Telephones for Audiophiles?

When I could no longer get service for my analog mobile phone, similar to the one Albert describes, I simply gave up mobile service altogether. They are all terrible. Home service is now digital and I think my blood pressure goes up when the phone rings. "What?" is the most frequent word I use when on the telephone. I pray for an analog resurgence, I will pay any price.

Provided you EyeSight is holding up OK, you could always learn to TEXT.

The iphone has terrible audio quality. I don't know what apple was thinking when it release this product! I am so tired of asking my callers to repeat what they said over and over and over again. Clarity is not a strong feature of this phone. You must use a head set when using this product.

Magfan

Yes, I generally now prefer email to speaking on telephones.

But sometimes of course you need to make a call, and I am starting to get a little farsighted.

Zieman, yes I get upset with home service too, and couldn't believe it when the early adopters went with VOIP and/or Skype.

At least in the early days, those services made cell phones sound like audiophile devices.

By the way, part of my irritation is having used mobile phones quite successfully in the UK and otherwise traveling around the world.

But in midtown Manhattan?!?!? the self described capital of the world, its just awful.

....and at home not too far away....its nothing but lost connections and can you hear me? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?

How people seem to think nothing of this and jabber away for hours on these things through a speaker phone is totally beyond me - and thats before we even discuss how they are hot, plastic, radiation emitting mass produced nasty cheap devices.

I noticed the new boutique for Vertu phones the other day in the Plaza Hotel, but couldnt bother to go in.

I would guess its a few thousand bucks for a sapphire crystalled, cheesily marketed thing that performs just as badly as the rest of them?

I have discoverd that upgrading to a 5.8 mghz (?) Panasonice wireless land line improved the range at home and also did not interfere with my wireless router.

But otherwise, please add me to the list that would pay lots of money for a nice phone that sounded good.

cwlondon

Bang & Olufsen makes really, really nice telephones . . . I have several versions, including wired & cordless home phones, and the cell phone. They are a bit pricey, especially compared to all of the discount-store stuff.

For the home, I have the BeoCom 1 cordless, and the sound quality is excellent . . . especially with the companion headset. User-interface is a bit strange, but good once you get used to it. And durability is outstanding . . . I can't tell you how many times I've dropped it on a hardwood floor, and it hasn't missed a beat.

As far as the B&O cell phone goes (called the Serene) . . . it's more of a mixed bag. Sound quality is still very good, but of course, cell phones in general don't sound as good as home phones. Reception performance definately isn't as good as some others . . . but it kinda depends on which service (i.e. Cingular, T-Mobile, etc.) you use it on. I get the impression that it's really designed for European GSM standards and probably works great over there, but in the American hodge-podge of networks it's not as good. I put up with it anyway . . . simply because the phone itself is so cool.

Finally . . . while I have no experience with them myself, I have seen devices that connect to a cell phone via bluetooth, and then emulate landline . . . so you can use your home telephones over your cellphone service. Might be just the thing to help you use up some of those rollover minutes . . .