BT Essential Cordless Landline House Phone with Nuisance Call Blocker, Digital Answer Machine, Twin Handset Pack

Product Information

And therein lies a problem. The instruction manual for the Big Button isn’t great. It seems to have been written for people who are more well-versed in technology than this phone’s target audience. In addition, some features of the phone aren’t mentioned in the instructions at all, forcing users to go online to find out how to do certain things. As a phone specifically designed for older people, this one gets a lot of stuff right. It certainly lives up to its name with nice big buttons that should be easy to read for those with visual impairments. The text on the screen is also large enough to be easily legible and the few menu buttons are self-explanatory enough. The handset is nice and chunky but probably slightly heavier than most of the other devices on this list. The truth is that no home phone is ever going to be mega exciting – we’re not talking cutting edge 4K TVs here; the design has hardly changed in the past ten years – so you’re looking for something that does the job at a friendly price. To my eyes, that product is the Panasonic KX-TGD622 (catchy name, isn’t it?).

Replacement parts, including batteries, line cords, additional handsets, etc, are available from the product helpdesk. In the past internet service providers needed a landline to transfer data to and from your router. However, with fibre optic broadband becoming much more commonplace, even that necessity is dying out. Fibre optic broadband is an entirely separate kind of cabling, thus making it unnecessary to have a landline to use the internet.

The handset itself is a nice size and light, so it feels good in the hand during long phonecalls. The buttons are big enough for those with viewing difficulties to be able to see what they’re doing. And the design is reasonably sleek: handset and base station slot together in a nice, ergonomic fashion. Get the most out of your phone straight away with our easy to use menu. And enjoy high quality clear calls, with HD calling. All in all, Panasonic seem to have covered all bases with this one. Those looking for a solid phone to sit in their kitchen will find it simple enough, and those who want something a little more elaborate will find plenty to dig into.

One of the first things that became apparent was that the call quality – the sound you get through the earpiece – is essentially identical. So I looked elsewhere for points of difference: design, functionality and ease of use.

BT Essential Digital Home Phone

It might feel to you like the traditional home phone is a thing of the past, replaced by the mobile – but there are still good reasons to buy a handset for your landline, not least because they’re actually quite cheap. As you may have noticed, none of the landline phones I tested come with a telephone cord. That’s because, basically, it’s really hard to find corded landline phones anymore. Of the major brands I reached out to, only BT offers corded phones as a matter of course. Even then, they are considered outdated technology. Comparing the quality of these cordless phones with my desk phone which has a cord, I didn’t notice any real difference.