While some people sit at their desks for most of the day, others are constantly on the move. If you’re someone who needs a business phone that can keep up with your job, we recommend investing in a DECT phone, or cordless phone, so you can make and receive calls at your convenience.
DECT stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications, and it's a technology standard used for transmitting voice data in cordless telephones. If you have a cordless home phone, chances are it uses DECT technology.
DECT phones are useful for many different businesses. Whether you work in warehousing, food services, retail, or simply a small office, cordless phones can provide users the freedom to move around without missing important calls.
Most business VoIP phone manufacturers offer DECT handsets and base stations that can be used together as an office phone solution. We review DECT phones as part of our ongoing VoIP Phone Reviews program.
Here are five cordless VoIP phones we’ve looked at recently, along with pricing and recommendations.
“The DP750/DP720 is a huge upgrade from the old Grandstream DECT series. With great HD codec support, excellent range, and a quality design, the DP750/DP720 is a combo that offers all the prime features a DECT phone needs.”
The Grandstream DP750 is a long-range DECT VoIP base station with the ability to host up to five DP720 cordless DECT handsets. Grandstream is known for pushing the boundaries of SIP phones, and this new model does not disappoint.
The Grandstream DP750 is quite small and very streamlined in design. It features a set of backlit LED status indicators, an Ethernet jack, a micro USB power jack, and a button used for pairing headsets. The base station can register up to 10 SIP accounts, with 10 lines per handset and up to five concurrent calls.
The DP720 handset supports the G.722 and Opus codecs for HD voice, and comes with full duplex speakerphones and a 3.5mm headset jack. The phone has a range of 50 meters indoors and 300 meters outdoors, and call functions such as transfer, conference, and hold. The backlit color screen is easy to navigate, even when multiple lines are configured. The sound quality is excellent, especially for a DECT handset.
The configuration for the Grandstream DP750/DP720 differs from most other VoIP phones and as such may throw some people off. However, once you figure it out the process is pretty straightforward.
Recommendation: The Grandstream D750/D720 is an impressive phone that offers great sound quality with HD codec support, excellent range, and a sleek design. This phone is proof that DECT devices can compete with the feature sets of traditional deskphones and offer users added flexibility.
“We would classify the VTech VSP600/601...as solid DECT phones with great battery life….These phones don’t have the greatest sound quality, but are decent enough for the price point….These devices are great as supplements, but due to the concurrent call limitations, they probably can’t function as a complete phone solution for your business.”
The VTech VSP600/601 DECT phones are part of VTech’s ErisTerminal® line for businesses phones. As one of the most popular residential cordless VoIP phone brands, VTech certainly has a grasp on DECT technology. The business line offers simple, affordable SIP phones that are easy to use and suitable for basic office calling.
The VSP600 base station is simple to configure and easy to deploy, and comes with a wall mount. It can support up to six handsets, as well as call transfers, speed dial, three-way calling, and call hold. The major limitation, however, is that it can only host four simultaneous calls across all the connected devices.
The VSP601 handset is a bit dated and lacks the color display of other phones, but still offers a functional design. It claims to have a seven day standby time, which is very impressive. Our testing found that leaving it out for a few days only used up half the battery.
While we found no issue with the range of the handset in terms of dropped calls or sound quality deterioration, the overall audio quality was lacking with the VTech devices. There are decent enough to carry a conversation, but is noticeably different from the HD voice of other brands.
Recommendation: The VTech VSP600/601 offers great battery life and a good price point. Together, they can be great complimentary devices for your office phone system. Due to the limitation on simultaneous calls, however, it might not be sufficient as a standalone solution, especially if you have five or more people in the office.
“The Panasonic TGP600 offers exceptional mobility, versatility, and capacity with its impressive range and its ability to support devices at once….A large part of the TGP600 experience rests with what handset you sync up with the device….[A]s far a DECT phones go, the TGP600 is at the top of its class.”
The Panasonic KX-TGP600 is the latest iteration of the TGP series of DECT phones from Panasonic. We actually use this phone internally as our cordless phone of choice, as it can be hard to find both a reliable and ergonomic DECT phone.
The TGP600 supports up to eight SIP accounts, and can be paired with up to eight different devices. It’s great to see this kind of capacity for a DECT phone, and users have the additional flexibility to choose from three different compatible handsets.
There is only one button on the TGP600 that acts as a finder to ring all connected devices, which can be useful for locating handset units. However, we found the LED light to be confusing at times. When functioning properly, the status light is green. However, a blinking yellow light can mean many different things and cause frustration during the initial setup process. Another note is that the TGP600 and the handset each need their own power charger, so you may need to use a power strip if you have several handsets.
The KX-TPA60 handset comes with the base station, and is compact enough that you can clip it to a belt or shirt. The phone has a nice color screen, and there are two buttons on the face for call transfer and call hold. The remaining features are found in the ‘Function’ button, which is somewhat inconveniently placed at the bottom right hand corner of the phone. The battery life is great - we left the handset out for 5 days, and found it to still have more than 60% power.
Recommendation: The ability of the Panasonic KX-TGP600 to support up to eight devices is certainly impressive for a DECT phone. The KX-TPA60 handset offers good voice quality, but leaves something to be desired in the realm of features. Ultimately, this phone offers users freedom and basic call functionality, and is a solid choice for offices of up to eight people.
“The Polycom VVX D60 combines Polycom’s high standards with exceptional mobility. The voice quality is great, the features list is fine, and the speakerphone is impressively loud. However, we would only recommend this phone to you if you already have a Polycom VVX series phone.”
The Polycom VVX D60 is a DECT phone from the leading business phone provider that requires another Polycom VVX phone from the 300, 400, 500, or 600 series to function as the phone’s host unit.
The VVX D60 works by setting up a secure connection between the host VVX phone and the D60 base unit. This means that the D60 isn’t making call on its own, but it’s best to treat it as a separate device and assign the unit its own line to avoid confusion.
The handset of the VVX D60 feels very solid and well-crafted. The battery pack offers 10 hours of talk time and 100 hours of standby time. As expected with Polycom phones, we found the call quality on the D60 to be just as good as calls made on the VVX host phone. The only minor issue was a slight delay between pressing a button on the phone and a response on the screen. Otherwise, there was no noticeable lag between the D60 and host VVX.
The VVX D60 boasts a range of 50 meters indoors and 300 meters outdoors, and comes with a 10/100 PoE base station, wall mount, and belt clip. However, it does not support more advanced features such as paging or Busy Lamp Field (BLF).
Recommendation: If you’re already using Polycom VVX phones and need a complementary DECT solution, the VVX D60 is definitely a good option for added mobility. However, the relatively high price can be a barrier, as well as some of the feature limitations.
“The W56P/W56H is a great iterative step forward for Yealink’s DECT line. The phone is not hobbled by the desire to remain backwards compatible. It actually has positive benefits, such as the radical redesign of the handset and the outstanding battery life….The only serious downside to the W56P/W56H is the voice quality.”
The Yealink W56P/W56H is the brand’s second generation of DECT SIP phones, coming after the W52P/W52H. Yealink also offers deskphones, conference phones, and video conferencing solutions.
The W56P base station supports up to five handsets, five VoIP accounts, and four simultaneous calls. Other features include paging, intercom, and auto-answer functions, message waiting indication, and anonymous call rejection.
The W56H handset has a large color screen and nicely sized buttons, including one for call transfer. It feels slightly heavier than other Yealink wireless handsets due to the larger battery pack. However, the handset boasts 30 hours of talk time per charge and 400 hours of standby time.
The Yealink W56P/W56H offer an impressive amount of business phone features that give standard deskphones a run for their money. The voice quality could be better, as it can sound hollow or too quiet at times. However, the battery power on the handset is superb and there are few competitors who can match this feature.
Recommendation: The limitations on the number of concurrent calls may limit your decision to invest in the Yealink W56P/W56H as a standalone solution, but if you’re looking for excellent battery life and calling features, this phone has it all. If you already have the older W52P/W52H model, there’s no pressing reason to upgrade, but the new handset design is a nice touch.