Review - BT Halo Bluetooth Cordless Phone with Answering Machine. #tech #home #office

BT Halo Twin The initial view of the packaging was big & heavy, the Twin handsets are larger and longer than a standard phone. The handset felt sturdy, curved with a comfortable rubber earpiece. The microphone fits snuggly around the mouth There is a metal base for charging with the answer machine built in. When the handset is removed from the base, the handset lights up making it easier to see in the dark. The number buttons have a backlight. The box comes with all the cables connections in different shapes ensuring they can’t be mixes up making the job of setting up easy. This Box came with contents and manual.

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This model has the facility to Block nuisance calls. (You must have caller ID enabled) You can also opt out of marketing fixed-line (landline) calls by registering free on http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/number_type.html . Mobile customers can register their mobile by sending a text ‘TPS’, followed by their email address to the shortcode 85095. ROI Customers can have their telephone number included in the NDD Home Phone – National Directory Database (NDD), this is an opt-out register via their telephone line provider, eir, Virgin, Sky etc. These are not part on the call blocking technology but useful to be aware of. Should you use the phone, when the phone is set up initially, If the contact is not stored on the phone, trueCall asks callers to state their name and then press the hash key on their phone allowing you to know who is calling. This feature can be turned Off or On but may confuse your callers at first until their numbers are stored in the phone book,

BT Halo Twin – Pairing to smartphphone

BT Halo Twin – Pairing to smartphone This is one on my favourite features, pairing this to my smartphone with the Halo over Bluetooth, this allows all contacts on the smart phone to be copied directly to the BT Halo. This took about 3 minutes having close to 1000 contacts on my phone, I would recommend having a purge of your contacts on your smartphone first to ensure old obsolete numbers are not copied to the handset. You can register up to 2 mobile phones with 1000 names / numbers in each. This gave the choice of calling from the home phone number or my mobile each time I wanted to place a call. Answering a call on my smartphone is also possible when within Bluetooth range (Bluetooth’s range is limited to 10m) of the house phone. The call quality was far superior on the BT Halo than using the smartphone as I placed my smartphone in a good signal location and used Bluetooth around the house, previously on the stairs my smartphone would break up while there was no change in call quality using the BT Halo. The BT Halo also had a superior comfortable feel especially on long calls.

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Features

A great feature on both base stations is 2 separate 1 amp USB charging sockets allowing e.g. your mobile to be charged beside the phone. This means 1 less power socket plugged in, removing unnecessary clutter. There is also a find button which would help should a handset fall behind the sofa. I have read some reviews which mentions poor call quality on the handset, this may have been an older version of the handset software or incorrect filters on the telephone. The call quality on the Handset landline and when used via the Bluetooth via my Smartphone has been of good quality. There is a backlight on the base station which if located in the bedroom is low enough not to disturb sleep. There is a large structured menu with a reset button, if case you accidentally set up any setting not required. A useful feature is the alarm clock which can be used as a standard alarm clock (this does not have the facility to automate the alarm turning off at the weekend, this is done manually). The battery life is Up to 21/ hours talk time/240 hours standby. The volume button on the side is easy to use, the answer machine buttons look stylish and easy to use as part of the base. There is the usual variety of ring tones, key pad tones and other features.

BT Halo Twin Features  Register 2 mobile phones at any one time  Store 1000 numbers on your Halo contact list, plus 1000 contacts from each of your synced mobile phones (register 2 mobiles at any one time)  Copy telephone contacts between Halo handsets  1.8″ Vibrant Colour Screen  Hands-free speakerphone on handsets  Up to 60 minutes of message recording on answer machine  Do not disturb mode with one touch call blocking  PIN controlled outgoing call blocking so that you can block premium, mobiles or international calls.  Clear Back-lit keypad  Long range reception up to 300m outdoors, 50m indoors  Up to 21 hours of talking and 240 hours on standby  Easy access to BT calling features (3 way calling, call divert)  See and hear if you have a second call waiting.

Twin set

If deciding on a product, (& money is not the key requirement) going for the Twin option, a 2 handset is highly recommended as try taking a call on a Saturday morning with the handset downstairs, placing one handset upstairs and one downstairs worked well, call quality on both was excellent. The handset which was left upstairs required no wiring just plugged into the standard mains socket.

BT Halo Twin

ROI use This phone comes with the BT Logo and a comes with a UK cable designed for the UK, In ROI you can use the standard RJ11 cable with the phone. The phone will operate similar with the only different been the answer machine and call waiting different numbers which will work. Note eir dropped their SMS service on fixed landline so this feature will not work in Ireland if with eir. Cost Is it worth it? If you receive Nuisance calls and this becomes an issue, then a product of this nature is a must. If this is for a non-techie, this phone can be used as a normal phone but expensive to be used as a basic phone.

To get the best from this phone utilising the array of menu its worthwhile. Regarding the cost, we pay 100s of Pounds / euro for the latest smart phone (albeit subsidised by the networks) which will be obsolete in about 2 years. This model, I would expect to get a least 5 years of use, without the need for an upgrade, while only comes with 1 year warranty. Most manufactures of cordless phones only provide a 1 year warranty which is a shame as many other product come with a 3-year warranty.

Note: If there is no power to phone, Electricity is gone, calls cannot be made or received, nor 999. 112 calls. Technical support If required is available via the Free BT Helpdesk on 0800 145 6789 or via the email link on the product page at www.bt.com/producthelp.

This product is available in the UK & Ireland from Currys , Argos and ShopBT