multiline business phones - Buyers Guide

SURE, E-MAIL AND INTERNET-BASED COMMUNICATION is here to stay ... but it's still impossible to imagine a functional home office without a trusty telephone. Although some home offices may shelter beige slimlines borrowed from bedrooms, you need a true business phone--one that can match or surpass the multiline, conference-calling, bells-and-whistles phones used by corporate America.

Most small-business phones fall into two categories. One is a typical multiline device, in which two to four phone lines are plugged into one telephone. These systems are affordable, full-featured, and highly functional for the typical home office.

The second, newer category features so-called KSU-less phones--systems that promise much of the functionality of sophisticated, midsize office solutions at a fraction of the cost, partly due to the removal of the "key service unit," or separate electronic box, that handles such installations' auto-attendant, greeting, and call transferring capabilities. Instead, KSU-less phones' built-in intelligence enables calls to be transferred between different phones in your home and helps callers find their way to a particular extension or voice mailbox.

We reviewed six multiline phones aimed squarely at the home office. All boast two-line capability or better; conference call, speakerphone, and speed-dial functions; and caller ID support. Three are standard multiline phones, and three are KSU-less phones. All consisted of a base unit, a handset, and a power source.