Cordless wall phone requirements (hardwood, Home Depot, AC, phones)

[woodguide]

Wish list;- Finding an attractive flush-mount cordless wall phone including a built-in answering machine with the following features to fit a restrictive space (originally occupied by a rotary dial wall phone many years ago
1. Phone base unit must be no more than 5 and 3/4 inches wide, no more than 4 inches deep desirable, (as mounted to the pegs of a wall jack, DSL wall phone filter attached between the jack and back of phone base.)
2. Color range desirable: white, beige, or silver
3. Ability to use with auxiliary (remote) handset.
4. Volume-adjustable ring tone sounding similar to familiar old "corded" style phones. (Some new phone ring sounds have an irritating "warble" or do not have volume adjustability and are hard to hear.
REALITY;- From exhaustive research I have done, phones with all the above requirements and/or desires are unavailable. (I am stuck with an older, rapidly-degrading AT & T cordless phone needing replacement soon.) The closest new phone meeting my needs is a GE 27902CE1. However, it is too wide for my existing wall space and retrofit of the area to fit it would be difficult and not desirable to do.
GENERAL COMMENT FOR DISCUSSION;- Many new phone designs look like they were designed by the same people who design running shoes;- ugly, weird colors and shapes not fitting room decor, uncomfortable to hold up to the ear, key pads difficult to use, many being too small. Most all available cordless hand sets do not mount vertically securely in their base unit (if at all vertically.) Base units of most all wall-mountable phones protrude out too far from a wall if fastenened to the pegs of a wall jack. I wish phone designers would take note of my concerns as I know that I am not the only one with these problems in finding a suitable phone for my needs.

[BobKovacs]

Even if you do find a phone that suits your needs style/color/size wise, you're going to have a tough time getting the DSL filter to stuff behind it on the wallplate.......

[DarlaLogan]

I have searched high and low for a phone to fit in very much the same spot, where the old wall-mounted phone had been. Sorry, kiddo, I won’t be of any help. We gave up and hung an old corded phone there, and while it’s advisable to have a land line in case of power failure, we have one elsewhere and really would prefer a nice looking cordless with an answering machine.

Ours is a real Rube Goldberg setup, and you’ll see why I’ll watching this thread for help.

We use a wall plate with extra jacks on the sides. The big corded phone is connected as a basic wall phone, and out of aside jack comes (do not cringe, please) a cord that goes over the door, behind a shelf unit, to the DSL filter, to which we have a cordless base phone and a computer connected. The cord over the door is godawful ugly, but we’ve just moved in, and neither of us is handy, so we’re stuck till we find a solution.

We could drill a hole up from the basement and install another phone jack across the room. That would eliminate the cord over the door and my agita, but the wall phone situation would still need attention. I don’t see how to dispense with the electrical cord if we want an answering machine, and this particular spot is visible when we walk into the house from the garage, so it’s ideal for the answering machine.



*Darla sits next to woodguide and waits. Here, woodguide, I brought snacks.

[Tesaje]

Try a phone with multiple handsets. One of the additional handset things would fit there, tho you do need power for the base. I love mine. I can put a phone wherever I want by just plugging the base.

[woodguide]

Originally Posted by Tesaje

Try a phone with multiple handsets. One of the additional handset things would fit there, tho you do need power for the base. I love mine. I can put a phone wherever I want by just plugging the base.

=Woodguide
Thanks for your suggestion regarding using an auxiliary handset instead of a main unit where the wall jack is presently located. However, where the jack is located, space is extremely limited and I have no shelf or wall area available nor any room to build a shelf to set the base unit down or fasten it to the wall. The closest power outlet is 6 feet away. The existing wall jack is centered in a vertical hardwood panel of finished cabinetry that is 6 inches wide and 13 3/4 inches high. The problem is that when the cabinetry was originally installed, a very old rotary dial wall phone fit perfectly. When rotary phones became obsolete, an AT & T 900mhz touchtone phone (which fit well in the original space,) replaced it. This phone is now degrading. Would like to upgrade and include an answering phone with cordless handset plus one remote handset. All base units with the features I want are too wide or the handset does not hang well on it perfectly vertically.

[eggalegga]

When I began reading your post, I was thinking, "There is another soul out there, like me, trying to find this flush mount, cordless, wall phone with an answering machine." I've been searching for about 5 years. But my dilema is I want a Panasonic. I'm very happy with that brand.

What's a DSL wall phone filter? I don't have a home computer and it sounds like it's related to that.

My current 990 mhz (don't laugh) cordless phone that's wall mounted in my kitchen, has been dying for years. The phone won't hold a charge and the 1, 4, & 7 keys don't seem to work well. I had my brother install a phone jack that has the power cord behind the wall plate. I'm sure there's a name for that but I don't know what it's called. The result is no cords at ALL coming off the wall. I love it.

[woodguide]

I had a Panasonic phone at one time and was happy with it. Unfortunately, in my research of their newest phones, I also have not found one suitable for my application.

A DSL (digital subscriber line) filter for wall phones is a rectangular box about 3/4 inch thick mounted physically and electrically between a wall phone jack and a phone base unit. What it does is to prevent communication interference between both analog and digital service provided on the same line feeding telephones and a computer which may be connected elsewhere on the same line.

The GE model 27909EE1 cordless phone has a built in DSL filter and therefore does not need the DSL adapter required by other base units. Obviously, the advantage here is that by eliminating the need of an external DSL adapter, the base unit of this phone will not project out as far from the wall. The elimination of the DSL adapter also means that there is one less electrical connection point that potentially could become problematic over time.

Because of my frustration in not finding a suitable phone with the features and physical dimensions I need, I have decided to remodel the area where the existing phone is now located. This will not be easy nor inexpensive, but after much soul-searching, the best solution under the circumstances. I intend to use the above model phone as my base station.

I like your idea of a power cord connection behind the wall plate. Phone base units I am aware of use a small AC step-down transformer plugged directly into the 110v AC socket and a small low-voltage wire connected from there to the base unit for a power source. Does your existing wall phone use this kind of a setup? If so, how is the transformer contained in the wall receptacle behind the phone base unit?

[eggalegga]

I'm not certain about all of the electical connections. My brother is an electrician and he wired it for me. There is some kind of wire that runs from behind the wall plate and down to my breaker box to supply that line with power. I bought the wireless phone jack at Home Depot about 3 years ago. I think it was only $17.

[San]

You are not alone. There is a very long thread about this subject on Amazon:

Amazon.com: wall mount cordless phone - cordless phone Discussion Forum

The bad new is, there is no answer to the problem. There are a lot of us out there looking to replace worn-out cordless wall phones, and we are victims of fashion. The fashion in cordless phones today is slope-front "ski-jump" shapes, and every model from every manufacturer follows it. Watch out for online ads that say "wall-mountable" because that usually means a bracket to attach the back to the wall plate, with the front sticking out into the room. Worse yet is Panasonic - when they say that, it means you can buy a little plastic shelf to set the phone on.

[eggalegga]

Thanks for the link. It's nice to know there are other people out there with the same needs. Why won't manufacturers take note?