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Features
- Consolidate your cellular-only household into a home phone system using Bluetooth technology.
- Works with landline service, but landline service is not required.
- Pairs up to four Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones and/or headsets to the LS6245 base.
- Two of the four, paired devices can be connected to the base and enabled to make and receive calls.
- Only one cell phone can be active on a call at a time.
- Once a Bluetooth device is paired to the base, the LS6245 can automatically connect when the device is within range.
- Use the base speakerphone for hands-free calls.
- Make and receive private home-line calls using a Bluetooth headset connection to the base.
- LS6245 Handset can be used almost anywhere in the home.
- DECT 6.0 Digital technology provides the best sound quality, security and range in cordless phones.
- Encrypted and digitized calls to protect identity.
- Expandable up to 12 handsets (LS6204) using only one phone jack or cell-phones connected to base.
Installation and Pairing
Upon taking the VTech Expandable Cordless Phone System Bluetooth-enabled Telephone Base, Handset and its charging components out of the box, the new user must install the included battery in the handset, put the cover on the device and place the handset in place on a plugged-in base. The phone handset will take 16 hours to fully charge, so it may be best to charge the phone near the end of the night, and then wait for morning to pair your mobile phones and other Bluetooth devices. It is possible to pair your mobile phones only 20 seconds after plugging in the base, but there is little point in doing that if you can’t use the handset for a while. I think it’s better to wait.
Selecting a base location is important. Select a central location that is far away from communications devices such as a TV, PC, router, or other cordless device; noise sources such as a window, microwave or fluorescent lighting; or excessive moisture, dust, heat, cold, mechanical vibration or shock. A full list of no-nos is in the User’s Manual on Page 2. Take these guidelines seriously. When I first plugged in the device within a few inches of my router, my wireless Internet connection simply stopped working. I moved the VTech Telephone Base farther away—about five feet—but the interference was still debilitating for my wireless Internet connection. The wireless frequency used by the base and handset fiercely interferes with a wireless Internet connection. I suspect the same goes for many of the other communications devices named.
Also keep in mind that the mobile phones you plan to use with the Expandable Cordless Phone System must be within 30 feet (though 15 feet is better) of the Telephone Base for the system to work. It doesn’t matter where the handset is relative to your mobile phones, just the base. I put my base on my kitchen island and now have my two mobile phones plugged in by the front door. That way, they’re in an optimal position for reception and ready to take with me when I go out, but close enough to my kitchen island to work with the VTech system while I’m in the house.
After the handset is charged, you can plug in the base to a landline, or pair it with up to four Bluetooth-enabled devices, though only two of them can be active at a time. This is unfortunate, and something that VTech should fix in its next version of this Expandable Cordless Phone System. Bluetooth piconets are designed to link up to eight different devices, so I don’t understand why the VTech LS6246 Expandable Cordless Phone System doesn't support this functionality. The VTech accessory LS6204 handsets spread throughout the house should be able to function as extensions in every way to a cellular home network. Thus, a given handset could serve as a bridge between the mobile phone and base to the Bluetooth headset in a large home. In a qualifying statement, I must say that the handset and base speakerphone works quite well, and for my household, the two, active cell-phone limit works just fine.
I live with my wife and daughter. Presently, we are a two-mobile-phone household and do not have a landline. I successfully paired the base with my wife’s mobile phone and my mobile phone, as well as my Plantronics Bluetooth headset. However, since I don’t have a landline, all I could do is test that a connection could be made with the headset. After I tested this connection, I deleted the device and continued testing only with my wife’s mobile phone and my mobile phone.
Repeat the process for your second mobile phone. The only difference in the process is that your first (or other) Bluetooth device(s) will be temporarily disconnected during the pairing process, but will then reconnect. Your second mobile phone will assume the second Bluetooth position on your VTech system. Your third and forth phones will remain inactive, unless you spend the time to activate one and deactivate another. Again, this is an annoying limitation that should not exist. See your User Manual on how to exchange an active device for an inactive one. The process is needlessly cumbersome.
Finally, if you choose to pair a headset (only useful if you have a landline), initiate your Bluetooth headset’s pairing mode (see your headset’s instructions on how to do this), and follow the same instructions above. But instead of selecting Setup cell, select Setup headset instead. If you already have two Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones connected to your VTech Telephone Base, the base will ask you to deactivate one of them in order to activate the Bluetooth headset. Again, only two Bluetooth devices can be active at one time on the VTech system - something that the company must change in future versions. If you have, like me, a one or two mobile-phone household, however, and do not have a landline, this point is moot.
If you happen to be a two mobile-phone household, you have little else to worry about once both your cellular phones are paired. Your mobile phones will automatically disconnect when you leave the house, and automatically reconnect when you come back home. There is one caveat - if you use a Bluetooth headset like I do when you are outside the house, you will have to disconnect the headset before your mobile phone will automatically connect with the VTech LS6245 Telephone Base. It would be nice if it were possible for this to happen automatically, because remembering to do this is an extra step that takes time, albeit minimal.
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