8 best home phones that are life savers if you live in a mobile signal black spot
Models now include nuisance call blockers and the ability to receive calls to your mobile on it
To some, the landline seems remarkably quaint. But while mobile notspots mean there can be places in your home that your smartphone’s signal doesn’t reach, they continue to be essential.
There are other benefits over relying on your mobile. First, almost all broadband tariffs still require a landline rental as well, so you might as well have a phone attached to it, right?
Then there’s the fact that the battery on a cordless home phone lasts longer than that smartphone you’ve been using all day long when you weren’t at home.
Even if your mobile signal is good in the upstairs bedroom, it may not reach to the below-ground rooms, and a cordless landline can often deliver great range.
The radiation levels from a mobile phone are less of an issue than they used to be, but a cordless landline certainly still offers an even lower health risk. Corded phones have no radiation at all, of course.
If you choose a pack with multiple handsets, the first has to be plugged in to the landline socket but the rest connect by cable to the electrical socket but wirelessly to the first phone.
There are two dominant brands in this category of gadget: BT which is solid and dependable, and Panasonic which has the edge when it comes to being chic and innovative.
You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Panasonic KX-PRW120EW: £99.99. Panasonic
Panasonic’s landline looks like it wants to be a mobile, and its design works very well. It’s chunkier than a smartphone but still feels good in the hand. It fits satisfyingly on the charging station with magnets ensuring it’s in the right place to charge. If the phone is downstairs and you’re in another room with your mobile, you can set it up so the smartphone can answer the landline’s call, or use the smartphone to make calls through the landline connection – which could be a godsend if mobile reception in some parts of your home is poor. This connectivity works with Android and Apple phones though there are additional features for Android phones such as matching the smartphone ringtone on the Panasonic phone. Slick and effective.
Jacob Jensen telephone 3: £90.90, Amazon
This handsomely designed model from Jacob Jensen is a real pleasure to use and is beautifully made with great build quality. Touch the upper part of the handset and it almost floats into your hand. Of course, regular features are there, such as memory keys and last number redial. And that funny cord that goes into the wall? That means the call quality is consistently excellent, something that varies on even the best cordless.
BT premium phone: From £69.99, BT
The Premium looks great and has an attractive, bright colour display. It has a 3,000 name-and-number directory and, usefully, you can sync the address book from your mobile, connecting the mobile to the landline wirelessly by Bluetooth. The Premium has higher specs than many phones here, including 60 minutes of recordings on the answering machine, advanced and easily customised call blocker settings and – like the Panasonic KX-PRW120EW – the ability to receive calls for your mobile on your landline, so if your mobile signal is just fine by the front door but hopeless in the basement, this helps to make sure you don’t miss a call.