BT Synergy 3105

BT SYNERGY 3105 CORDLESS DIGITAL TELEPHONE – TWIN

I am about to replace my land line telephone handset after proudly owning it for more than 6 years. In 2005, we had one of those fixed landline telephone receivers which was located along our house corridor downstairs. Then only I and my husband had mobile phones as the kids were still young. During those years people used to phone each other more on land lines as it was cheaper to do so than on mobile phones. The fixed landline phone was a big inconvenience in particular having to rush down every time to answer the calls. We urgently decided it was time to upgrade to a cordless phone. After some search we were lucky to find an almost new BT Synergy 3105 cordless phone, twin set at a garage sale in our local area. We bought the twin set for £40.00 which I later discovered was a real give away. We placed the main handset downstairs and the sister handset upstairs for the convenience.

MY OPINION

We bought the handsets already assembled and ready for use so I can’t really comment on the assemble instructions. I should also say at this stage I did not test all the facilities as listed in the user manual as I really did not have need for some of them but will comment on those I found really useful.

Handset Description and Key Features

The phone handsets I am reviewing are slightly different from the one in the main picture (see photos attached).

The twin set comprises 2 handsets, one which can be used as the main one and other as a secondary one based on which one goes on the main base station. The handsets are dark silver-grey (titanium) in colour with lighter silver-grey buttons and top front panel. The handsets are a bit bulky judging by today’s standards but are still fairy presentable. They are easy to clean as well as the buttons are well separated. They free standing and therefore don’t need to be supported by the base station all the time. It is however good practise to place then back on the base station just to ensure they are charging all the time to avoid unnecessary disappointments.

Numbers and symbols

Most of the numbers/symbols are printed in black on the light-silver grey buttons, except for the call answering button which has a green telephone receiver symbol printed on the key. This is the button you press to answer calls. The symbols are self indicative and easy to use and include facilities like redial, secrecy, hands free, menu, phonebook and call volume adjustment. Letters of the alphabet A-Z are also printed on the main frame besides some of the buttons and I used these mainly to type my contacts when I created my phone book.

After all these years, the numbers and all symbols are still clearly visible, not even one has rubbed off like I have seen on some handsets.

The BT logo and the words “Digital Clarity” are clearly visible above the display screen.

Display Screen

The screen turns blue when the phone is in use and the caller name or number is also displayed on the screen. The screen is big enough and easy to read digits.

When not in use the handsets will display the default handset identity 'Handset 1' or 'Handset 2'. This can be changed and ours now display our surname and numbers 1 and 2, respectively. The battery image is also clearly visible on the display screen and indicated the battery level as described below.

Base stations and Power supply

The phone comes with two bases each connected to power supply plug. The bases are the same colour slightly dark silver-grey as the main colour as the hand sets. The power supply cables and the plugs are black. One of the bases, the bigger one is the main base station and has to be connected to the landline telephone line. The second base is smaller and this depended on the main base station to work.

The main base station has to be plugged to both telephone line and to the power supply and working in order for the second hand set to pick the signal as well. The base stations are not too big and therefore can be tucked in a corner without taking too much space. The main base station has many valuable utilities including the following:

o Two light illuminating buttons located at the front and these illuminate red and green when the power supply is on. The red button is also an indicator that the handset is charging and the green button will flash intermittently when any of the handsets is being used. This is a good warning indicator to avoid interrupting when someone is using another handset.
o An extra button, the page button. When pressed the page button will cause the handsets to beep wherever they are hiding. This is quite a handy facility for locating handsets. We used this facility a lot when the girls were still young and the handsets were “missing” and we either found them under the sofa cushions, behind the sofas or amongst their toys.
o The main base station also acts as the main answer phone.

Battery life and Talk time

The battery life is quite long and you can easily talk for more than an hour even when the battery is almost half full. The battery access is located at the back of the handsets and is fairly easy to open and close. Batteries used are special rechargeable AAA size batteries. The handsets give a warning beeping sound when the battery is running low. If this happens during a call, then it is advisable to end the conversation and recharge the phone to avoid the embarrassment of the conversation being cut off or to switch to another handset.

Charging the handsets is easy, simply place the handset into its base but also make sure the mains power supply is on otherwise the handsets will not recharge. Believe me this is a very common mistake.

It is actually easy to see if the phone is recharging by viewing the battery image on the display screen. Three bars shows that the handset is fully charged and 0 bars mean no battery power so don’t try and use the handset.

In my opinion the phones have good battery talk time. Just remember to replace the handset onto the base stations after use. Once fully charged the phones can give up to 14 hours talk time without charging depending on degree of usage.

Range, Reception and Sound Quality

The operational range is very good to cover the whole house and even the back garden and driveway. This statement is based on the standard 3-4 bedroom house on 2 or 3 floors with standard sized front and back gardens. This effectiveness of this range may vary off course if you live in a mansion or castle with massive gardens.

In summer we actually take the receiver outside just in case we get a phone call as no one wants to miss out on the BBQ or just the wonderful priceless sunshine on the few occasions we get it here in England. The range as indicated by the manufacturer is actually up to 300 metres outdoors, 50 metres indoors which in my opinion is very good. The phone is supposed to produce an out of range warning if you go beyond this range but this has never happened to me.

Because the range is actually very broad, this comes with good reception as well for any place within the range. The reception is good either indoors or outside. The phone is cordless which means you can actually carry the handset with you inside or outside the house. I used to find it odd talking on my landline outside the house and used to wonder if my neighbours could hear all my conversation, but now with mobile phones it seems the norm anyway that people can talk where ever there are. One rule we have put in our house is that the handsets do not go in the bathroom, no matter what. I find it both annoying and unhygienic.

The digital signal makes the sound both ends come out clearly when talking and listening with no background noises.
The sound quality and reception are equally good within the specified range.

Calling and talking features

Dialling, receiving and terminating calls is fairly easy using the standard buttons.
The phone has a choice of 5 base and ringer melodies and choice of 11 different languages and this need to be done during the phone set up. My girls used to change the ringer melodies so often that I gave up keeping track of them but they finally settled for one which we have kept for the past 3 years.

The handset can display the number of the caller or the name of person calling if the contact is saved in the phone contact book. It can log up to 20 latest calls and also displays a call waiting message if someone is calling you whilst you are using the phone.

It is possible to control the ringer volume on the base station and on the individual handsets as well but most important for me is the ability to control the volume of the ringing or conversation through the handset volume control so no need to go back to the base station to control the volume. There are some people who generally shout on the phone and some who almost whisper so it is good to be able to adjust the volume to suit based on the person you are talking to. What is more important is that the person I am talking to can hear me and I can hear them very clearly, without any background noises.

The answer phone can be accessed from the main base station using the menu on the handset. It is pretty basic and functions well. We tend to mainly use the BT answer phone system which came free with our telephone contract and is easily accessible via a special BT number.

The speakerphone or hands free option allows you to make/take calls without picking up the handset. This is a good option to have if you want other people in the room to hear the conversation as well but I never use it that much.

It is possible to make internal handset to handset calls or even transfer a call to another handset. I should say this is almost not necessary in the home now due to mobile phones but is still handy if the phones are used as business phones as each handset can act as an extension. If you can’t find a handset, you can ring its handset number or page it from the main base station.

Contacts

The phone book memory is good and can hold up to 50 name and number directory per handset. It allows last number redial up to 5 last numbers.

Durability

The phone and all its components are very durable. Our handsets have been dropped from upstairs on several occasions but they still work. At one stage the handset opened, I just picked it up, put back the batteries and closed it back in place and it was still working. After all these years, the handsets are a bit worn, scratched out now but still going on with the usual business.

Here is an extract I found on a telephone sales website, “The BT Synergy 3105 is ideal for residential customer seeking the call clarity of a digital cordless telephone, consumers wishing to trade up from a corded product and Small office/Home office and large households.” This summarises all I have said above.

Conclusion

Generally, I think this is a good phone to have, particularly as there are two handsets, so you can leave one upstairs and one downstairs or wherever is practical. The phone also comes in a trio (3) set, quad (4) set and I understand you can add more handsets or replace individual handsets as well.

**I am retiring this phone just to change and upgrade. It is a nice phone with a presentable appearance for its generation. Sadly the phone is currently unavailable from most outlets until further notice. My suspicion is that it has been replaced by a newer improved version.

**Time to say farewell to my bleep-beep-buzz mate!

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Main features as indicated by the manufacturer

o Caller display
o 20 calls log
o Call waiting
o 50 name and number directory per handset
o Easy to use menu driven display
o Hands free
o Blue backlit display
o Hands free volume control
o Keypad lock
o Call transfer
o 3 way calling
o Handset priority ringing
o Internal handsets to handset calls
o Simultaneous intercom and external calls
o Base station and handset ringer volume control
o Choice of 5 base and ringer melodies
o Speech volume control
o Talk time 14 hours standby time 350 hours
o Digital sound quality
o Auto-talk/standby
o Digital security
o 5 last number redial
o Choice of 11 different languages
o Out of range warning
o Paging
o Range of up to 300 metres outdoors, 50 metres indoors.
o Secrecy facility
o Gap compatible
o Battery low warning
o Pause
o Recall
o Touchtone dialing

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Thank you for reading and rating.

hildah11 © Jan 2012