29 Aug 2025

5 reasons a cordless phone is still handy to have around the home

Cordless home phones offer lots of accessibility benefits, lower prices and can fend off nuisance callers

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Home phones are less essential for staying in touch due to mobile phones. However, don’t count them out just yet.

We’ve listed five reasons why they can still be handy to have around, from cheaper bills to avoiding nuisance callers.

Take a look at the best cordless phones to see Best Buy recommendations from just £30

1. Nuisance call blocking

Handling nuisance calls and, more importantly, blocking them is an incredibly useful feature. While it's easy to block a nuisance number on a smartphone once you've identified it, they're not nearly as capable as cordless phones at stopping scammers from getting through in the first place.

We test how well cordless phones are able to block the most common sources of nuisance calls, including:

International numbers are a good indicator that the call is coming from an offshore call centre.
Mobile numbers To fend off roving cold callers.
Withheld numbers are a tell-tale sign for spam callers.
Unavailable numbers These are similar to withheld numbers as a cold calling tactic to mask the caller ID.

Read more about how to report nuisance calls and the actions you can take to guard against scammers.

2. Cheaper calls abroad

Telecom companies offer packages that can reduce the cost of calling other countries, and are useful if you have friends or family abroad. For example, BT’s International Freedom add-on covers 36 countries, including the US and most of Europe, and is currently priced at £11.23 per month. That's reasonable when you consider it can cost up to £3 a minute to call the US without it, though some may offer discounts.

Some mobile providers also offer international add-ons. For example, EE’s mobile International package is £14.05 a month – but here you’re limited to 500 international minutes. As such, landline packages can result in considerable savings in the long run.

Making international calls without setting up a calling plan can be costly, but even then, it’s typically cheaper to do so with a landline phone. For example, calling the US on a Vodafone contract would cost £3 a minute, compared to up to £1.40 a minute (depending on the country called) on a standard BT plan without the international add-on.

3. Ease of use

Manufacturers are becoming adept at responding to consumer needs with accessibility considerations. Our exhaustive testing involves ergonomic experts evaluating how easy it is to set up the phone, add contacts, and make and receive calls.

We also look at the button spacing, and how easy it is to make out the names and numbers on the display. The worst phones we see are overly fiddly, and their ringtones are too quiet to hear.

Better phones feature large buttons, making them easier for people with dexterity issues to use. Displays will often be clearer, too, and some models let you play back messages at a slower speed.

4. Hearing-aid compatibility

Cordless phones often include some kind of hearing-aid compatibility, so connecting hearing aids should be pretty straightforward. Most models will communicate with the Telecoil/loop system, so ensure your hearing aid is set to the loop setting.

We test call quality when on loudspeaker, so you can rest assured that any Best Buys will be easily audible when switched to that setting. For more information on using hearing aids with phones, see the key features section in our cordless phones guide.

5. Call quality

The call quality you get with a mobile phone is only ever as good as the signal reception of the area you’re in. While phone companies continue to roll out coverage to reach signal not-spots, some areas still don’t get a great signal, which can hamper call quality – particularly when indoors.

Landlines don’t depend on this signal, so depending on your area, you could get better call quality than from a smartphone.

In our testing, we ask audio experts to listen to calls on the speakerphone and assess the sound quality of incoming and outgoing messages left on the answering machine. Phones that perform well here will be easy to make out whether you’re using the handset or loudspeaker, while low-scorers tend to experience distortion on calls and messages.

See our guide to the best and worst mobile providers, which includes real customer feedback on network reliability.

Digital voice and the landline switch-off

A significant shake-up is on the horizon for home phones as companies begin to transition to digital voice services. The traditional phone network, with its physical infrastructure that’s been in place since the Victorian era, is being replaced by fast fibre broadband connections.

This should result in clearer calls from a home phone and open the possibility of accessing your landline from other locations. Which? is working with Ofcom to ensure the industry provides clear information to consumers about the process and ensures that customers without broadband access aren't cut off from accessing this service. If you’d like to know more about the switchover, read our guide to digital voice.