Need an expandable phone that isn't awful

January 14, 2011 12:28 PM

I need a new phone for the home office. Degree of difficulty: Home phone service is VOIP, so the "base unit" must be in a closet in the living room, but I need speakerphone functionality (ideally a constantly-plugged-in unit, not a handset) three rooms away in the office.

I work from home a couple days a week, and am on the phone upwards of 6 hrs/day when I do. I currently have a VTech expandable cordless phone system. The base unit is plugged into the router in the living room, and I can use the speakerphone on the handsets as needed. However, the battery life is short, and the quality is poor. I'm looking for something that has a "remote" option that can still be an office-quality speakerphone that doesn't require batteries. Open to headsets, but I prefer the speaker option for comfort reasons. Does such a phone exist? I'd also prefer not to use anything through the computer (skype/gtalk/etc)

Thanks!

posted by um_maverick to Technology (1 answer total)

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but I use an older model of this Panasonic phone system with our VOIP service (Ooma, if anyone cares) and it may suit your purposes. The base unit is connected to the router and we keep the extra handsets scattered throughout the house. Since the handsets have built-in speakerphones, it doesn't matter where the base unit is located. The battery life and call quality are both very good. (I think we average about 7+ hours of battery life per handset. The handsets do require batteries, but I can't remember the last time I changed them... more than a year ago, at least.)

Here's another one that's better looking and supposedly has a 12 hour battery life.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 8:32 PM on January 14, 2011