Goodbye Ma Bell, hello Internet phone service

The next big step was figuring out which phones to use for the family phone number (the other two lines are connected to a fax machine and a home office phone). While the new apartment had been wired with a jack or two in a number of rooms, they were connected to the vestigial POTS system. Since I had successfully used a cordless phone for my original VoIP line, I decided to go all cordless in the new place.

I didn’t want a phone system which ran on old technologies (using the 900 MHz band) or one which shared spectrum space with everyone’s Wi-Fi networks (2.4GHz) so I went looking for the best 5.8 GHz phones system I could find. New 5.8 GHz spread-spectrum phones seemed to provide the best combination of clarity, range and security.

After a long search I decided on VTech’s incredible i5871 multi-handset system.  It consists of a base station (which I connected to my VoIP box) and a long, thin handset with color screen.  It’s not made specifically for VoIP use, but it worked perfectly in my situation and probably will in yours, too.

You can add up to eight additional wireless handsets (sold separately) throughout your home. All you have to do is just press a button and let the base station find the extension phone. I found that bringing the extension phone close to the base made it easy for everything to register in less than 10 seconds.

That’s it. No wires. No jacks. I just plugged the extension phones (and their charging bases) into the AC outlet and I had my multi-room system up and running in minutes.

The phone comes with all sorts of ring tones, speakerphone functions, an answering system accessible from every extension and picture caller-ID. You can even download your own pictures. The handsets not only look great, but feel great in your hand and are a pleasure to use. I’m happy to say the system has worked flawlessly since installation.

The VTech base station and handset combination sells for $199. Extension handsets go for $99 each. It's not cheap, but the price is reasonable for the quality and features the phones provide. Keep in mind, too, how much your phone company would charge if you wanted to install additional jacks throughout your home.

If you didn't know, you'd never be able to detect that my home phones are connected through the Internet and not the phone company. I’m very pleased with my 21^st century home phone system.

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