Panasonic KX-TG6445 - a great cordless phone for the OOMA Telo

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I've been a fan of the OOMA Telo since I got it just over a year ago.  In fact, I just got my first annual bill associated with OOMA that starts on your second year of service.  I paid only $11.75 for another year (saving me $360 per year).  A fantastic deal for what has been excellent phone service and a great way to cut your bills without sacrifice!

When I bought my OOMA telo I simply used it with my old Uniden cordless phones (and it worked reasonably well with them).  However, the batteries on my Uniden handsets were starting to die and rather than replace them I thought  it might be time to look for something better.

Panasonic KX-TG6445t

Initially, I was just looking for a decent deal on a phone set with at least 4 handsets.

However, as I read a bit more about the newer DECT 6.0 phones I ran across some really cool features that made upgrading my phones particularly tempting.

Because my old Uniden phone wasn't able to detect if there was voicemail on my OOMA telo, I was always stuck with using two message systems.  I used the built in answering machine on the Uniden 95% of the time.  However, if I got a call while I was on the phone, it would still go to my OOMA voicemail.

This was particularly annoying as it was easy to miss that I had a message waiting on my OOMA telo (v.s. my Uniden which would simply flash to get my attention).

Time for a better phone!

Note:  The KX-TG6445t is the 5 handset (t = titanium black) version of KX-TG6441 (one handset w/answering machine), KX-TG6442 (two handsets), KX-TG6443 (three handsets), KX-TG6444 (four handsets).
 

Cut the cord with (almost) free phone service

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OOMA Telo

I consider my home phone one of life's necessities. Some of us can live with only a cell phone (and this is a great way to start cutting your bills). However cell phone call quality is noticeably worse than regular phones in my area (plus you always have to worry about managing your minutes). In addition, I like to have a backup to my cell phone in case of a 911 emergency.

A few years ago I broke away from the old phone company and started trying out voice-over-IP solutions. I've used Vonage with good results (except when I tried to cancel my service...). Vonage had good call quality and so-so pricing (about $30 per month after all of the fees are added in). So when my local cable company offered me a "triple-play" package (phone, internet, TV) with attractive pricing I took it.

As you'd expect, the triple-play pricing was simply a teaser rate which expired after a year. I've played the usual games of threatening to cancel, but despite my best efforts the bills seemed to keep going up. So, I started looking for alternative solutions.

Requirements:

1. Must provide reliable, acceptable quality phone service
2. Must work with the 911 service
3. Must be a stand-alone device (no computer required)
4. Must have unlimited local and long distance calling in the US

There are some really compelling alternative phone services that are quite popular (like Skype and Magicjack). However, these require me to use my computer and I am not a big fan of running my desktop 7x24 for just this purpose. I do love Skype and use it for all of my (infrequent) international calling needs.

I finally read about and thought I'd try the Ooma Telo: