A corded home phone is an interesting idea. But honestly, don’t you think it would be too restrictive?
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@forrest, In a way it might be to some people because we’re gotten used to being constantly connected and always available. A while back, one of our community members made a post about being frustrated that because of smartphones, they were basically required to be always available & in constant contact with everyone who wants to reach you.
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It is a true corded phone with no wireless handsets. I don’t use wifi at home, just ethernet. So far, our building still supports the copper but the last time I had to change my phone, my carrier told me that I have to change over to Fibre Optics and I said no, figure it out. I am holding on for as long as I can. One insider told me that we still have some years because copper has to be maintained as Our indigenous neighbours have been refusing the carriers permission to install fibre optics (Yay).
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I’m thinking of buying one for the purpose of not needing a mobile phone for my daughter. So she can let me know she came home from school OK. She is 7.
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Joyce, thank you. Can you share the model number of your panasonic corded phone?
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As time marches on, and the traditional “local telephone company” cuts their budget for copper land-line maintenance, service will become less and less reliable. My small town no longer offers actual land-line (copper to the subscriber) service for new homes. My older home was cut free of the copper lines before I bought it, and the cost to reconnect is not cost effective.
We do have fiber to the house with a fiber-to-Ethernet interface, so if I want a corded telephone, it must be a VoIP. I’ll make the switch from cellular to VoIP (porting my cellular number) as soon as I can figure out how to download my blacklist (blocked number list) from my cell phone, so I can apply it to my VoIP service. Plus I want to set my VoIP service to forward text messages to email, for occasional incoming text 2FA.
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KX-TS500C
Below is another sticker with an extra “B” at the end.
Sorry, I haven’t checked in for awhile.
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Thank you, Joyce for sharing the model number of the panasonic phones you use. I found a link to view its features here: https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Corded-Telephone-KX-TS500-White/dp/B077DMZ4DY.
I think I misunderstood your original message. I thought your panasonic phones had speakerphone, but i see that it does not.
what is the model of your at&T phone that calls out the number and has an answering machine?
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Anyone else dying for a really well designed corded home phone with answering machine and everything else? Mudita, there is nothing more satisfying than coming home to see your answering machine GENTLY blinking its red button which says “i have new voicemails!” ahhhhhh, the wonderful feelings so many are missing out on…
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I’m actually looking for one myself right now. 
I have a vintage corded dial phone, but can’t check messages with it and also can’t select those stinking phone computer choices that only allow using the ‘push’ buttons instead of dial, to select choices. ie- make a call and the auto answer voice says, “press 1”. So, yes, I could use a good corded phone (lead free, not plastic) that also has an answering machine. Thanks for mentioning this.
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@Felicia_Hobert, I have two AT&T-branded corded phones at home, and I love them.
- AT&T TR1909 Trimline Corded Phone
- AT&T CL4940 Corded Phone with Answering System + Speakerphone
I have the CL4940 in my office, and I have the TR1909 near my 4G-based alarm system’s control panel.*
I now follow these steps when I begin my work day in my home office:
- Enable call-forwarding on my Android-7 phone to my home number.
- Set my cellphone to Airplane mode.
- Cover my cellphone with my Stolp in another room.
Step 1 is easy, now that I have added two contacts to my cellphone’s Contacts list. One contact has the sequence of characters that turns on forwarding to my home phone’s #. The other contact has the sequence of characters that turns off forwarding. You can search the Interwebs for the two sequences for your carrier, which vary across carriers.
Step 2 is important because of what I posted elsewhere – that simply putting the cellphone into a Stolp is equivalent to sneaking out the back door of your office building without telling your secretary that you have left, whereas following Step 2 is equivalent to telling your secretary that you are leaving before you leave your office building. Also, I found that having my cellphone in Airplane mode can mean that it goes from 100% charge to 99% charge in eight hours, so turning it off truly is unnecessary before going to Step 3.
Step 3 matches what this article documents as better than (a) turning the cellphone off and leaving it face down on the desk and (b) turning the cellphone off and leaving it in a bag or purse.
*If you have a home alarm and a monitoring service and two+ people residing in the home, then I highly recommend having a home phone to which that monitoring service will call to learn whether to dispatch the police OR to treat the tripped alarm as an accident. Without a home phone, the monitoring service will have to call the cellphone of one of the residents, and that resident may NOT be the one who accidentally tripped the alarm.
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Thank you for that blog post, @Felicia_Hobert! I have three comments.
- Regarding “If you have fiber optic internet, those companies don’t even offer home phone service.”: AT&T in the USA offers “AT&T Fiber” service connected in the customer’s home to a gateway that does include a telephony jack. I have AT&T Fiber 1000, which gives me both gigabit/second Internet service and “AT&T Phone” service, and I love it.
- Regarding the blank entry for your “GPS:” bullet-item: Check out the Garmin DriveSmart 65 (and smaller-screen versions). It does NOT require a smartphone connection to get current traffic conditions; instead, it uses a special power-supply cable that receives – in the USA, anyway – traffic conditions that are broadcasted on “HD” radio. You can update at no charge every month or two its database via Wi-Fi (which you otherwise can keep turned off) and WITHOUT a Garmin account (which means that Garmin does not track where YOU drive). I have a Garmin DriveSmart 65, and I love it.
- Regarding running telephone lines in your home: If your home is already wired for Ethernet cables, you can convert some of those lines to telephony lines with a US$5 adapter on each end. One adapter plugs into your telephony source (e.g., a splitter), and you plug that end of the Ethernet cable into that adapter. The other adapter plugs into the Ethernet jack elsewhere in your home, and you plug your device’s Ethernet cable into that adapter instead of into the Ethernet jack. Please let me know, if you want links to the Amazon pages for those two adapters.
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@calebsmum I’m eyeing this one…I think it’s so classic, but at the same time has buttons, so you can press #1 to speak to customer service 
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This would be great. We have 2 corded phones at home-one phone service and one VOIP. We use the AT&T CL2909. Features include caller ID, redial, speaker, hold, and mute. It doesn’t look as nice but it does the job. We use 50 foot cords so we can move around if needed.
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I’d wish that it had a speakerphone - thinking about getting one of those corded headset. My AT&T answering machine with the vocal caller id is model no. 1740.
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/622965/AtAndt-1740.html
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Hello Kirk, that phone you mentioned that has an answering machine (CL4940) does NOT meet the criteria, because it has a light that must be ON ALL THE TIME if you want your answering machine to work (or be “on”). I have to keep my phone in my bedroom as I live with roommates, and it is NOT OK for there to be a light on while i’m sleeping. this phone does not pass the test. there should be no lights eminating from the phone unless there is a new voicemail. FAIL !!!
there is still no phone that is manufactured today that meets all of the criteria. the phone i use from GE that DOES meet the criteria, is no longer made, and has to bought used (which i did off ebay).
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“Step 1 is easy, now that I have added two contacts to my cellphone’s Contacts list. One contact has the sequence of characters that turns on forwarding to my home phone’s #. The other contact has the sequence of characters that turns off forwarding. You can search the Interwebs for the two sequences for your carrier, which vary across carriers.”
thank you for sharing this!!! i love it!! will definitely use.
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hi Kirk,
regarding this section of your post:
" 1. Regarding the blank entry for your “GPS:” bullet-item: Check out the Garmin DriveSmart 65 (and smaller-screen versions). It does NOT require a smartphone connection to get current traffic conditions; instead, it uses a special power-supply cable that receives – in the USA, anyway – traffic conditions that are broadcasted on “HD” radio. You can update at no charge every month or two its database via Wi-Fi (which you otherwise can keep turned off) and WITHOUT a Garmin account (which means that Garmin does not track where YOU drive). I have a Garmin DriveSmart 65, and I love it."
Is there an icon on the screen indicating if the wifi is turned on or off? I find that if the device does not have an indicator on the screen, it is way to easy for the wifi to be on accidentally, and i don’t realize it. not good! is it easy to turn the wifi on and off?
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Kirk, regarding your comment:
" 1. Regarding running telephone lines in your home: If your home is already wired for Ethernet cables, you can convert some of those lines to telephony lines with a US$5 adapter on each end. One adapter plugs into your telephony source (e.g., a splitter), and you plug that end of the Ethernet cable into that adapter. The other adapter plugs into the Ethernet jack elsewhere in your home, and you plug your device’s Ethernet cable into that adapter instead of into the Ethernet jack. Please let me know, if you want links to the Amazon pages for those two adapters."
my home is not wired for ethernet. since it is not, would this still work if i plugged one end of the adapter in to the telephone port on my modem? or is that what you meant anyway? and are you saying that you can plug it into a splitter that is plugged into the telephony port on the modem?
yes, i would love amazon links!
i am very confused about what you’re describing, and maybe seeing the photos in the amazon listing will clear it up…
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ok, so you have to have this answering device IN ADDITION to the phone, correct? i would dislike having two devices on the desk…
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