OT - Phone for Home Office

RU Cheese

All-Conference
Sep 14, 2003
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I'm in the market for a telephone for my home office. I'd like to use my landline so I'm looking for an analog phone (e.g. no VOIP) that has an excellent speakerphone. Does anyone have something similar that they use at home and would recommend?

Thanks.
 

Tango Two

Heisman
Staff member
Aug 21, 2001
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Blitz8RU

All-Conference
Jan 24, 2012
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Just buy a smartphone and use that as your home office phone. Landlines are soo old school. No need for them in this day and age.
 

Knight Shift

Heisman
May 19, 2011
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You will have a hard time getting a consensus here. Got to amazon.com and search analog speaker phone and check the ratings. There are a couple o AT&T phones that are highly rated with over 600 reviews and cost 30 bucks or less. Hard to go wrong with that.
 

srru86

All-Conference
Jul 25, 2001
17,877
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As important as the Bell System break up was one of the unintended consequences is it is hard to find a decent consumer phone. Yes, Ma Bell charged you a fortune in rent for their sets but they were bulletproof. Most you'll find today are really cheaply made, even ones that are not inexpensive, and break quickly. I've looked around and haven't been happy with those I picked up. They were in the $75 dollar price range, not bargain basement models but still chintzy in the end.
 

PeteGiam07

All-Conference
Aug 29, 2007
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What age do we live in where you can't get a good speaker phone without getting recommendations? It's a standard technology now...
 

Rutgers2000

Redshirt
Nov 7, 2006
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I have a Panasonic system (don't recall the model) but the speakerphone on both the base and the wireless extensions are great and can be dialed up pretty loud if needed.
 
Aug 23, 2013
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Who the hell uses a speakerphone? Pick up the damn handset. Are you making sausages? Are you washing hair? There's nothing worse than talking to someone on the speakerphone!
 

RU_Planning

Heisman
Aug 14, 2002
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Who the hell uses a speakerphone? Pick up the damn handset. Are you making sausages? Are you washing hair? There's nothing worse than talking to someone on the speakerphone!
If you have a good speaker phone like the OP is inquiring about then it sounds fine. When I was in an office I would always take calls on speaker (because they were good phones) so I could multi-task - take notes, check emails, reference documents for the call, etc.

Now that I am working from a number of places including home I use Line2 (www.line2.com) and a headset on my laptop, but it also is a 2nd line on my personal cell. Does wifi and 3g calls and includes text and can be linked to Outlook contacts.
 

megadrone

Senior
Jul 10, 2003
24,128
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Just buy a smartphone and use that as your home office phone. Landlines are soo old school. No need for them in this day and age.
Try living in my house with plaster walls and aluminum siding, put an office in teh basement, and carry on a conversation on a cel phone.

Actually though, I have a google voice number that I use...since I'm usually by the PC and don't want to tie up the house line.
 

RUevolution36

All-American
Sep 18, 2006
8,165
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Who the hell uses a speakerphone? Pick up the damn handset. Are you making sausages? Are you washing hair? There's nothing worse than talking to someone on the speakerphone!

typing and holding a handset are kinda difficult. the crook of the neck technique doesn't really work for any calls longer than 5 mins and can probably cause some serious neck pain when you're on 2-3 hour Friday conference calls.
 
Aug 23, 2013
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typing and holding a handset are kinda difficult. the crook of the neck technique doesn't really work for any calls longer than 5 mins and can probably cause some serious neck pain when you're on 2-3 hour Friday conference calls.
why not get a headset? or an earpeice? you can probably get a wireless one.
 

superfan01

All-American
May 29, 2003
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I don't trust the OP. Guy is probably into some freaky stuff that he needs all this technology. Probably best to ignore this guy.
What a freak.
 
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ruhudsonfan

Heisman
Oct 20, 2003
31,454
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Who the hell uses a speakerphone? Pick up the damn handset. Are you making sausages? Are you washing hair? There's nothing worse than talking to someone on the speakerphone!

Making sausages...lol

Totally random crack of the year...I LOLed...

Get a headset...people who use speakerphones have little dicks and should die in an explosion in a ball bearing factory
 

scarletjimmy

Freshman
Aug 2, 2001
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I have worked from home for years. I use Panasonic phones that I buy from onlinephonestore.com I have five phones, with a bunch of headsets. They have worked great.
 

Trekology

Junior
Feb 3, 2004
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Check out the Aastra Meridian 9316CW (single line) or 9417CW (2-line). The speakerphone is pretty good as is the build quality. A new one is a little pricy but you can get used/refurbished ones on eBay for a lot less.