I’ve been using a wireless telephone setup in my home for years. Living as I do in an older home, phone jacks are scarce, while the demand for them is fairly high. In addition to just making and receiving calls, I have DirecTV, which requires a phone line to the receivers. The wireless setup allowed me to place the base at the jack in the kitchen and put handsets around my home. The system I have been using had four handsets. I put one in each of the bedrooms. The kitchen, where the base and remaining handset resided, adjoins the family room, where we spend most of our time.
Browsing the local Costco the other day, I saw something the piqued my interest: a set of wireless telephones that allowed you to use cell phones with them, something called Link to Cell. Cell coverage – regardless of carrier – inside my home is horrible, which is part of the reason I continue to maintain land lines and rarely give out my cell number. It is annoying, though, to have to use my land lines to make long-distance calls, when I could make them for free on my cell. Even when I use WiFi calling on my cell, it’s a problem. So the idea pf placing my phone in the best spot and using my house phone sounded like a good idea.
After checking out a few models, I settled on the Panasonic KX-TG7875. I received it Saturday and after just a few days, couldn’t be happier.
This set up comes with a base that is also a speaker phone, which my last system did not have (although a previous system I had did). That basically means six different places to answer the phone. It also includes an answering machine (which I’ll never use, because I have Answer Call). The base also has a USB port, and it charges our cell phones with no issues. Two separate cell phones can be used with the system, although not at the same time, and the pairing, over Bluetooth, is simple and straightforward. The call quality, after placing the cell phones in the right spot, is fine. You can configure separate rings for incoming calls to the cell phones. Outgoing calls, using the system, are easy. The display on the handsets is easy to read. And the system itself can be used for just cell phones – a landline is not required.
Ever walk in the house while talking on your cell? Happens to me often enough – although I usually sit in my driveway to finish the call. This system allows you to transfer the cell call to it – and vice versa. You can also handle a cell call and a landline call at the same time.
I have to admit that I’m not one of the “read the manual” types when it comes to most technology. I tend to try things and then read the sections of the manual that tell me how to do what I want to do. This manual is quite comprehensive, if a bit confusing. Some things can be done from the handset, while other things are done from the base. It was the default settings that sent me to the manual in the first place. I really don’t need to have the phone announce that I have a new text message 🙂 The Talking Caller ID can be annoying as well. I quickly found the menu settings to turn those off.
Overall, with just a few days use, I think this is a good choice. We’ll see how I feel about it in a few months.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 