4 line phones recommendations?

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 04, 2008 Posts: 7

Can anyone recommend a 4 line phone that features work with Vonage? I have ATT954 phones and, while all the calls come through just fine, the line in use LED does not stay lit. Therefore, anyone making a call lifts the receiver and breaks into the conversation. Also, while 2 of the phones in the office pick up line 1 (if available) when making a call, the other 3 pick up line 4 by default.
Just to clarify, I'm looking for phone features to work, not Vonage features, i.e. first available line pickup, line in use indicators, call transfer, paging, etc. Thanks in advance for any help...

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 14, 2007 Posts: 12

I am interested in ideas on 4 line phones also. I have be trying out 1 business Vonage line using a Panasonic KX-TG2740 2 line phone and it works well.

In addition testing 2 lines from Vocalocity Voip using Linksys SPA942 phones and while the quality is good, it **** since I don't know if my wife is on one of the lines in her upstairs office.

Testing these for moving my office back to the home.

Posts: 111 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jan 26, 2008 Posts: 111

mvanweer wrote:

Can anyone recommend a 4 line phone that features work with Vonage?

I have the RCA 25414RE3 and it works beautifully. You have to buy their headset if you want that feature. No other model seems to be compatible.

I have the Vonage D-Link VTA adapter with voice line and second fax line and Line 3 is fed by a separate Lingo line. Works flawlessly. Lots of features and bells and whistles, so you gotta do your homework and read the manual, but it's a beauty.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 04, 2008 Posts: 7

I did some checking on this phone system and it gets very bad reviews! Have you had any problems with functionality? Also, have you tried other phones, or is this the first type that worked with Vonage?

Posts: 111 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jan 26, 2008 Posts: 111

mvanweer wrote:

I did some checking on this phone system and it gets very bad reviews! Have you had any problems with functionality? Also, have you tried other phones, or is this the first type that worked with Vonage?

I know about the reviews, and they scared me as well. I even avoided it at first and went with an SBC model instead (aka Execufone). This was so bad I even wrote it up on ripoffreport.com: http://badbusinessbureau.com/reports/0/281/RipOff0281205.htm

It was out of desperation that I went ahead and tried the RCA. I didn't like the shape of the handset -- and still don't -- but I rolled the dice and gambled that the bad reviews were from people too impatient or lazy to read the manual and go through the setup procedures. Turns out I was right, apparently. It still surprises me the way it works so well. Now don't get me wrong. The support from Thomson (the company that fronts this equipment for RCA) leaves something to be desired, but not a deal breaker IMO.

And yes, I had a Panasonic two-line before that was years old and it also worked flawlessly. I go from the Vonage device's fax Line 2 into a splitter. One line to the fax, one to the L1, L2, L1 & L2 line splitter. (You need to put both lines into one RJ-14 (I guess it is called) cable then feed the phone with Line 1 and Line 2 with one wire.)

This setup enables me to use the Vonage fax line on my RCA phone as a second line, since it sits unused about 99.9% of the time. (I mostly use it for just calling out or testing the main line and its features.)

One caveat here: I only have the one phone so can't speak to the situation where there is more than one phone on the premises. This model is KSU-Less so it doesn't have the main controller. You can link several together in an intercom situation as long as they all share a common line. I would imagine you would need at least cat 3 and preferably cat 5 cable linking them together to guard against cross talk and other interference.

The unknown here is how many phones the Vonage device can ring at the same time. I read somewhere that it can only ring two, but not sure that applies to this model. Maybe that applies to phones that need substantial ringing voltage while this model has its own power supply. Tech support may be able to answer these concerns more fully.

Also about the default line problem mentioned above: The default line for this phone is Line 1, but you can set it to whichever line you choose. It's in the manual, which is extensive, and well it should be considering the phone has so many features. It looks like they did their best to come up with a phone that closely resembles the expensive ones that have a main hub but without the heavy price.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 04, 2008 Posts: 7

Thanks for the update!
I have my Vonage adapters going into a 3Com switch, then to a 66 block. From there, I have cat5 cable going to all my phones. Call quality is great, it's just that for some reason my ATT954 phones won't behave. My system is also KSU-less. I am looking to keep costs down (hence the Vonage switch), and also do not want to install a PBX system.

Posts: 111 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jan 26, 2008 Posts: 111

mvanweer wrote:

Thanks for the update!

Most welcome. Smile

As I tried to say, I have not used this phone in Intercom mode, but if it works as well with others like itself as it has by itself you should be very happy. I got mine from HelloDirect.com. Their price seemed the most reasonable and they have a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. I'd give them a call and talk to someone in sales and perhaps get with someone in tech support as well.
Their number is: C/S 866-224-4800; Tech Support: 800-964-6444

If you decide to give them a try report back please and let us know how it worked out. I may need to expand my own system in the future and it would be nice to know, OK? Very Happy

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 11, 2008 Posts: 6

Hello my good Sir, thank you for your time.
Quick question for you, since I am new to the Vonage scene
will I be able to use the RCA 25414RE3 phone without purchasing additional lines from Vonage ?

my goal is to have a primary number in the office and the capability to do call trasnfer to other phones wthin the area for example line 1 line 2, etc (just like a pbx system) does this phone provide some sort of internetal lines ? ???

Thank you for your time.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 21, 2007 Posts: 10

mvanweer wrote:

I did some checking on this phone system and it gets very bad reviews! Have you had any problems with functionality? Also, have you tried other phones, or is this the first type that worked with Vonage?

We have several of these phones as well, and they've worked perfectly, with great features, for 3 years.

These reviews aren't accurate