3s even now in 2023.

drgeoff

mariahcarey and danialmicik are spammers.  Both have added spam links to quoted links.

psuPete

I'm happy with the Panasonic Link-to-Cell product line.  Have wireless handsets within easy reach and don't have to carry the cellephone around the home.  Many different models of Panasonic, but the bluetooth option is a must.  Many customizable options ... glad I have its user's guide as a PDF.

Even IF you did not have an OBi (or other ITA), this allows you to have wireless extension handsets for your cellular service.

Pete