BT 4600 Big Button Advanced Call Blocker Home Phone
BT 4600 Big Button Advanced Call Blocker Home Phone with Answer Machine, Trio Handset Pack
| Dimensions: | 25 x 19.7 x 12.5 cm; 198.4 Grams |
| Model: | 84668 |
| Batteries Included: | 8 AA batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | BT |
| Department: | Default Category |
| Dimensions: | 25 x 19.7 x 12.5 cm; 198.4 Grams |
| Origin: | China |
bought to replace our old B.T, phone system which we had a long time and had given good service
This one slightly more sophisticated but with our experience of the old one we find just as easy to use
just hope it last as long as our previous one.
THE PHONE SET APPEARSS TO BE OK UNFORTUNATELY IT KEEPS CUTTING OUT AFTER A SHORT TIME WHEN REDIALLED IT CUTS OUT AGAIN VERY QUICKLY. THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE APPEARS
SYNCHRONOZING DATE.
I WILL TRY A REPLACEMENT HANDSET IF THE SAME PROBLEM OCCURS I WILL RETURN AND LOOK FOR A DIFFERENT MAKE OF PHONE.
FINGERS CROSSED
This is a large attractive phone. It is easy to programme and use including the answer machine function. The buttons are big making them easy to see and understand. The voice volume level is excellent and adjustable. It is an ideal phone for anyone who wants a simpler interface and who may be beginning to experience issues with dexterity, hearing or vision.
Bought for my 89 year old father, he has two already but worn out had for many years but the battery dies quick now after ? 8 years of regular use.
Nice big buttons, amplification button for the hard of hearing, easy to set up, far better display screen than many other very small hard to see displays….
Very happy with this phone, I wanted one with the call blocker facilityit is easy to use on this phone.
Also the buttons are a good size making it easy to call numbers, I also needed another phone upstairs, and it all to be cordless so I can take it into the kitchen if needed.
Answer machine easy to turn on and off.
All in all 80yr old sorted with communication!!!!
I returned the BT 4600 phones because when I tried to put my contacts in the phone book there were not enough characters for an entry. A name ‘yes’ but if I wanted to add ‘electrician’ (for example) it failed.
It’s not easy to find the info that tells you how many characters are allowed.
Maureen Blake
Not the most discrete handset in the world but if you are looking for one that has easy-read buttons and is difficult to lose, then this is the one for you.
Bought for my 90 year old mum.
They replaced and older model and these new handsets were almost identical in form and function which offered her confidence in making the transition to a new set of phones.
All worked well and she was very pleased with them.
Got these for my gran after BT blamed her old phones for the reason her phone service kept going down. I had to buy them in a rush in case she needed to ring 999 in an emergency because the other phones stopped working.
In end it was because BT’s service had gone digital and the phones needed plugging into broadband router instead of separately into wall. Despite the unnecessary expense I’m still glad I got these phones as they’re a little more practical and the batteries kept needing to be replaced every 2 years or so on the others.
Size & Design:
These are a lot bigger than the phones they replaced and stand out with their (cheapish) silver colour. I have looked at replacing the phones several times over the years but the previous high costs and looking for phone with separate buttons (not flat ones with no gaps between them) and lit buttons and screen and good reviews have been hard to trace.
The phones are nice and big. They do have a curve to them which is a little strange – a bit like many phones before speaker functions were common to fit the profile of your face.
Their size makes them easy to pick up as my grans struggles with her hands. The buttons are nice and big and the screen size is average. The screen is easy to read with different contrast settings and is lit by an orange light.
My gran doesn’t use the phone number storing features on phones or an answer machine as doesn’t understand a lot and may accidentally press buttons and then not know what to do.
There is an X in the middle to block numbers – as such it’s a little worrying that this may be pressed by accident at some point – I would prefer the option of a customisable button that could be set to something else or disabled altogether.
Quality:
The phones are moulded and joined midway and look a little cheap and also feel light in weight so don’t give the greatest sense of quality. The orange light also doesn’t give a good a sense of quality – white would have been better but the text is easy to read and that’s the main thing.
Sound:
There are several ring tones to choose from and these seem to be fairly loud for elderly people.
There’s also compatibility with hearing aids (if I can only persuade people to actually get them).
The phone sounds themselves on the phone i.e. selection tones however are not very loud and aid elderly people in knowing they have pressed buttons.
The speaker quality is ok and also seems very loud and loud enough for my gran.
Menu:
The phone were easy to navigate in set up and there’s only 1 or 2 things I was unsure of so had to look up in the instructions.
Charge:
I don’t know how long these last but they came with enough charge on them for me to set the phones up. The instructions also recommend to charge the phones for 12-16 hours? before use.
Value:
At 90 for 3 phones and an answer machine I think these are pretty good value!
The build quality certainly isn’t the highest I’ve ever seen but if you’re only bothered about having something that works then I think they’re good.
In the past I’ve perhaps has to pay 55 for each phone in a set.
Summary:
Would I recommend – yes.
I’m not ever so bothered about the build quality and put function and ease of use above it which are good.
For my gran it’s just what we needed and since I had to order them in a rush and didn’t have time to read many of the reviews I’m happy.
Time will tell and I’ll update the review if there are any problems.
Sound quality is fine and creation/maintenance of Contacts is better than old phone.
The display characters are large which is helpful but if (say) a contact name is more than a certain size the display size reduces.
Would recommend this phone
Installation was easy (I set it up). The phone was charged initially at my house (it needs several hours).
Once in position it became obvious that the button to start and the button to end calls are really just not large enough.
Dad sits for a long time trying to work out how to answer the call.
Sometimes he cuts off the call without warning.
I programmed in his favourite numbers but he is unable to work out how to get that to kick in.
Currently I’m thinking for a person with Alzheimer’s I need a very much more basic phone. At the moment I have not found one with suitable reviews (i.e. that I am prepared to risk).
Changes for a person with Alzheimer’s have to be very gradual as evidenced by the problems he is having with this phone.
For a person with more presence of mind this phone might be ideal. Sadly in my case I think it is back to the drawing board.
I had hoped that after five years I would be spoilt for choice but it seems that BT’s Call Guardian feature that sifts out nuisance calls is the only real show in town. Others allow you to block numbers but are limited as to how many numbers that can be blocked and also require you to have accepted the call first, and then block it, when scammers only need to get through once.
It is disappointing that today’s landline phones have more in common with Nokia 6210 from the turn of the century than they do with a modern smart phones. With their simple crude displays it should really be a given that you can bluetooth to the device and update the phone book easier that relying on crude data entry methods. The phone book entries are limited in the number of characters making an abundance of abbreviations a necessity.
However, get over how crude and limiting the technology and display, the features are what makes this phone worth buying.
The chunky design is probably aimed at the older generation but makes life easier for everyone. For screening calls the Call Guardian seems to have no equal and virtually eliminates at the fist hurdle all but the most persistent nuisance call. For the persistent caller, they have to announce who they are which gives you a second chance to reject a call without direct communication with them, and there is also a feature that allows you to send them to the answer phone and listen to their message, and take over the call if required.
The phone book allows for 200 numbers, which is more than enough for most people, phone book entries are thankfully automatically synched to the other handsets. If you don’t want to keep the settings as they are straight from the box there is a lot of customisation available from ring tone, to delay to answer phone and such like.
The BT4600 allows for 9 speed dial numbers that are very useful for the common numbers that are dialled. It is easy to see who has called and play any messages that are left.
Call quality is fine, and it has a one touch amplify button for the hard of hearing which would be very useful in shared households where some people’s hearing is better than others, it also has an in built inductive coupler for use with digital hearing aids but I can’t testify as to how effective or useful that is.
The answerphone element is pretty standard, although it does include a feature that will slow the playback of recordings down which seems like a good and useful feature.
It is possible to block numbers but in the five years I have been using the Call Guardian the only time I have been troubled by a scam call has been where the caller has used a mobile number and I had it setup to allow all mobiles through. As scammers now use mobile numbers on a regular basis I will be screening those numbers in future so doubt I will need to manually block numbers.
I hope this is my last landline phone that I have to buy, but if I need to replace it I just hope that by that time what is on offer has more in common with a modern smartphone than something from the year 2000.
Clear instructions made Installation straight forward.
Sound volume is good and reasonably clear as is the loudspeaker which, when switched on, enables anyone in the room to hear the caller.
The second handset is automatically updated with changes made on the main unit such as the list of recent calls in and out and entries in the phone book – a boon as it avoids the need to make these entries twice.
There are some small annoyances:
1. There’s only a facilty to enter one number for each phone book entry which requires a separate name entry for each number. The 8500 had dedicated spaces for home, mobile and business numbers.
2. Only 12 characters are permitted for each entry name – too few for many, especially business names, which demands some creative prcis.
3. Call screening of numbers not in the phone book contacts works well but with one annoying exception – the system ALWAYS screens calls from overseas even though the numbers are in the phone book and allocated VIP and ‘always allow’ status. The BT8500 did not do this and the handbook doesn’t mention it. This is particularly annoying to frequent callers. The calls list also displays the caller as unknown!
4. The manual states that during a call incoming speech volume can be amplified by pressing a button on the side of the phone. What it does not state is that the loudspeaker facility has to be switched on first – not much use if a private conversation is required.
5. The numbers with area codes are followed by three dots which makes them too long to be displayed in the calls list so they scroll sideways making them difficult to read. Without the dots scrolling would not be necessary.
This seems like a long list of demerits but these are relatively minor aspects and the 4600 is altogether an excellent phone only denied a fifth star because of them.