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The latest cordless home phones are staying relevant by working better with smartphones and providing peace of mind in case of an emergency – with many working in a blackout.
Our cordless phone buying guide will help you understand the many features on offer, and how we test cordless phones explains how we get our results.
We review more than 30 cordless phones and two corded models priced from $45 to $399. We rate each model for:
All models are tested with an extra handset and while we test the answering machine on the models that have them, we don't include this in the overall performance score so you can easily compare the performance of phones with or without answering machines.
Our Recommended list will help you see the best performers at a glance.
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List of brands we tested in this review.
Recommended retail but you should be able to find a better price if you shop around.
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Models with an overall score of 70% or above are recommended.
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Cordless phones being the only option in the home is a concern for some home owners, because a power outage means you can't make an emergency call for help. Unfortunately, the arrival of the NBN has confused the situation somewhat for many owners of home telephones. You may be able to power your cordless phone when using the NBN but it still may not allow you to make a phone call as the connection depends on the NBN modem and router working. Check out our NBN FAQ for more information.
We consider factors such as the quality of the instruction manual, the feel and comfort of the handset, whether the screen is easy to read, and any other special features.
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After fully charging each phone’s battery, our testers set the phones to talk, and record how long each takes to be discharged. A perfect score of 100% is awarded to a model operating after 24 hours.
We look at ease of use and set up when creating a message and managing calls, as well as sound clarity and quality for the machine message and the caller message.
This score reflects the quality of the phone call sound when listening on the tested model's handset.
A Similar model is identical in most aspects except for a few. This means that a majority of its test results are identical so you can reasonably expect to get the same results from the model we tested, but for those aspects which aren't identical, we'll note these as "Not Tested" in the Compare tables.
A Tested model refers to a model that is still current and available in the Australian market. You should be able to order this model through your local retailer, or find it online.
These models can't be found in retailers or online or are no longer manufactured. You may still find these models on second hand websites, or in second hand dealers. Test methods may change over time, so criteria which can't be directly compared will contain an N/A.
An Identical model is exactly that. Performance characteristics will be identical and the only difference will be something trivial such as colour, which won't have an impact on performance.
These are models we haven't yet tested but that are available.
