Good phone for a senior citizen (not a cellphone)?

Sid Post · Jul 14, 2014

I need a good old school landline phone for my mother. She is in her 70's and has some hearing and visual acuity loss though, nothing severe and mostly a nuisance at this point. With this in mind, I want to find a good phone for her. Things that I think are important are:

1) Good voice quality and volume (for both the mike and speaker/handset)
2) Large clear displays
3) Large buttons
4) Clear and loud 'ringer"
5) A flashing light when the phone rings would be nice
6) A speakerphone option would be nice
7) A cordless handset would be nice too!

What model and brands are recommended? Also, any lessons learned from the more "senior" among us or their children? Also, what have I missed or overlooked?

TIA,
Sid

Piso Mojado · Jul 14, 2014

AT&T/Bell Systems/Western Electric 2500 hearing impaired model with a red flashing ringer light and volume knob. First choice if you can find one. It didn't need a speakerphone, just turn the volume all the way up and raise the handset.

AT&T/Bell Systems/Western Electric 2554 and Trimline. I've never seen a hearing impaired version, but you could turn the volume up pretty loud. Trimline is the least desirable but easiest to find and very cheap. Good point: works equally well as a desk phone and wall phone. Bad point: if someone is confused, it's easier for them to dial while holding the handset to their ear. Trust me on this.

This is an example of a bad modern phone, AT&T CL2909. It's too complicated and the LCD is hard to read.

Northwestern Bell 20200-1. Not perfect but better than the AT&T.

Radio Shack Big Button corded phone. Similar to Northwestern Bell, out of production but you can buy them cheap enough. They were made with and without LCD, without would be first choice.

RevDevil · Jul 15, 2014

AT&T CL4940 1-Handset Landline Telephone with Large Display

One of the customers we do work for uses this as her desk phone, she's in her mid 80's.

Sid Post · Jul 15, 2014

Thanks! I have that NorthWestern Bell and AT&T CL4940 sitting in a shopping cart after narrowing down a lot of choices.

The Clarity brand seems to be popular too but, has a spotty reputation for reliability and at a $100 is pretty expensive. Is voice quality good on both the NW Bell and AT&T phones?

Piso Mojado · Jul 16, 2014

Sid Post said:
Thanks! I have that NorthWestern Bell and AT&T CL4940 sitting in a shopping cart after narrowing down a lot of choices.

The Clarity brand seems to be popular too but, has a spotty reputation for reliability and at a $100 is pretty expensive. Is voice quality good on both the NW Bell and AT&T phones?

Good voice quality for me or you may not be good for your mom, so be prepared to return a phone or two.

Old style corded phones that run on line current usually sound quite similar. If a phone needs batteries for an LCD and recorded numbers, but it can make and receive calls without batteries, then its primary functions are running on line current. If you have used an old Bell Systems/Western Electric handset or a coin-operated payphone, you know what these phones sound like.

If a phone doesn't work at all without batteries, anything is possible. If you are lucky or choose wisely, you may get what you pay for. I have never used a cheap one, but the calls I get from them are very hard to understand.

shunsui · Jul 18, 2014

You might try one of these.

http://www.amazon.com/Clarity-XLC3-...3-0244110?ie=UTF8&refRID=0X5JTD7J2B6B6JZTW834

http://www.amazon.com/Clarity-Amplified-Photo-Phone-P300/dp/B00009WCBU/ref=pd_sim_dbs_hpc_5

RevDevil · Jul 18, 2014

Sid Post said:
Thanks! I have that NorthWestern Bell and AT&T CL4940 sitting in a shopping cart after narrowing down a lot of choices.

The Clarity brand seems to be popular too but, has a spotty reputation for reliability and at a $100 is pretty expensive. Is voice quality good on both the NW Bell and AT&T phones?

Te Clarity brand sucks, it is not reliable for long term use at all; even that of a senior and their use. You need not spend more than $35 for a very high quality phone. AT&T is a good phone, remember we live in the consumer electronics era. Everything is pretty much disposable these days. I bought the phone I linked above for the mother of a client we work for. I do a lot of telephone installations as well as other electronics type work. The AT&T will be good.

Codger_64 · Jul 19, 2014

As a D/HOH person I can tell you that adjustable volume is important. And I do not hear like you do as far as voice quality. Most hearing loss is frequency loss. Mine is more pronounced at either end of the frequency, high and low. For some it is one not the other, not simply volume.

Caller ID is a nice feature. It helps one screen annoying sales calls. Many of the newer phones have a "911" button feature than can be handy for the elderly and hearing impared. Good luck with your choice.

shunsui · Jul 19, 2014

RevDevil said:
Te Clarity brand sucks, it is not reliable for long term use at all...

I've seen a lot of complaints on the Amazon reviews about them failing or not working. My mother needed some of the features though, so we took a chance on a cordless Dect 6.0 version, and luckily it's been working ok for a couple of years now.

RevDevil said:
AT&T CL4940 1-Handset Landline Telephone with Large Display

One of the customers we do work for uses this as her desk phone, she's in her mid 80's.

That is a cool phone. Nice page on Amazon. I might buy one of those for myself the next time I need one.

RevDevil · Jul 19, 2014

shunsui said:
I've seen a lot of complaints on the Amazon reviews about them failing or not working. My mother needed some of the features though, so we took a chance on a cordless Dect 6.0 version, and luckily it's been working ok for a couple of years now.

That is a cool phone. Nice page on Amazon. I might buy one of those for myself the next time I need one.

If you have family members that are hard of hearing, and also have wifi in the home, consider a Caption Call phone. They work great.