domdavis.com

I’ve had a set of three cordless phones with answerphone for a couple of years now. OK, so they weren’t hugely expensive, but then they weren’t cheap either and I kind of expect phones to last for… well, I dunno, the last one I had lasted for 6 years and was still going fine when I last saw it. My 3 cordless ones, however, lasted about 8 months before they started acting a bit funny and about 18 months before they started going very wrong (mainly turning themselves off when you hung up and turning themselves off randomly when you tried to make a call). A couple of weeks ago one of the handsets refused to charge, just constantly turning itself off, restarting, turning itself off and going ‘click’ loudly each time it did. I got fed up with them and replaced them.

The new phones (using iDECT providing a clearer sound with special digital technology which, to my ear, just mean they hiss a lot) were unpacked last week, plugged in and left. Figured I’d sort out the ring tones (ring ring please), answerphone message and what have you later. Today I tried to call TNT regarding the on going saga of getting my new computer delivered. Nothing. No ring tone, nothing. Checked all was plugged in properly. Still nothing. Resorted to the manual, perhaps the handsets weren’t properly registered with the base or something. Check power on [yup]. Check batteries charged [yup]. Check cables plugged in [yup, both ends]. Make sure you’re using the cable supplied as other cables wont work [what are you talking about? It's a phone cable, they're standard]. 5 more minutes of faffing and I decided ‘what the hell’, got the cable that came with the phone, fought the cable monster to change the cables over and… tada. Bloody thing works. That said, it’s been nice and quiet over the past week with no people trying to contact Mr and Mrs Reason so I’m quite tempted to unplug them again and only reconnect them when I need to call an 0800 number.