Specialty Phones

Cordless phones for the hearing/vision-impaired

Although there are several cordless phones touting features for those with hearing and sight limitations, these phones work well for anyone who wants better volume control and larger buttons. In fact, we find good reviews for some of these phones from people who just liked their ease of use and extra features.

The cordless phone/answering machine combo for the impaired that has gotten the best reviews in the past -- the Uniden CEZAI998 -- is no longer available. However, the Radio Shack 43-140 (*Est. $100) appears to be exactly the same phone. It has a corded handset on the base and one cordless handset. Both have big, lighted buttons (including a 911 button), flashing visual ringers and amplified volume that you can control. Talking caller ID tells you audibly who is calling. This 5.8 GHz phone gets mostly good reviews from customers at RadioShack.com, although a couple of owners say they've had problems with voice quality or sticky buttons.

We found less consistent reviews for other cordless phones for the hearing and/or vision impaired. The GE 27906GE1 Big Button Phone (*Est. $80) -- one of the best-reviewed cordless phones for the impaired -- appears to have been discontinued. Although that big-button cordless phone is still listed as current on the manufacturer's website, it's getting hard to find in stores, and the price has been jacked up to nearly three times what it was a year ago. Owners say this single cordless 2.4 GHz handset with no answering machine is a good basic, easy-to-use phone, but we found no new replacement model.

A similar but more current phone, the Clarity C4205 (*Est. $105), gets a high average rating from customers at Amazon.com. Like the GE Big Button phone, the Clarity phone has one handset and no answering machine. Bright lights flash on both the handset and base when a call comes in, and the handset also has a vibrating ringer. Clarity says this phone can boost sound by 40 decibels. Most reviewers say they can hear voices loud and clear on this 2.4 GHz phone, whether they're hard of hearing or not. However, a few say voices sound distorted. An earlier Clarity model is featured in a leading expert test, where it performs adequately.

Skype phones

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a type of phone service that allows you to make calls through your broadband Internet connection, instead of through traditional phone lines. See our report on VoIP if you're considering digital phone service with a provider like Vonage or your cable company. This type of VoIP service provider will provide you with an adapter (or modem) so you can use your regular telephone to make Internet calls. Other than the adapter, you do not need a special phone -- you can use any regular phone with VoIP.

Skype is different from a regular VoIP service, however. Skype is software that you install on your computer, allowing you to make free or low-cost phone calls. Unlike VoIP from your cable or Internet service provider, your computer needs to be turned on to make calls through Skype. You don't need a specific handset to use VoIP software; you can hook up a microphone and speakers, or use a headset connected to your computer to make calls. If you want to expand your mobility while you talk or increase the number of handsets you can use at once, however, you'll need a Skype-compatible phone that can connect to your computer or network. Be aware that we didn't find great reviews for any of these phones, which might partly be due to problems with Skype itself.

The Netgear SPH200W (*Est. $160) connects to your wireless network to make Skype calls. It can also connect to other public Wi-Fi networks (such as T-Mobile hot spots) to allow you to make calls over Skype when you're not at home. It's a neat concept, but we found mixed reports for how well this works in reality. Users say setup is tricky, and Netgear customer service isn't of much help, according to some of the user reviews we read.

We found no current Skype phones that get great praise from experts. A few have accumulated lots of user reviews at Amazon.com, including the Plantronics Calisto Pro (*Est. $210) and Keyspan VP-24A (*Est. $70), but too many of those users say the phones themselves are lousy -- emitting strange sounds, for example -- or not compatible with their computer's software.