Some of us who are “older than dirt” still have them! I also have a stereo with a turntable, cds, dvds and real books. 
Actually, I’ve had the number for 50 years. Only my friends, family and doctors get my cell phone number. And the ringer is loud enough to wake me without my HAs at night.
We have no landline. But if cable internet goes out it is a crapshoot if our phones will work. We are in a hilly rural area and signal is beyond spotty. I could see having a landline. Previous owners did.
WH
From p.63 of the owner’s manual for our Panasonic cordless handset, you can pair a BT headset with the cordless phones’ base unit - so you would have to be within BT range of the base unit to have handsfree calling. Since the base unit supports the HSP protocol, you could probably use Phonak HA’s that support BT, e.g., Marvels, Paradise, KS9’s, KS10’s, as if they were BT headsets. You can only use the headset feature with landline and it takes away one of the two possible cell phone pairings when you do:
Using a Bluetooth headset
(optional)
By pairing a Bluetooth headset to the base
unit, you can enjoy hands-free conversations
when talking on landline calls.
Important:
R Your Bluetooth headset must support the
HeadSet Profile (HSP) specification.
R Only 1 Bluetooth headset can be paired to
the base unit.
R Only 2 Bluetooth devices can be used with
the unit at the same time (for example, 2
cellular lines, or the headset and 1 cellular
line*1).
R For best performance, we recommend
using your Bluetooth headset within 1 m
(3.3 feet) of the base unit. The base unit
can communicate with Bluetooth headsets
within an approximately 10 m (33 feet).
*1 You cannot use a Bluetooth headset to
talk on a cellular line.
Link to full owner’s manual (Canadian version-can’t find U.S. version):
Operating Instructions (English) (panasonic.ca)
This is very helpful Jim, but I’m not sure I understand everything just yet. I am a dunce when it comes to phones. Computers I can handle, phones no. The base unit - I currently have two cordless landline phones sitting in their respective charging cradles. These are base units, correct ? or is only one a base unit, i.e. the one connected to my router? If both are base units can I pair my HAs with both of them?
So if I only have one cell phone there is no problem, correct?
Does this mean that I can only pair one of the aids to the base unit? If so, it isn’t a problem since I only use my right ear on phone calls anyhow.
Phonak uses HFP protocol and does not pair with Panasonic phones. I have a new Panasonic and it doesn’t work. I can link to my cell, but that just allows my cell phone to be answered on the landline. I can’t hear well enough on the landline, even with a t-coil and the Panasonic boost feature, to have more than short basic conversations. This is why I want to link my HAs to my landline.
The Gigaset info in the first post mentions both Bluetooth protocols as well as Phonak HAs, so the original poster should be able to link their HAs to the Gigaset phone.
My guess is that you just pair with the base unit. When you buy the phone you buy a base unit that plugs into a phone jack on the wall. Most base units allow extra handsets to be added to it. The numbers of extra handsets that can be added vary by make and model. These do not have to be plugged into a phone jack, just into an electric outlet. They usually have to be linked to the base unit. Does this help?
It answer one of the questions that I asked Jim Lewis. Thanks.
That is too bad that the Pansonics that you have don’t pair with your Phonaks. I’m going to try the Gigasets and hope for the best. I have to replace my current cordless phones anyhow.
I hope they work for you too! Let us know how it works out.
Yes, I wish I could find a phone here in the US that will link to HAs with HFP. I have a ticket in with Gigaset. I was told on the phone they don’t sell those phone here in the US but I’d like to confirm it.
I assume it would work as for answering a cell-phone call: You double-tap on the HA and you are connected. Therefore I think you need a landline phone with Bluetooth capabilities. I guess the BT module is placed in the base unit, so you cannot walk too far away from it.
And you will always be connected with both HA. Meaning, You hear the conversation in both ears.
I’m sure all this will make more sense to you when you get your new HAs. The mobile app is only meant to change some of the settings in the HA.
With Telecoil you have to keep the handset close to the HA. No hands free possible then.
Thanks for correcting. I took Paul’s initial post about the Gigaset the wrong way-thinking either the HSP or HFP protocols would be sufficient, but the Panasonic base uses HSP and Phonak HA’s use HFP.
I haven’t had any problems with either my cell phone or our landline and the Panasonic model we own. But then our “landline” was an AT&T Home Cellular Phone (connects to a cell tower for its “landline” connectivity) and for the longest time we had it connected to an AT&T Microcell (connects to the Internet for VOIP Internet calling, better connection than that to a distant cell tower). The particular Panasonic unit we have can be cranked up to a plenty loud volume, either using my cell phone or the cellular landline, while we maintained it.
Here’s a link to Phonak’s instructions on what’s required to pair to a BT-enabled landline phone. It specifically mentions the HFP requirement and specifically mentions that HSP won’t work.
Connecting Phonak hearing aids to a Bluetooth landline phone
Edit_Update: The plot thickens. In the Panasonic manual that I linked in my previous post, it says (effectively) that my Panasonic cordless handset supports both HFP and HSP. The HFP protocol is used to link the base unit to cell phones, the HSP for BT headsets. Pairing is initiated for either cell phones or BT headsets by entering a specific key code. Theoretically, if you entered the keycode to pair with an HFP-capable BT cell phone, you could pair the Panasonic base with Phonak HA’s. But I think the problem would be one of directionality. When using the HFP protocol to connect to a cell phone, the Panasonic system is the client (akin to being a BT headset, allowing one to hear and transmit voice to the cell phone to go back out over the network) whereas when using a BT headset paired to the Panasonic base, the BT headset is the client (slave) and the Panasonic phone the master sending or receiving any voice communications via its connection to the landline.
I received a reply from Gigaset Technical Support. I asked which models of landline phones are available in the US that can connect to Phonak HAs.
“You asked us if the Gigaset E720 is available in the United States and if there are any other Gigaset phones in the US that can be connected to the Phonak hearing aids via Bluetooth.
In regard to your inquiry, we would like to inform you that the Gigaset E720 phone is not available on the US market and that the model is available only on some European markets.
Kindly note that there are no Gigaset cordless phones with Bluetooth capabilities available in the US that can connect to Phonak hearing aids.”
We still have what appears to be a landline, with our original AT&T number, but it is now a Google Voice number connected to the Internet via an Obihai adapter.
I see that Switzerland doesnt do much for the Hearing Impaired other than Sign Language Courses.You can get an App if you have an iPhone called ClearCaptions Mobile which reads out the conversation on your iPhone.I use a magickJack for my Landline only because of Security at my Communities Front Gates but now use it for ClearCaptions and my CapTel Landline Phone for the Deaf,I can route calls to either Phone Line through my magickJack which cost me $49.00 including Device and 2 years of VOIP Phone Service and i can use it as my iPhone Service as well by downloading the App then Im assigned a phone number.I use RedPocket for Cell Service at $10.00 per Month and 500 minutes and unlimited Texts.A Bargain.