BT Relate 700 > Reviews > Priceless old phone still rings

Author's product rating:   

Reception & Clarity of speech	Excellent
Range of features	Good
Reliability	Excellent
Value for money	Excellent

Advantages:	Fantastic reliability, caller display, ergonomic, does what you need it to
Disadvantages:	Doesn't send texts, picture messages, can't use it to make VoIP

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Well I have had my trusty old BT Relate 700 for longer than I care to remember, and bless it, it still allows me to make phone calls, which believe it or not, is what I bought it for.

I've described it as priceless in the title, because I can't believe you can still buy it. I paid possibly as much as £40 for it from a BT Shop - um, er... (I'm just going to say this bit really quietly) last century. Ooh er... Bet you can't pay that now!

So why have I had it so long, especially in the current climate of changing phones every sixth months? Well the answer is because I quite like using it.

The thing it has which is useful is a caller display, so you can see who is calling you before you pick up the phone (unless the caller has withheld, or is international). It also keeps a log of the last 30 phone calls, so if you go out you can check if that tradesman really did call when he said he would etc. This feature might have been cutting edge at the time of manufacture, and is less exciting now, but is very useful, especially if you keep missing calls because you are eating, or dealing with the children etc - this happens to me all the time because our phone can only ring a maximum of 5 times before going to voice mail, and there is a time lag while the person is leaving a message so you end up standing there for ages while they leave you a message you can't hear, then they finally finish and get free so you ring them back and they say "Oh did you get my message?". Er no, actually!

It has buttons for you to programme in your frequent use numbers and it is designed to be used with the BT Friends and Family discount. Probably new tariffs like unlimited call packages render all that redundant, but it is useful to be able to call frequent numbers on one button press. If you programme he name of your friends in, it shows their name not the number. Just like your mobile. Amazing.

Now it probably looks ridiculously old-fashioned. Those of you under 25 may need an explanation here - telephones didn't used to be rectangular. But it is actually a truly fab shape to use - the handset tucks under your chin easily so you can write with one hand whilst listening with the other. What do you mean, isn't that what the speaker button is for? What speaker button? It's elderly remember. And the actual handset is a curvy sort of shape that is deeply pleasurable to hold in your hand. Steady... Breathe...

In terms of ordinary use, there is no crackle or loss of clarity even after all these years; the handset cleans up nicely, though if you use a strong bleach-based cleaner on it the plastic goes a bit yellow after a few years. It has a redial button, and a recall button (what more could you want?). Most gloriously, it has a secrecy button (so your caller can't hear you). I always thought this was an extra-ordinary feature on a telephone, after all if you don't want the person you are talking to to hear you then isn't the standard procedure to put the phone down? It might have a use if you were, ooh, speaking to your boss then overcome with an overwhelming need to break wind at full volume whilst discussing the sales figures. I expect that's why they included it.
so all in all this a great phone. You can even put it on the wall if you want.

Shame you can't have one then!