Battery Answerphone?

[thirdcrank]

AIUI, you are only buying a short reprieve for your current arrangements. I think the future lies in a mobile each and getting used to it.

Looking at this the other way round, I cannot imagine that if the legacy system was mobile phones anybody would want a landline based on the same system

[Jdsk]

AIUI, you are only buying a short reprieve for your current arrangements. I think the future lies in a mobile each and getting used to it.

Looking at this the other way round, I cannot imagine that if the legacy system was mobile phones anybody would want a landline based on the same system

Are you only thinking of voice or of voice and data?

Thanks

Jonathan

[thirdcrank]

I'm thinking about what seems to be on offer. When our landline+broadband came up for renewal (EE using BT wires AIUI) it coincided with fibre being installed down our street. BT on telegraph poles, somebody else underground. I think I posted at the time. Mrs thirdcrank was keen to keep a landline on the basis that that was what she was used to, but it would have been extra and AIUI (explained by somebody on here IIRC) not a separate "legacy" system which could be relied on if there were to be a problem with our mobiles.

One mobile each, mrs thirdrcrank is coping better than she expected (on the mobile to ne of her chums at the mo) and it's ideal for us

E&OE

[simonineaston]

Speaking (or writing in this case) as someone who moved away from having a landline, back in 2017, I have only a passing interest in this discussion, however, BT themselves have acknowledged that the intended roll-out of voice over IP has not gone as intended and have postponed the programme pending further development, according to the consumer affairs programme I listened to the other week.
Consumers were registering complaints as it was found that services that were available over copper wire were not transferring readily to the all-digital voip.
This article is a little out of date but summarises the situation as it was back in March this year. It's suggested that one of the biggest drawbacks is the simple fact that old copper wire telephone services enjoy their own power, whereas voip over a digital network requires powered routers etc in the house in order to maintain a functioning connection. Thus a local powercut renders the voip system temporarily useless.
Maybe not a problem if the household enjoys the services of mobile phones - well, not at least until the mobile phone batteries conk out...

[Psamathe]

With so many people now discarding their landlines completely and most of those still using them having answerphone provided by the phone company (rather than box in house) I can't see many landline phone companies putting much R&D into in house domestic answerphones.

In my own family nobody uses their landline for phone calls. BT offer cheaper landline connections if it's just broadband (no phone), when people say "the future lies in a mobile" - the future is already here and has been for a fair time now.

Ian

[Jdsk]

It's suggested that one of the biggest drawbacks is the simple fact that old copper wire telephone services enjoy their own power, whereas voip over a digital network requires powered routers etc in the house in order to maintain a functioning connection. Thus a local powercut renders the voip system temporarily useless.
Maybe not a problem if the household enjoys the services of mobile phones - well, not at least until the mobile phone batteries conk out...

There are a few basics about the migration and the options that need to be understood by everyone including that dependence on mains power (which has its own thread somewhere) and the extreme variability of 4G coverage and its likely changes near future.

I'm thinking about what seems to be on offer. When our landline+broadband came up for renewal (EE using BT wires AIUI) it coincided with fibre being installed down our street. BT on telegraph poles, somebody else underground. I think I posted at the time. Mrs thirdcrank was keen to keep a landline on the basis that that was what she was used to, but it would have been extra and AIUI (explained by somebody on here IIRC) not a separate "legacy" system which could be relied on if there were to be a problem with our mobiles.

One mobile each, mrs thirdrcrank is coping better than she expected (on the mobile to ne of her chums at the mo) and it's ideal for us

The required bandwidth varies enormously between households. In making those decisions about options it's essential to have a rough idea of what's required. Especially while we persevere with ADSL.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

With so many people now discarding their landlines completely and most of those still using them having answerphone provided by the phone company (rather than box in house) I can't see many landline phone companies putting much R&D into in house domestic answerphones.

Yes. As in my original advice to the OP. And that comment about the desirability of a spec that's about needs rather than ways of addressing them.

Jonathan

[tatanab]

1) different ringtone for people in my contact list I’d want to speak to.
2) look at the number displayed . If it’s a local number I usually answer it or a number which I might know
3) press reject or just ignore it
4) answer it and listen to the first line of guff, end call, select block.

Under VOIP then I am basically stuffed because I am the secretary of a club of over 400 people, so not practical to install as a contact list, and I would not be able to look at the number since number display is a BT option I do not have, and of course I would not recognise any of those 400 plus numbers anyway.

I have read that an answerphone would still work if you set the pick up point to be fewer rings than the voicemail pick up. So perhaps all is not lost.

[Jdsk]

1) different ringtone for people in my contact list I’d want to speak to.
2) look at the number displayed . If it’s a local number I usually answer it or a number which I might know
3) press reject or just ignore it
4) answer it and listen to the first line of guff, end call, select block.

Under VOIP then I am basically stuffed because I am the secretary of a club of over 400 people, so not practical to install as a contact list, and I would not be able to look at the number since number display is a BT option I do not have, and of course I would not recognise any of those 400 plus numbers anyway.

I have read that an answerphone would still work if you set the pick up point to be fewer rings than the voicemail pick up. So perhaps all is not lost.

I'd be surprised if there's anything that can't be done with VoIP. But the implementation will be different because you'll need to choose and pay for a VoIP system that meets those needs, and then configure it.

A recent review on TechRadar:
"Best VoIP service for home office in 2022":
https://www.techradar.com/uk/best/best- ... e-for-home

Jonathan

[Paulatic]

. The handset isn't an issue as it's portable, but the machine itself is "tied" to the phone socket and to a mains socket. If we move it out of the livingroom to somewhere else, we may not know there's a message.

Doesn’t your handset display there is a new message?
Some do but I wouldn’t be investing in them at this date.

[Psamathe]

Might be worth considering your switch to VOIP now as wait until 2025.
I’m now over 12 months since I ditched the landline. Everything on 4G best move I ever made.

From people who have VOIP I understand that you get voicemail and the answerphone is redundant. This means you cannot use the answerphone to filter calls as many of us do, instead you have to either pick up (to talk about double glazing) or call back if it is somebody you want to speak to. Is this right? Can an answerphone be used in conjunction with VOIP?

Under VOIP then I am basically stuffed because I am the secretary of a club of over 400 people, so not practical to install as a contact list...

Thinking aloud (so it might not meet your needs but it might), if your mobile is dual SIM (most are these days), get a 2nd PAYG SIM with a different number and use that one as the number you give to the club membership. The 2nd PAYG then is just used for incoming calls from club members, can be diverted to voicemail separate from you main mobile number, set to silent seperate from main mobile, identifies itself onscreen when incoming call, etc.

If you need to call back, do that using your main number with Caller ID disabled (so they don't get your main mobile number).
A lot depends on the mobile contract for your main number (e.g. bundled calls in a pay monthly contract or PAYG) and how many calls you receive/make. Also check if PAYG incurs charges for voicemail (e.g. using or calling in to collect messages).

It may not meet your need but then again, it might.

Having GSM mobile coverage is less of an issue these days. I ditched my landline several years ago and am now mobile only and I have no GSM mobile coverage in my house /garden and rely on Wi-Fi Calling (which is included in my mobile contract, seems completely robust and is completely transparent, works with voice calls and texts, all identical to being in mobile GSM coverage.

Ian

[tatanab]

Thinking aloud (so it might not meet your needs but it might), if your mobile is dual SIM (most are these days),

Thanks for the thought, but I am talking about my house phone here. I do not have a mobile phone, and if I did I would not want to need to have it switched on all the time "just in case" or surgically attached to my right hand in the modern manner. Not strictly true, I have a small dumb mobile which is switched off except for the extremely rare occasion when I want to use it - GiffGaff PAYG..

[Mick F]

Hi everyone!
Back online and back with lecky in the sockets.
Long story, and I wouldn't bore you all with it. Suffice it to say, that things didn't go to plan, and I had to go out and buy more bits.
Took the dog with me, parked up and walked the woodlands, before coming back home.
This is the route, and this track was recorded some time back on the self-same walk using my mobile phone.

------------------------------------------------

Back on subject!
We both have mobile phones.
Mobiles aren't an issue at all.

We want to keep the landline telephone as people call us on it, and we call others on it.
We keep our mobile numbers private. I get zero spam on mine, but Mrs Mick F get a bit every now and again.
We get spam calls on the landline number quite often, but they rarely (if ever) leave a message other than their auto-chat which get deleted of course.

All I want, is to know that there's a message.
No, our present handset tells us nothing about recorded messages. It's just the base unit that has the flashing light when a new message has been left.

Advice regarding a new answerphone please where the portable handset has a flashing light to say there's a new message.
We've had a couple of systems in the past, but the handset says nothing about new messages.

[Psamathe]

...
Advice regarding a new answerphone please where the portable handset has a flashing light to say there's a new message.
We've had a couple of systems in the past, but the handset says nothing about new messages.

I used to have Seimens DECT phones (which need mains and a cabled connection to landline) but the handset screen backlight flashed (continuously) when there was an un listened to message(s) on the base station answerphone. (You also used the handsets to play the message). I ended-up putting the base station in an attic with the rest of my network which also has a landline, etc. just using small charging bases for the handsets.

That said, I've not had any phones plugged into the landline so have no idea what the latest (currently being sold) Siemens handsets do.

Siemens DECT handsets had (maybe still do) excellent audio quality. A year ago my neighbours borrowed my old unused ones when their BT DECT phone went wrong. Turned out it was their landline, not their phone but they found the audio so much clearer than on their BT phone once their line was repaired they went out and purchased Siemens DECT handsets/base for themselves (daft as I said they could have had mine).

Ian

[thirdcrank]

You could look at Geemarc kit. Over the years we've had different items for different circumstance but they do all sorts. The last item we had was a conventional wired landline with a really big programmable caller display unit, a truly powerful ringer which could be silenced and a stroboscopic (?) flasher. All in addition to a digital answering machine with call counter.

I don't know if that's still sold but there may be something more recent and/or more suitable for you in the Geemarc range.

I would reiterate that everything we used it for is available in spades with a mobile phone each.