Having had a donkeys' year old ~£30 BT single handset 'Studio Plus' for well 'donks/yonks' - it's seen way better days with sticky buttons to say the least.
I tried a brand ne new Panansonic thing the other day - it was just as disappointing - light and plasticky, almoSt identical + the brand new sticky buttons and poor quality answer machine recordings.
Perhaps mobile phones' weight has given us a false sense of 'quality'?
Any recommendations for a simple one handset, with non distorted answer machine messages, deffo NO ORANGE numeral screens - improved quality after 10 years ago (which the new Panansonic particularly failed)?
Yes. We have a set of BT Dect phones, the base of the master containing an answerphone, and the phones themselves equipped with BT Call Guardian.
The BT 8600 Advanced is, AFAICS the current version. The screens go dark after a few minutes, so even good for bedside table - although I have taped over the power light on the base for that one, but I hate lights in a dark bedroom, YMMV.
The answerphone is digital, and excellent clarity.
The call guardian stops all (IME) nuisance calls. Unless a number is "white listed" when you enter it in the directory it gets put in an "announced call" queue, and you are then called and asked to accept, accept always, or block the number, before the caller is put through or disconnected.
It does have it's drawbacks of course. Call-backs from doctors or hospitals can get put in the queue because the number calling is unlisted/unknown/blocked, but in practice they've always held on for the the minute it takes to get through.
I never found a way of getting overseas numbers white listed (although we have an earlier version of the phone) and that was slightly annoying with two kids overseas, but hey, they know to hang on and make an "announced" call
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Good range too - at least 30m from our lounge to the bottom of the garden, though the greenhouse does cut the signal at that range.