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Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

I want to get a new 4-handset cordless phone, ideally 5.8GHz, but as far as I can tell, none of them have a global phone book.

They all store the phone books in the handsets, and most give you a way of copying between handsets, but none just store it in the base-station for all handsets to use.

One I found (AT&T I think) that actually has a base-station stored phone book, but it only works when using the base station!

Anyone know of a multi-handset system (even 2.4GHz) with a global frigging phone book? Why is this such a bizarre requirement? Am I the only person who wants this as a feature?
Published Wednesday, June 16, 2004 1:31 PM by andypennell
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Wednesday, June 16, 2004 1:33 PM by Scott Galloway

# re: Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

Mine all do, Philips DECT models have a 'shared' phone book - in European models at least...
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 1:46 PM by Sean

# re: Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

It's been ages since I've added/removed phone numbers from my phone, and I believe that it has a global phone book, but I can't recall:

http://siemens.onlinephonestore.com/?page=shopSLASHbrowse&category_id=3b1b78ff6dfbf487b9ea7f25fd5c3d68

Definately, each phone is personalized and has it's own ringtone, personal phone book, etc..

What would be nice if there was a wireless handheld phone base station that synched with exchange/outlook.. keep dreaming I know...
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 1:46 PM by Sean

# re: Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

I'll update when I get home if it does or not..
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 2:09 PM by Andy Pennell

# Seimens 4200

According to a review on Amazon, the 42xx series will automatically download the phone book (from the base station I presume). I have a 2400 system now but its getting long in the tooth, I will research this more. Thanks!

FYI Some Panasonic phones will sync with Outlook via a service called openLCR, but it looked a bit suspicious to me (looked like they changed your long distance co as a part of the deal but not 100% sure).
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 2:10 PM by Andy Pennell

# re: Philips DECT

Looks like those are European only. Shame.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 2:21 PM by David Vibbert

# re: Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

Northwestern Bell SYL-2400 Bluetooth 2.4GHz Cordless looks like it can download from Outlook.

http://2getitnow.com/td_syl_2400.html
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 2:37 PM by Alex Barnett

# re: Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

This phone has several:
http://weblogs.asp.net/alexbarn/archive/2004/06/16/157476.aspx?Pending=true
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 2:45 PM by Andy Pennell

# Siemens don't do it automatically

I downloaded the PDF manuals for 4200 and 8800 series phones, both offer easy ways of copying the phone book between handsets, but no automatic way. Still looking...
Thursday, June 17, 2004 10:16 AM by Wade Matveyenko

# re: Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

I have this Olympia phone and it shares the phonebook among all four handsets.
http://www.olympiaphones.com/adtemplate.asp?invky=13898&wid=488414

Olympia also has a new phone with bluetooth that can synchronize its phonebook with outlook. http://www.olympiaphones.com/adtemplate.asp?invky=913462&wid=488414
Sunday, June 20, 2004 2:28 PM by Andy Pennell

# Olympia phones

Thanks Wade! I picked up the bluetooth/Outlook Olympia phone yesterday, and it does have a global phone book! Lets see how it goes. No-one sells locally it here except Fry's.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 8:02 AM by Rik Heywood

# re: Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

I have a philips phone and it lets you store numbers in the base station or the handset (base station is default).

I think it is this one, though is looks slightly different...
http://www.johnlewis.com/stores/product.asp?sku=230171203&str=135&trsid=2231&m=-1
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 4:07 PM by Brian

# re: Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

Someone needs to design a "wireless" cordless phone. Take a multi-handset cordless phone's basic "architecture", cut the plug into the wall, and replace it with a GSM or CDMA cell chip. Then I loose the last reason for keeping POTS service in my house (well other than 911).
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 3:58 PM by Jake

# re: Why don't cordless phones have a global phone book?

My Panasonic KXTG5672B cordless phone does not have a default global phonebook.  However, it is a matter of a pushing a few buttons to copy from handset to any handset.  I prefer it this way as different users may want different phonebooks.

What I would really like to see in a cordless phone, though, is muliple numbers for one named entry.  That is Joe/home/cell/work/fax/etc. instead of the lowsy one number per one name entry ie: Joe/home then Joe/cell then Joe/whatever, etc.  This old way is nutty and very inefficient.  I don't think that there is a cell phone around today that uses this old method.  It's archaic.

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