Choosing the Right Wireless Headset System For Your Office Phone
Dialing Out - Single-Line vs. Multi-Line Phones
Something that often takes people by surprise when encountering wireless headsets for the first time, is that wireless headsets do not have the ability to dial out. Although virtually every wireless headset available on the market today allows you to answer a call remotely* it is not possible to initiate a call remotely on a wireless headset. The same is true for other telephone features such as placing calls On Hold, Transferring calls to another line, or answering a specific line if multiple lines are ringing.
The reason for this is primarily, that every telephone is different, and most have a proprietary standards that mean no one device can be created to dial all of them consistently believe it or not, this is true even of telephones from the same manufacturer.
There are a few very special circumstances where a wireless headset system can be used to dial remotely and these are outlined below
- If you are replacing your single-line telephone entirely, a Plantronics CT14 has the ability to dial and receive calls remotely. It offers a full featured telephone in its belt-pack. Please note that the CT14 is not a completely wire-free system its a two-part system, with a dial pad and battery pack that combine into a small wired unit that you wear on your belt.
- If you have a Partner Phone (A line of telephones from the related companies Avaya, AT&T or Lucent) a Plantronics CT14 can be plugged into the AUX port of the phone, and will be able to remote dial. There are reports of this sometimes being disabled in the phone itself please check with your telephone vendor before assuming this is the case with your Partner Phone.
- If you are connecting a cellular or other headset to a cordless phone via a 2.5mm jack on the phone.
The only time we would recommend a two part headset system is when taking advantage of one of these opportunities.
* Remote Answering often requires a remote handset lifter, see later.
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