Fully compatible handsets with Gigaset N300A IP or??

I've got a set of Panasonic DECT phones which I expected to use with the Gigaset N300A but a school boy error on Panasonic's part means they don't work properly. You cannot set the date/time correctly when the Panasonic handset is using the N300 Base so call history doesn't work. This renders them useless. Without correct date/time lots of other features don't work either.

Natural choice would be a gigaset branded set but having bought one neither it nor the replacement worked adequately. Battery life is poor and it can show full battery and instantly say it's flat as soon as you touch a button. The panasonics have about a week of standby and use. The Gigasets could barely manage 2 days of standby with no use. I tried a higher capacity battery and it was no better so I can only assume they have some dreadful battery management that has no idea how charged or not a battery is. A few others have reported the same issue.

I either need a brand and model that is FULLY compatible with the N300A ie date time, call history and answerphone access all work from the handsets

OR a full DECT VOIP with included handsets that does the above and is configurable like the N300A IP.

I'm using Andrews and Arnold VOIP which doesn't seem to have a basic 1471 function which is frustrating.

My Gigaset C430 handsets have worked fine. I do have to replace the batteries every few years. I have often used the Panasonic Eneloop batteries. The latest ones are JCB Rechareable.
My N300 gets its time from ntp1.npl.co.uk

I would only expect basic functions such as making calls to work with non Gigaset handsets. Advanced functions such as transferring directory entries likely will not work.

I have SL450H, S850H and C620H on my N300A-IP. The 450 uses a 3.7v Li-Ion battery pack, the 850 AAA and 620 AA cells. I never have an issue with batteries and whilst they don't last a week off the base, they certainly do last days.

In reply to a post by MHC:

I have SL450H, S850H and C620H on my N300A-IP. The 450 uses a 3.7v Li-Ion battery pack, the 850 AAA and 620 AA cells. I never have an issue with batteries and whilst they don't last a week off the base, they certainly do last days.

The one I had came with a 400 in a pair of AAAs. Tried a 550 and a 1600 pair as well and not much difference. The 1600 seemed to last a bit longer. Definitely something amiss. Panasonic standby is quoted as up to 240 hours which is why I chose them initially.

I use my N300A with 5 assorted DECT handsets: C570H, C570HX, and C575HX. They all use Energizer AAA 800 mAh batteries with no problems. I collected the handsets from eBay, between £20 and £30 each, and everything works perfectly. I certainly wouldn't try to mix & match brands.

I suggest you raise it direct with Gigaset - their support are normally excellent.

My SL450H is sitting next to me on te desk and has been out of teh base for over 24 hours and used for a few calls - battery is still showing full.

In reply to a post by MHC:

I suggest you raise it direct with Gigaset - their support are normally excellent.

My SL450H is sitting next to me on te desk and has been out of teh base for over 24 hours and used for a few calls - battery is still showing full.

I did. They sent me a replacement handset which basically did the same but took a bit longer for it to go flat suddenly when still showing a high level of charge.

There's the Family HX handset that is supposedly 320 hours standby and 14 hours talk time so I might try that. Third handset lucky and all that

I'll leave my handset off for another day or so and see when it dies on me ...

From memory there is an "economy/low power setting" of some sort which reduces RF power when idle. Have a dig around the interface.

I had a fair few Gigaset handsets over the years. Had them all over the house but just down to 1 now as moved to VoIP - but that doesn't ever ring either! Still got a pile to get rid on eBay, prices low as so many ditching the landline.

Battery life has generally been great - last ages - but I have had more issues with batteries of late.

The old NiMH seem fine but I have found a few of the newer and even popular brands like energiser to sometimes do what you mention - show full charge then drop like a stone soon. If you take one battery out and pop it back in and charge it it seems better for a bit.

It is almost like they are "stuck" - probably due to me leaving then on the base for weeks at a time. I do wonder if the newer battery technology, despite being NiMH, is slightly different and has a different voltage/discharge curve confusing the battery management. Looking closely at the handset the charge symbol does stop - so I wonder if the batteries are draining whilst sat in the charger for weeks, which may be a software fault.

In reply to a post by adrenalize_:

Looking closely at the handset the charge symbol does stop

If you check the batteries while in this constant charging state (described above) you will find the batteries are overheating because of the constant charging which ultimately destroys the batteries. I've observed a fair few handset do this but they are handsets that are rarely taken off the cradle, tried fully discharging the batteries before putting them back on charge but only way to resolve is to replace the batteries.


PS: This does raise the question what brand of batteries are people using, the ones described above were 'GP ReCyko+'

Edited by PCJM40 (Tue 10-Oct-23 22:44:42)

I usually use high powered Amazon Basics Rechargeable Batteries for most devices.

At one time, I used eveloop but the price difference was too much.

Regarding phones: we have six Gigaset C575A phones linked to the N330a and they work flawlessly.

I cannot comment on the battery life as all of our phones just sit on the chargers until used.

The ones supplied with both Gigaset handsets were no name mystery ones. They recommend Panasonic but don't actually supply those.

I did try some panasonic bright orange ones that are generally used in phones but they were the same behaviour.

I usually rotate mine so they're off the charger until they need charging again. I usually swap them around so they don't get the same usage pattern all the time.

I use Gigaset C530 handsets. I don't know how fully featured they are, but they are compatible.

The manual suggests charging for 8.5 hours and the specification is 14 hours talk time or 300 hours standby time. In my experience that is about right with fresh Amazon Basics batteries. Sometimes I charge them for a few hours longer, but never for multiple days.

After a full charge, the battery indicator stays on full until they are about 75% drained. When I see a handset showing less than full charge, I know it only has a few days of standby time remaining and use that as my cue to recharge it.

It may be bad practice but I have not noticed that just leaving the Gigaset C575A phones on the charger is an issue as we have not noticed any issues in doing this.

Gigaset Guideance does not seem to prohibit this for NiMH Batteries in their cordless phone chargers;

https://service.gigaset.com/en/support/solutions/art...

After actually living with the N300 for a bit it's got one big failing. If you lose the internet connection at all it doesn't re-register properly until you reboot it. You can't tell it hasn't either. The dial tone is still on a handset and the blue light on the front doesn't tell you it's not re-registered. It means either having to dial a number and see if it rings or going into the web interface to check. It's a bit annoying.

I think I'm going to get the Yealink system on the A & A accessories page. The supplied handset has a very long talk and standby time so it should be fine with that doing most of the work and the remaining panasonics as fill ins.

Even with a gigaset handset I couldn't access the answerphone to set it on or off so there's definitely some compatibility issues even with gigaset handsets and the N300.

In reply to a post by serichards:

After actually living with the N300 for a bit it's got one big failing. If you lose the internet connection at all it doesn't re-register properly until you reboot it. You can't tell it hasn't either. The dial tone is still on a handset and the blue light on the front doesn't tell you it's not re-registered. It means either having to dial a number and see if it rings or going into the web interface to check. It's a bit annoying.

I think I'm going to get the Yealink system on the A & A accessories page. The supplied handset has a very long talk and standby time so it should be fine with that doing most of the work and the remaining panasonics as fill ins.

Even with a gigaset handset I couldn't access the answerphone to set it on or off so there's definitely some compatibility issues even with gigaset handsets and the N300.

The heading you created referers to the N300a which has an answering machine and I have not had any issues with it.

As I pointed out we use it with six Gigaset C575A handset without issue and these handsets are fully compatable. - (That said, when I first bought the N300a I did try it will my previous Panasonic handsets, (which worked but were dumb), and if you argued that N300a should really work with all makes and types of handsets: I would agree and not all older types of Gigaset Handsets are totally compatible). .

With an N300a and Gigaset C575A handsets; If the internet goes off then there is an orange rectangle message on the handsets to let the user know.

Also; we have two separate VOIP Providers and if either of these VOIP Provers is off an orange rectangle message appears on the handsets.

Sometimes if the internet goes off one of the VOIP Providers needs the N300A to be reset in order to get that VOIP Provider to reconnect but we suspect that is the way that one of the VOIP Providers Reconnects which is not really a hardware issue.

Perhaps, the Yearlink, (which you are buying from AA/ your VOIP provider), will be better for you. - Kindly let us know how you get on.

I leave my Gigaset phones on their chargers and replace the batteries every two or three years. Once in a while I find the voip line doesn’t ring the handset so I just power down and restart the base station.

The N300 A IP re-registration failure also happens randomly and a reboot won't even fix it. The only way to fix it is to change it from DHCP IP to a static with a manual dns address or if it's on that already switch it back to DHCP. Had to keep refreshing the A & A voip page to check or using the status page on the N300 web interface.

Mixed feelings on a few days with the Yealink. No compatibility with DECT handsets of other makes at all. The Panasonics will join the base, ring ok but you can't pick up the call. You can't call out via them either as it just gives you the busy tone. You do get a calling number on the display when it's ringing.

Firmware is Feb 2022 which is rather old and that is the latest. No way of checking automatically on the VOIP box itself as you have to go and download it to a pc etc to update it. Again a bit poor now. When searching for information there were a lot of broken links and the Yealink forum looks a bit dead.

Yealink handset call quality is pretty good though. Not used it enough to find out how close to the 35 hour talk time and 400 hour standby it actually gets. It's been fine all weekend with use and that's already better than any of the Gigaset ones.

A & A pre configured it so it was a complete doddle. Plugged it in and that was it. Handset registered as well.

Which Yealink DECT phones are you using?

In reply to a post by xela:

Which Yealink DECT phones are you using?

I'm using W73H now. Ditched all the panasonic ones.

Thanks. I’m quite tempted by the Yealink W73H / W78H and wondered if it might be my best bet.

I’ve written elsewhere but I’m not hugely impressed by my Snom m15. It’s not so bad that I want to replace it, but I don’t think I’m going to buy them again for another setup. I have used Gigaset handsets a looooong time ago - like maybe 15 years - and the build quality was pretty dreadful and puts me off. It sounds like there are some happy users here, but also that it’s not completely smooth running.

Why’s it all so complicated!?

Yealink system has been in a couple of weeks and so far it's done none of the bad things the Gigaset one did. Line stays registered. Broadband can go away and come back and router can be rebooted and it seems to cope just fine.

Hopefully it will carry on like this for months on end.

Edited by serichards (Sat 04-Nov-23 10:31:11)

In reply to a post by serichards:

Yealink system has been in a couple of weeks and so far it's done none of the bad things the Gigaset one did. Line stays registered. Broadband can go away and come back and router can be rebooted and it seems to cope just fine.

Hopefully it will carry on like this for months on end.

Spoke too soon. Call quality awful suddenly. Had to reboot it to get it back to normal. So that's 3 weeks it will do of light use before it's got a problem.

I use a Yealink W70B alongside two Yealink W56H handsets with A&A and Voipfone without issues.

In reply to a post by WelshPaul:

I use a Yealink W70B alongside two Yealink W56H handsets with A&A and Voipfone without issues.

Might flag it up to A & A then and see if they have any idea why it would suddenly do it.

My Yealink - forced to use it with BT Business, is fine with no issues. But I cannot add other VoIP services to it, and cannot put the BT service of my N300A-ip!

In reply to a post by serichards:

In reply to a post by WelshPaul:

I use a Yealink W70B alongside two Yealink W56H handsets with A&A and Voipfone without issues.

Might flag it up to A & A then and see if they have any idea why it would suddenly do it.

When you say it works for a while and then the call quality is awful can you be more specific? Grab a SIP trace when the problem arises and it should help identify the cause.

For what it's worth, A&A only offer the PMCA CODEC. Do you have more than one CODEC enabled in the GUI and if so is PCMA at the top of the list? You should remove all CODECS from the enabled boxed leaving only PCMA enabled.
Account > CODEC > PCMA

In reply to a post by MHC:

My Yealink - forced to use it with BT Business, is fine with no issues. But I cannot add other VoIP services to it, and cannot put the BT service of my N300A-ip!

I'm guessing BT supplied you with the hardware? If so it will likely be "locked down" and maybe even running custom firmware. Do BT Business provide end users with the required SIP credentials needed to use their own hardware? I doubt it!

Exactly ... BT Hardware and password locked. Previously they would provide the credentials and I used the N300A-IP, but now they no longer do. Just cheaper to have service with the "voice" than without, we get around one or two calls a day on it.

I have Vodafone FTTP here. It comes with Digital Voice but I have never used it, would never use it. I don't even use their HUB, I use my own mesh routers.

I use AAISP and Voipfone here. I pay £1.44p per month to AAISP and have a easy to remember local number. All inbound calls come via AAISP, but outbound, are split between the two. Some outbound numbers are cheaper when called via Voipfone, others AAISP. People I call are none the wiser because both AAISP and Voipfone have the same CLI set.

There are other benefits to this type of setup.
1. Should AAISP go down, outbound calls are still possible.
2. I don't need to port my landline every time I change broadband providers.
(This also reduces the risk of me losing the number and split ports.)
3. I get to use my own hardware.
4. Support is top notch because and I'm not dealing with call centres and their scripts.

In reply to a post by WelshPaul:

In reply to a post by serichards:

In reply to a post by WelshPaul:

I use a Yealink W70B alongside two Yealink W56H handsets with A&A and Voipfone without issues.

Might flag it up to A & A then and see if they have any idea why it would suddenly do it.

When you say it works for a while and then the call quality is awful can you be more specific? Grab a SIP trace when the problem arises and it should help identify the cause.

For what it's worth, A&A only offer the PMCA CODEC. Do you have more than one CODEC enabled in the GUI and if so is PCMA at the top of the list? You should remove all CODECS from the enabled boxed leaving only PCMA enabled.
Account > CODEC > PCMA

I'll check the codecs first. A&A set it up and left 4 codecs on. PCMA was at the top. I've removed the other 3 now. Thanks.

Call quality basically is either buzzy and bassy sounding or if it's really bad it's choppy and cutting out like a bad microphone. It's done it once for 30 seconds at a time roughly once a week. But it was really bad this week it was minutes and if you just dialled out on a handset you could hear the ringing out was actually corrupted. Reboot the VOIP box and it's gone immediately. One time it did it before but it cleared after about a minute and went back to normal without having to do anything at all.

Hopefully just having the one codec will sort it. Most of the time it's absolutely fine and you wouldn't know you weren't on a landline.

Choppy and cutting out audio is usually the result of a poor internet connection or local network congestion (a network is overrun with more data packet traffic than it can cope with). Have you configured QOS to prioritise SIP traffic? Buzzy and bassy though? Base could be CODEC related but usually any buzzing sounds are caused by interference from something close by to the handset/base.

Could you sign up to another VoIP provider such as Voipfone and make a few test calls to compare call quality? Setting up an account won't cost you anything and Voipfone offer a free trial of their services which, comes with 15 free minutes of free calls to landline/mobiles.

Voipfone free trial

Making a few test calls using another VoIP provider would at the very minimum help identify if your Buzzy and bassy audio only happens with A&A or across the board.

In reply to a post by WelshPaul:

Choppy and cutting out audio is usually the result of a poor internet connection or local network congestion (a network is overrun with more data packet traffic than it can cope with). Have you configured QOS to prioritise SIP traffic? Buzzy and bassy though? Base could be CODEC related but usually any buzzing sounds are caused by interference from something close by to the handset/base.

Could you sign up to another VoIP provider such as Voipfone and make a few test calls to compare call quality? Setting up an account won't cost you anything and Voipfone offer a free trial of their services which, comes with 15 free minutes of free calls to landline/mobiles.

Voipfone free trial

Making a few test calls using another VoIP provider would at the very minimum help identify if your Buzzy and bassy audio only happens with A&A or across the board.

I can try that.

I did have vonage for a number of years and that was noticeably worse than A & A. That would often not ring the phone and would also be poor call quality a lot. The call quality on the Gigaset system has actually been the best. Don't think that misbehaved at all. It just failed to re-register instead.

Ironically I also had interference on the landline initially as it would hum. I think BT fixed that eventually. I also had choppy audio on a DECT phone even when it was a few feet from the base as well so I do wonder if there's some person with a death ray that sometimes points it at the house

Vonage servers are located in the US. Ideally you always want a server as close to you as possible for best results.

In reply to a post by serichards:

In reply to a post by serichards:

Yealink system has been in a couple of weeks and so far it's done none of the bad things the Gigaset one did. Line stays registered. Broadband can go away and come back and router can be rebooted and it seems to cope just fine.

Hopefully it will carry on like this for months on end.

Spoke too soon. Call quality awful suddenly. Had to reboot it to get it back to normal. So that's 3 weeks it will do of light use before it's got a problem.

Actually, I'm also experiencing call quality issues on my Yealink DECT phones...

When making or receiving calls the handset volume becomes distorted but only sometimes. When capturing a SIP trace of the problem, there is no distortion on the recording so the problem is hardware/firmware related. FYI - The other person informs me that the call quality is fine their end!

I'm seeing this problem when making or receiving calls on Andrews & Arnold and Voipfone. When performing an echo test with my Voipfone account, there is no distortion, but the volume db level at Voipfone's end is low. The distortion seems to happen when the inbound audio is relatively high.

I should point out that I have access to many Yealink W70B's, W56H's etc. All brand new stock and I am able to reproduce it on several handsets so far all running 61.85.0.55. I have downgraded my handsets to 61.85.0.35 and so far the issue hasn't reappeared.

Interesting. I checked the handset firmware I've got and it's 116.85.0.35 on the 73H.

It is definitely better with just one Codec so far.

I can hear the call quality degrade a bit sometimes. Will be interesting to see if a bit turns into constant or not.

I have the ear piece volume quite low to counteract Dear Dad and his speakerphone use which I think could be part of my excess incoming volume issue.

It's like the gain on the callers mic is too high and the speaker on the W56H starts to distort. Like turning up the volume to max on a Hi-Fi with cheap speakers connected.

I found that I could reproduce it every time on multiple W56H handsets when calling 0800 731 0297 with 61.85.0.55. I had the handset volume set to max at the time. This is the telephone number for DWP and it has rather loud audio playback.

Anyway, I have just flashed my W56H's with 61.85.0.45 and I will flash down to 61.85.0.35 (and so on) should it happen again. If that doesn't help, I will downgrade the W70B to 146.85.0.25 (currently running 146.85.0.40). If it still happens, I will swap out the W70B.

Edit: I have obtained following firmware for the W70B 146.85.0.43 and 146.85.0.48.

Edited by WelshPaul (Mon 20-Nov-23 18:48:22)

I've added the Stun server settings in as well. That's another improvement.

Since adding STUN server and removing the excess CODECS it's been a lot better. Drop outs are tiny and limited to a second or two and not had any of the long ones.

I haven't had any distortion or buzzing since downgrading my handsets from firmware version .55 to .35.

In reply to a post by WelshPaul:

I haven't had any distortion or buzzing since downgrading my handsets from firmware version .55 to .35.

I might have to try and do that. Had call quality turn to total rubbish and not clear for the first time in ages. Affected both handsets as they both sounded distorted just ringing out. Will try rebooting just the handset next time though to see if that works as that is easier than doing the base.

In reply to a post by serichards:

I'm using Andrews and Arnold VOIP which doesn't seem to have a basic 1471 function which is frustrating.

AAISP do offer a voicemail functionality at network level, and email you the .ogg files with the messages.

I use this with my N510IP and have the incoming emails auto forward to my wife. Obviously means I can listen to them from anywhere too.

In reply to a post by serichards:

In reply to a post by WelshPaul:

I haven't had any distortion or buzzing since downgrading my handsets from firmware version .55 to .35.

I might have to try and do that. Had call quality turn to total rubbish and not clear for the first time in ages. Affected both handsets as they both sounded distorted just ringing out. Will try rebooting just the handset next time though to see if that works as that is easier than doing the base.

I haven't had any issues with call quality since! My basestation is running 146.85.0.40 and both my handsets are running 61.85.0.35.

Edited by WelshPaul (Mon 01-Jan-24 11:37:37)

In reply to a post by WelshPaul:

In reply to a post by serichards:

In reply to a post by WelshPaul:

I haven't had any distortion or buzzing since downgrading my handsets from firmware version .55 to .35.

I might have to try and do that. Had call quality turn to total rubbish and not clear for the first time in ages. Affected both handsets as they both sounded distorted just ringing out. Will try rebooting just the handset next time though to see if that works as that is easier than doing the base.

I haven't had any issues with call quality since! My basestation is running 146.85.0.40 and both my handsets are running 61.85.0.35.

That's the same firmware that I am running.

There's definitely something that sets them off but I don't know what it is.

Strangely after the first few weeks of hiccups it's been completely fine. Whatever that set off the robot sounding voice behaviour has stopped altogether. Not been a reoccurrence for months.

Wish I could remember what it was that I changed last.

Broadband has been up and down a few times and it's all been fine.