Portable VoIP Phones

Do you need portable VoIP phones inside your home or business?

This is a common question we get from our visitors. They want to save money by moving to VoIP phone service but they either do not have hard wired Internet connections in their home or business or they need VoIP cordless phones so they can make and receive calls anywhere inside the building. In this guide we will highlight three main options available to you, depending on your budget.

Option 1 : Analog Cordless Devices (Lowest Cost)

The lowest cost option is to purchase standard analog cordless DECT phones such as the ones you can get at Costco (typically under $70). The main cordless base will connect to the Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) that your VoIP provider typically sends you when you sign up for service. Essentially this turns your cordless phones into VoIP phones but be aware that this will only support one concurrent phone call at a time.

The main advantages are as follows:

1. Very inexpensive way of obtaining VoIP wireless handsets.
2. Works for everyone and simple installation since all you need to do is connect the ATA to your Internet modem or router and scatter your DECT handsets throughout your home or business.
3. Great way to get basic Intercom type service inside your home (eg Intercom your kid and tell them to tidy their room).

Option 2 : VoIP Cordless Phones (Medium Cost)

VoIP cordless phones are true IP cordless phones such as the one shown at the top of this page, the Yealink W60P. Simply connect the base to your Internet modem or router using the included Ethernet cable and you are done. This costs more than the analog cordless set detailed in option 1 (usually around $120 for the base and handset) but has some significant advantages, such as:

1. Higher quality audio since the audio is digital in nature rather than analog so less interference concerns.
2. You can have additional handsets (the Yealink W60 supports up to 8) and each can be its own phone extension and handle multiple concurrent calls. This is important for businesses more than residential customers.
3. The handsets are typically more robust than their analog counterparts and you can even purchase ruggedized handsets for outdoor use.
4. The range tends to be better for these (50m indoor, 300m outdoors)
5. Repeaters can be purchased to extend the range even further.

Option 3 : WiFi IP Cordless Phones (High cost)

WiFi phones tend to be quite expensive (around $150 per phone) and the overall cost can get high if you need multiple phone extensions, such as for your business. However, they are very convenient if you are looking for a proper desk phone that needs no hard wired Ethernet cable to your Internet modem or router. One such example is the Yealink T41S with WF40 or WF50 WiFi adapter. The Yealink T53W is another great option which has WiFi built-in so no adapter is required. Some advantages with this option are as follows:

1. The phone is a proper IP desk phone rather than a cordless phone and therefore has more features available to you such as multiple speed dial buttons, Busy Lamp Field (BLF), one touch transfers and many more.
2. The latest software allows you to add a USB dongle (Yealink DD10K) that enables it to connect to a VoIP cordless phone base such as the W60 discussed in option 2 above. This is great if you need to mix and match desk phones and cordless phones.
3. These phones use your home or business WiFi to communicate rather than the DECT wireless in options 1 and 2 above.
4. Each phone acts as an extension so multiple phones can be used if you have multiple people and need many concurrent calls. Note that this applies more to business phone service rather than residential use.

Conclusions

In this article we highlighted three options to businesses and residential customers looking for VoIP portability in their home or business. Hopefully one of these options meets both your phone service needs and stays within your budget requirements.