Panasonic Bluetooth Phone System with 2HS

If you are using this as a traditional landline cordless phone and nothing more, you don't need to read my review here. It's a great phone, with clear voice and rich features, and many other users have confirmed that. If you are considering this phone primarily for Link2Cell, you don't need to read my review either, because I did not even test this feature, and I don't think I will ever use it. Link2Cell allows you to use this cordless phone system to make calls using your cell phone service. This is the feature for those who wish to completely rely on their cell phone service and get rid of the landline phone service. The feature is also useful in a situation where in your house you have just a few spots where cellular signal is good, and in that case you could place your cell phone at one of those strategic spots, and make phone calls using this cordless phone anywhere in your house, through your cell phone service. But I don't believe this is a common situation, and even if it is, it is becoming less important with the Wi-Fi calling features on the smart phones becoming more and more popular. But I bought this phone system primarily for one reason: so that I could use a Bluetooth headset for the benefit of hands-free calling. I often make very long phone calls, sometimes several hours. Holding a handset that long is simply not an option anymore. For this feature alone, this phone works, but just barely. It does work. I was able to pair it with my Plantronics Voyager without setup troubles. And the sound quality is quite good. But there are some serious design flaws. Specific issues: (1) Only the base unit can be paired with a Bluetooth headset, not any of the handsets (there is an imperfect workaround, see below). This is an important limitation actually. You really don't want use the base unit to dial numbers on this phone, because the base unit has no access to the phone book, making dialing too difficult. If you use the phone to make many calls, unable to use a phone book is outright crazy. (2) When paired with the base unit, incoming calls do ring on the Bluetooth headset (which is good news), but making an outgoing call isn't a smooth act, and feels rather awkward and non-intuitive. You need to first press the speakerphone button on the base unit, and dial the number you want call. Only after the call gets through and connected, you will then need to press the call button on the Bluetooth headset to take over the voice from the base unit to the Bluetooth. Sounds complicated? Because it is. This is a result of not having seamless Bluetooth dialing, and it's probably one of the major reasons why new business phone systems tend to use a much more expensive solution. Sure it is still very helpful if you're making long calls, but there's got to be a better way to do this. (3) No, there is no direct Bluetooth pairing with any of the handsets. For some reason, before I bought this phone I came under the impression that it could do that. But no. Primarily because I need to be able to use the phone book, which is not available on the base unit, the ability to use a handset with Bluetooth headset is critical to me. As a result I almost packed it for return. However, I looked rather deeper into the instructions and discovered a feature that, although still quite awkward and imperfect, is usable. The feature is called "Call Sharing", which allows you to join a call currently on a handset, using a Bluetooth headset. This feature allows you to first make a call using a handset, and, after the call was connected, join the call from the Bluetooth headset. This allows you to dial from a handset, but then use the Bluetooth headset to talk, as if it were paired with the handset (when it is really not). Dialing from a handset is far easier and less time-consuming than doing so from the base unit. To use this feature, you need to first set up the "Call Sharing" feature on the handset. It's not too difficult to do if you carefully follow the instructions, and once you've done that, you can forget about it. The "Call Sharing" works but it is not perfect. First, the entire dialing process is awkward, and even complicated. Probably so complicated that you might forget how to do it if you don't do it very frequently. Assuming you have successfully set up the "Call Sharing", to make a call, you pick up your handset and make the call as usual. After the call is connected, you then press the call button on your Bluetooth, and then immediately MUTE the handset. Yes, you do need to MUTE handset, otherwise both you and the other side of the caller will hear interference, this is because you are too close to the handset, and essentially you are speaking to both the handset and the Bluetooth at the same time. So you see how awkward this is. The "Call Sharing" is really meant for a scenario where two callers on your side are in two different rooms and couldn't hear from one another. But the thing does work this way, so I decide to keep the phone. Overall, if you are still lingering with a conventional phone system, this is a great product. But if you have already got used to advanced smart phone dialing system, or software-based computerized calling system, this phone is downright outdated, like any other cordless phone. It may be one of the best landline phones in the market today, but still so outdated. Unfortunately, unless you go for more expensive business phone systems, this is what we get for families and small businesses in today's market. There's a huge disconnection between the traditional landline phone systems and the new technologies, and the two are not merging. So unfortunately, for a landline phone, this is as good as you can get.