Corded phone suggestions

agrinnall

Well, I got 111 views and no answers on the Home Phones sub-board so I thought I'd try here instead.

Can anybody recommend a corded phone with an answerphone that doesn't have serious flaws? I've hunted across various suppliers online and while several phones seem OK at first look when you read user reviews they all seem to have faults - no battery so everything is lost when the power goes off, dodgy buttons, awful ring tones, answerphone only accessible from matching cordless phone, can't be used when the power is off, ring delay, etc., etc.

WTFH

I know this might not be the answer you're looking for, but how about getting a corded phone and then a seperate answerphone?
The corded phone will work if the power goes, but the answerphone won't.

agrinnall

It wasn't something I'd thought of, because I hadn't realised stand alone answer machines still existed. I certainly wouldn't discount the idea now I know there are some, but the two I found on Amazon seem to suffer from some of the same issues that built in ones do. I'll search a bit harder just in case there's a great one out there that isn't available on Amazon.

closed

http://www.shop.bt.com/category/electronics,telephony,telephones/11206-45250000-4294946662

answerphone is unlikely to work without power, but calls should still work, date and time are often picked up from caller id of the next call if power is lost.

agrinnall

Thanks closed, unfortunately they are two of the phones that have a lot of poor reviews on Amazon, especially the 650 which seems to be pretty appalling.

closed

Sometimes reviews are overly crtitical, as noted by some reviewers, which aspect is putting you off, the only major one seems to be naff polyphonic ringtones (decor 2500 has 3 standard ringtones), there is a video of them embedded in one amazon review.

Lots to choose from on amazon if you put "corded telephones with answer machine" in

WTFH

OK, just did a quick test. Our answerphone is the base station for BT Freelance XT3500 cordless phones.
We had 1 message on the answerphone. I unplugged the power socket from the base station for a minute, then plugged it back in again. The message was still there.
So, the message stayed saved even with no power.

bod1467

Does the base station have backup batteries in it? (If it does then "no power" was really "no mains power").

WTFH

bod1467 wrote: »

Does the base station have backup batteries in it? (If it does then "no power" was really "no mains power").

Short answer: no
Long answer: If it does, they have been in there for a few years and are not user replaceable (i.e. there's no way to get into the base station without unscrewing two screws and taking it apart)

agrinnall

The problem with losing power that several users have reported is not necessarily to do with the messages but more about the phone losing all the set up that has been done on it, names and numbers being the main thing. And most modern phone/answer combinations don't seem to have battery back up to at least give some protection against this sort of loss.

And yes, polyphonic ring tones are one of the complaints commonly made, but by no means the only one. I have yet to find a corded phone/answerphone that is on sale now that doesn't suffer from one or more issues for at least some of the people who have written reviews.

I guess probably the thing to do is pick one that seems to have less bad reviews and order it online so that if I try it and don't like it I can at least return it under DSR.

closed

If you're talking about the 650, it doesn't lose the name and numbers or settings or messages (all held in non volatile memory), just the time and date, which is reset when the phone is called next, or can be done manually. How often do you get a power cut? The decor may be more suitable if you want standard ring tones.