All the phone recommendations I found here have been for cell phones, so this is a new one request we haven't had before (or I couldn't find it).

I haven't had what I would consider good luck with cordless phones. My third one in the last 10 years is about to die (keep getting errors that they can't link to the base, even if they are right next to it, etc). Does anybody have any recommendations on a cordless phone that won't die in approximately three years? The only real options I would need are at least two handsets (so one can charge while using the other) and an answering machine.

Thanks!

My Uniden stuff lasted longer than 3 years. Maybe 6. Now I'm using Siemens, but have only had them for about a year.

I had a Uniden before this one (which is Panasonic). The batteries didn't last very long at all on the Unidens.

I have a Panasonic two-line & voice-mail system with three cordless handsets (and charging cradles) - KX-TG2740S I think. It's been going fine for 8 or 9 years now. Obviously I can't speak to their current offerings.

The handsets lose connectivity maybe once every year or two, usually after letting a battery run down or after a long power failure (damned PEPCO).

-jk

We finally managed to kill our Panasonic, it was still working, just the volume was not quiet loud enough for me - damn old age. We promptly replaced it with another Panasonic, which no doubt has a load of new features that we are not using. This one has standard re-chargeable AA in it, so when they die they should be easy to replace.

This is the one we got, but it can be ordered with additional handsets, and on Panasonic's site I saw a range extender available for those with huge houses. The only thing I don't like about it is that it does not mount flat to the wall, I'm not sure if that is an option any more.

I set my mother up with a set of Panasonic DECT6 phones about 7 years ago, and most of them died about 3 years ago. I say died, but really it was slower than that, more like the battery life got progressively shorter over the last few months or so, and the volume started to go. I felt they lasted pretty long considering how cheaply they're made

I say just go with a Panasonic set and replace it when it dies. 3-4 years is pretty long for this kind of device these days. Heck, you can get a set of five phones for $120, and if they last four years that's $2.50 per month.

I went ahead and ordered the Panasonic Phoenix42 linked. Mine aren't completely dead yet, but the battery life is getting noticeably shorter and the link to base issues drive me nuts.

Thanks for the input everybody.

There are issues with replacing phones, versus replacing parts like batteries.

Having to learn a new phone UI isn't ideal - but worth it if you're moving to something easier/better.

Having to replace all the phones even if only one or two have died - if the new ones aren't compatible with the base you're currently using. "DECT" is of course supposed to solve this.

Re-entering all your contact information into the new phone(s). Surprisingly, there are few products on the market that make this even remotely easy/simple. With my Siemens it has BlueTooth (which is buggy/unusable) or USB from my Mac's address book, using of course their own proprietary software. I just need to do a single phone and then I can replicate that, without duplicates to the other phones.

The state of home phones is pretty stagnant when you compare to mobiles. Of course if you want to overcomplicate a home phone and run Android on it, Archos has you covered:

http://www.archos.com/products/home/archos_35_shp/index.html?country=gb&lang=en

It does have an excellent feature which I also have with Siemens. The base doesn't have a phone cradle. Which means even with a one phone installation, you can put the phone and base in two completely different locations.

I made sure when I went phone shopping that I got one that took standard AA size rechargable batteries so that I'm not put in a position of spending $20 for the new batteries or $25 for the new phone system. I hope this lets me use the same system for 10+ years, since there's not really much else I need out of it.

Cheap crap. Western Electric Model 500 for the win (ours is 56 years old). Only reliable phone in our house.

Incidentally, all the Uniden phones I've owned (5GHz, non-DECT) used AAA batteries wrapped in shrink-wrap with a small 2-pin lead. Easy enough to wire together your own or simply buy replacements on eBay for low cost - which I did for one handset.

I've had good luck with Panasonic (tho in general I don't like Panasonic stuff). My last system was a 4 line for pots, replaced by the now year old similar system for voip. The batteries on newer panasonics are just aaa sized and easily replaceable.

Nothing completes with Engenius range, tho. Before the retirement of my pots lines, I also had one of these, the range was nearly 1 mile.

Do I want to hold a transmitter that powerful against my head? Although I guess cell phones transmit further than that.

Is there still controversy about cell phones frying your brain, or has that been debunked now?

We have a four-station Panasonic that we use as a VOIP phone over OOMA, and it has been just fine, although I'm not too thrilled about a telephone that comes with a 64-page instruction manual just to operate it. Being a Luddite at heart, I just want something that rings once in a while so I can pick it up and talk to someone. I don't need a phone that is smarter than I am, not that that's all that hard...

tanstaafl.

I don't bother with about 90% of the features that come with phones any more. If I am ridiculously bored one day I might program in a few phone numbers, but that is about the extent of it. With the one I have now (that is dying) I went so far to give a couple people custom rings and flashes. That got annoying quick and I had to reset them to default.

I did read the manual for our Panasonic, but only because to turn off (or on, I can't remember, so it wasn't that important) some feature, and rather then digging through the myriad of menus, the manual does give to the numerical shortcut - something like ##304, to jump you to the setting. But other then that, plug it in a and make calls. Sure, it can do a bazllion other things, but I don't care for them. Now get off my lawn!

Was that setting for the spoken CID information? Because that's certainly a love it/hate it kind of feature on these phones

I don't think that debate will ever go away. The WHO recently (like in the last year, I can't remember) classified cell phones in some radiation category that caught a lot of headlines. What the headlines betrayed, however, is that this was the same category as stuff like coffee.

It could well have been Matt, I know I did play with that feature to see what it was like, but it is something that would annoy me to no end.

They very likely use less radiated power than the souped-up cordless does though. Cell phones have the huge advantages of (1) not sharing spectrum, so less interference, and (2) the thing they're talking to has massive ears (antennas), so they really don't need to shout very loudly to be heard.

Cheers