Northwestern - Bell Big Button Plus 20200 Corded Phone Review

We bought our father, who was deaf but used a teletype machine and phone to communicate, the Northwestern Bell Big Button Plus 20200 Corded Phone and it did a fine job for him. He had the phone for a few years and it was still working the day we packed it up.

Features and Our Experience

The phone is corded. It comes with a very short cord but you can buy longer ones to replace the standard three foot one.

The handset is super lightweight because all of the mechanics are on the body of the phone.

It is sold only in white and sits on a table or can be wall mounted. We used it on a table because it needed to be hooked up to the TTY machine near it.

The numerical buttons are huge and very easy to see. They also have the Braille version of each number on every key.

This phone flashed red on the top when the phone rang. This is a good feature for those who are somewhat hard of hearing or don't have a blinking lamp to alert them of a call.

Along the bottom of the phone are a few extra buttons. One was to activate the speakerphone which had clear, crisp sound.

There were three buttons for emergency numbers. They were marked with little icons to indicate medical (911) , fire, and one that looked like a generic button perhaps for poison control or a personal doctor's office or clinic.

There were two one-touch buttons which allow the user to just touch a button and hold it down for a few seconds and whatever the input number was, would be called.

There was a 13 number memory which was very simple and the phone came with clear explanations of how to do everything.

The phone could be switched from pulse to tone but tone was essential and we never used the pulse function.

There was also a hold button to put a caller on hold for whatever reason. It worked fine. When on hold, I heard nothing at all. Some hold buttons allow people to hear - faintly - what's being said. This one didn't.

The sound quality was very crisp, rivaling, and usually exceeding, any cordless phone I have owned.

I really liked this phone. It was big and simple and my father could easily use it without eyestrain or frustration. Some of the features, for him, were not needed but are great for others. The Braille is a great way to help visually impaired and blind people to independently call out.

For such a low price (around $20.00), Northwestern Bell thought about everything when it comes to this phone. Even the handset is super light and squared, making hearing and speaking easier than with rounded handsets. The numbers are raised for more ease of use and it's a darn sturdy phone.

Overall Impression

No bells, no whistles, no 326 features with 39 expandable handsets but the Northwestern Bell Big Button Plus 20200 Corded Phone serves its purpose very well. Great for the hearing and visually impaired, this phone has all it needs and nothing it doesn't. It would be nice if it had caller ID built in but that's about the only extra I can think of that this phone could use.

Otherwise, it is a great quality and very useful phone for those who need or want a large button phone and don't want anything too complicated.

I am going with 5 stars. For the price, there really isn't a better simple big button phone.