Looking for phone with missed call notification.

November 16, 2012 10:04 AM

Looking for a phone (landline or cell) with a missed call notification.

I have an infant and we keep the all the phones on silent as he can be sleeping at any time. This means a lot of calls go missed.

I am looking for a phone (landline preferred) that has some sort of missed call notification, either a LED stays lit or occasional quiet audible beep/vibration until acknowledged.

My old Motorola Startac did this. Cell would be okay if cheap.

Right now I am using Google voice with a prepaid cell phone on vibrate in the common area of the house, but we still miss calls.

posted by wongcorgi to technology (15 answers total)

Pretty much any Android phone can do this since the Google Voice app can be configured to flash the phone's LED when there's a new message or a missed call.
posted by kindall at 10:07 AM on November 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thanks, I have had several Android phones and did not know that, or perhaps they did not have LEDs.

Still would prefer an landline option but may look on CL for a cheap Android phone.
posted by wongcorgi at 10:13 AM on November 16, 2012

Don't most phone lines with caller ID service do this? We don't have caller ID on our landline, but my mother does, and the phone stores a history of recent, unanswered incoming calls, with numbers, times, and occasionally names. I don't know how much caller ID costs, but surely it's not prohibitive.
posted by tully_monster at 10:20 AM on November 16, 2012

I have a Panasonic cordless phone (I believe it's this one, or at least it looks a lot like that) that has a missed call notification thing. You need to have Caller ID enabled for it to work, though.

Something else to consider is one of those flashing light units they make for hearing impaired people that will flash a bright light when the phone is ringing.
posted by Gev at 10:22 AM on November 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Don't know if would fit the bill but my answering machine does this -- beeps when there are unheard messages. It might require you to train your friends to actually leave a message vs. just hanging up.
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:25 AM on November 16, 2012

My Android phone running CyanogenMod 6 has a specific setting to flash the LED on missed calls.
posted by rhizome at 10:26 AM on November 16, 2012

How about keeping that vibrating prepaid cell phone on your person? Everyone who comprises "we" could have one, and Google Voice can be configured to ring all of them [silently] when a call comes in.
posted by chazlarson at 10:44 AM on November 16, 2012

Don't most phone lines with caller ID service do this?

Perhaps wongcorgi can clarify but my reading of the question is that the OP is looking for a phone which has some sort of indicator that stays "active" until acknowledged or cleared:

either a LED stays lit or occasional quiet audible beep/vibration until acknowledged.

On my iphone for example, missed calls are definitely logged but after a few seconds with no user input the display goes dark and you have no indication that you received a call until you wake the phone from sleep. I assume that's not what's wanted in this case.
posted by moxiequz at 10:44 AM on November 16, 2012

Most Android phones have an LED that lights up when they're charging, and custom ROMs like Cyanogen let the user tweak that so it flashes when there's a missed call, pending calendar notification, or other alert. You should even be able to color-code it so there's one light for missed calls, another for text messages, etc., although that's probably more specificity than you need.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:50 AM on November 16, 2012

My deaf aunt has a device on he phone that is a flashing light to let her know it is ringing. I think she got it from Verizon.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:55 AM on November 16, 2012

Thanks for the suggestions.

@gev: I have a similar Panasonic phone (w/ caller ID enabled) but do not see any option, didn't see the feature listed on your linked product page.

Personally, my wife and I dont carry anything in my pockets (save for wallet) when I am at home.

And yes, I am looking for a persistent notification that there is a missed call. Not just when ringing. My current phone lights up when ringing when on silent and does list the number of missed calls if I look at the display.

I'm looking for something that will stay on or beep/vibrate every x minutes if a call has been missed and I have not pressed a button on the phone.

I may have to just opt for a Android device, though I rather not have to top up a prepaid card every so often to maintain service.
posted by wongcorgi at 11:02 AM on November 16, 2012

My panasonic 3 phone cordless set with built in answering machine on one of the base units does this. It was $99 from costco.

An orange light comes on and stays on until you clear all the missed calls which can be done from any of the 3 handsets. When there's a message the orange light flashes.
posted by saradarlin at 11:12 AM on November 16, 2012

My kids' prepaid flip phone has a spot for a lanyard so they can wear it around their necks (they don't, they tie them to their go bags with it).

If there's not pinhole for a lanyard or strap, pop it in a pouch to keep around your neck.


If this then that? If missed calls on Google Voice = New, then text the prepaid phone to flash again every 15 min.
posted by tilde at 11:15 AM on November 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have an LG 290C prepaid phone through Tracfone, and it will show a persistent blinking red LED in the corner for any missed call or text message (until I check it). This phone is not an Android or a smartphone, but I can recommend it as the best "regular" phone I have ever seen or used. $35 on Amazon.
posted by danceswithlight at 1:08 PM on November 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

I may have to just opt for a Android device, though I rather not have to top up a prepaid card every so often to maintain service.

Why would you have to do that? You've already got a Google Voice account. Get the phone and use it on WiFi.
posted by kindall at 10:02 PM on November 18, 2012