Monday, September 30, 2013

ZTE WF720 Wireless Home Phone Device Review

I got the opportunity to try out the ZTE WF720 Wireless Home Phone Device and thought that I would write a review of the product.

This device is offered by certain cellphone/wireless carriers such as AT&T Wireless (in the US) and Rogers/Fido (in Canada). The monthly price varies but since I live in Canada, the version that I got to try was from Fido. Rogers has the exact same deal. The monthly charge for both Rogers and Fido is either $9.99 per month or $24.99 per month plus the applicable monthly taxes/fees. The $9.99 monthly price tag is to anyone with an existing service with the carrier and gives unlimited nationwide calling (no long distance fees). The $24.99 monthly price gives the same service except it is for people who don't have any services with the carrier. I'm not sure what the fee is for AT&T's wireless home phone service.


The way that the device works is that you insert the SIM card into the device (the device uses a normal mini-SIM), connect the battery to the device, and plug it into an electrical outlet. You then connect your household phone's RJ-11 cable to the device and start making/receiving your calls. According to the documentation, the battery will last for ~3 hours if not plugged into the AC outlet. I haven't tested the battery myself but based on my experience with advertised battery usage times, I would probably say divide that number in half. However, since it is meant to be a home phone, it should always be plugged into the AC outlet.

The unit has 2 RJ-11 phone ports, a power on/off button, the power cable input port and what the manual labels as a service port. In terms of LEDs, the ZTE WF720 Wireless Home Phone Device has 4 indicator lights (power, voicemail, battery, & signal strength). Each RJ-11 phone port is simply an extension of the phone number so you can plug 2 different phones to each phone phone (ex: one cordless and one corded) and use either phone to make a call and pick up either phone (or both phones) when a call is received.

Since the plan that I tested came with unlimited nationwide calling at a very low price compared to regular cellular service, I tried the SIM in a regular cellphone to see what would happen and the phone would not lock onto the network with that SIM card but would lock onto the same network with a different SIM card from that same carrier.

Another reason that I put the SIM card into a regular cellphone was that I wanted to set up the SIM lock on the SIM card which is not possible to do using the ZTE WF720 Wireless Phone Device itself. After setting up the SIM lock on the SIM card, I inserted the SIM card back into the ZTE WF720 Wireless Phone Device and the phone that was connected to the device seemed to get a regular dial tone but calls could not be made from the phone. The only indication that the SIM lock was in effect was the flashing green battery indicator LED on the unit itself. After entering my SIM unlock code using the connected phone and pressing the # key, I could then make a phone call (and receive phone calls).

Although the device looks like it is a VoIP solution, it is in fact using the carrier's phone service in order to make and receive calls. I find the signal strength of the device to be good and the voice quality to be better than what I would get in the same location with my cellphone.

One thing that I wanted to write was that the device mentions that it will not work with satellite receivers, modems, fax machines, and home alarm system. I have not tested the device in any of the above items to see whether it will work or not.

For Canadians, depending on your needs and usage, I have no problem recommending this device with the price plan price of $10+taxes per month. The $25+taxes per month price tag might still be worthwhile depending on how much you pay for your home phone service and what you use your home phone service for.

In terms of the sound quality, I would say that that sound quality is equivalent to what you would get on a cellphone at the same location (or maybe slightly better). For me, even though I am using a regular landline phone connected to this device, I can still tell that you are not using a real landline since the sound quality is not as good as what I get with a real landline because sometimes the person's voice whom I'm talking with will sound a bit "robotic" and other times I will lose certain syllables/words during the conversation similar to what I would get with a handheld cellphone.

One of the good things about this device over a regular landline phone service is that it is easily transportable and since the plan covers unlimited nationwide calling as long as the device is within the carrier's cellular coverage area, it makes a good phone to take with you if you go to another part of the country temporarily.

What makes this device extremely attractive is that unlike in the US, in Canada, most cellphone plans don't include nationwide calling. What this means is that if someone with a Montreal area code goes to Toronto and receives a call on his Montreal cellphone, he/she will pay long distance to receive the call. If he/she makes a call back to Montreal while in Toronto (even though his phone has a Montreal area code), he/she will pay long distance to make the call. Using this device, all of this is ignored since while in Canada, you can receive a call without paying anything extra and you make a call to a Canadian number without paying anything extra.

For a copy of the ZTE WF720 Wireless Home Phone device manual, you can click *HERE*.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment which contains a URL link (whether it is embedded or not) will automatically be labelled as spam and will not be posted.

66 comments:

  1. Can you tell me if a second cordless phone which does not need connection to an outlet jack, can be used with this system ie wirelessly in another room?
    Thx

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    1. Thank you AD for reading my blog and placing your comment/question. I connected my Panasonic cordless phone to the device and have the extension cordless phones in each of my rooms without any issue. The only thing that you will need in the other rooms is an electrical outlet for the charging stand if you want the cordless phone to be charged while it is in the room. Otherwise, you can just bring the cordless phone itself to the room and just remember to charge it occasionally. I hope that this answers your question

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  2. Just read your post, and I'm a sales rep at an AT&T authorized retailer. If the customer is on an older plan, the Wireless Home Phone costs $9.99 a month and draws from the accounts' pool of minutes. If the customer is on a newer Mobile Share or Mobile Share Value plan with unlimited minutes, it costs $19.99 per month. I don't know about you folks way up in Canada, but even $19.99 is a heck of a deal compared to the average $49.99 home phone through our cable carriers (Century Link, Time Warner, etc.).

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    1. Thanks Ian Petrov for reading my blog and taking the time to comment on it as well as share what the prices are for the similar device/service in the US.

      In Canada, there are different prices for this device depending on whether you are an existing celluar subcriber with the company and which province you reside in. In the province that I live in (Quebec), it is $10/month for subscribers who already have cellular service with the company. Included in the $10/month price tag, we get call display, voice mail, unlimited Canada wide calling, call waiting, call forwarding, and conference call. It is $20/month in most of the other provinces for the same deal. For people who don't already have service with the company, it is $30 for the same plan/options.

      The only negative thing that I can say about this plan and the device is that depending on the area, the call quality can be spotty at times but this is the same with cellphone service in general.

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  3. I found this review helpful. I was debating getting this, but I might just try it because it beats the $55ish a month for Rogers and long distance is not included. We do get good rates to Japan, but Skype can take care of that.

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    1. Thank you AEronStrife for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. If you are in an area where there is Rogers landline service, I believe that you can't subscribe to this wireless phone option (but you might be able to subscribe to the same offer from Fido). I believe that within Rogers small print, it makes mention to areas being serviced by Rogers landline are ineligible for the Rogers version of this wireless phone/plan.

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  4. I too found the review useful. I added this Rogers cellular home phone service for just $10 per month and it includes free Canada wide long distance! I bought the ZTE device on kijiji.ca for $15 mailed to me. What a deal!

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    1. Thank you Marko Koskenoja for taking the time to read my blog and post your comment. Yes, depending on the reception that you get with Rogers, it is a great deal. I also just pay $10/month. Since the price is so low and my primary phone is a SIP/VoIP phone, I leave ZTE WF720 wireless home phone device hooked up in my car to a hands-free landline telephone.

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  5. How does the voice quality compare to your old land line?

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    1. Thank you Andrew Behrend for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. In terms of the voice/sound quality, it depends on what the cellular network reception is in your area. If you have a cellphone from the same carrier and you use it in your home, the sound quality will be slightly better than what you get with your cellphone in the exact same location but it generally won't compare to a landline phone unless where you live you get maximum signal strength on your cellphone. I hope that this helps.

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  6. How did you unluck this WF720 device?? I cant find anywhere online the procedure. I currently have the unlock code but dont know how to input it since this device has no UI

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    1. Thank you Aninimo for reading and taking the time to post your comment on my blog. To answer your question, I didn't unlock my WF720 device. I am using it with the service provided by the carrier that sold me the device. For the time being, there is little point in me unlocking my WF720 device since I am using it with my carrier for only $10/month+taxes and I wouldn't be able to find a less expensive rate for unlimited calling in Canada with any other carrier.

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  7. You tried putting the WF720 SIM into your cell phone. Have you tried the reverse of putting the cell phone SIM into the WF720. I want to do this when working at home as the reception is poor in the basement, but I could put the WF720 upstairs and use a cordless when working.

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    1. Thank you Shifty for reading and taking the time to place your comment on my blog. To answer you question, I didn't try putting my cellphone's SIM card into the WF720. I expect that it will work as long as the SIM that I removed from my cellphone is from the same carrier as the WF720 device. The reason that I haven't tried this is because I don't have a SIM card from the same carrier that I purchased my WF720 device from which is capable of voice calls (I only have a data enabled SIM card from this carrier). Because the reception is poor in your basement, you should just look at doing what you suggested which is to put your WF720 upstairs where there is better reception and plug a cordless phone to it. You can then take this cordless phone to the basement or use one the extension cordless phones (if you have a multi-cordless phone unit). In my case, the reception isn't very good for my carrier but I purchased an external antenna which I attached to the WF720 which improves the reception since I can place the reception closer to the window.

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  8. Hello We have a WF720 which we have been using on our AT&T cell phone account. We want to switch to T-mobile. AT&T have given us an unlock code for the WF720 but they do not know what we have to do to unlock it! Can you help?

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    1. Thank you Philippa Gunner for taking the time to read and post your comment/question on my blog. Sorry for the delay in responding to your post but unfortunately, I don't know how to unlock the WF720 even if you have the IMEI specific unlock code.

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  9. Ive been looking for the same answear but no results anywhere on google or any of the forums.. I got mine as a gift so I dont have access to AT&T support. I still have mine locked.

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    1. Thank you Anonimo for taking the time to read and post your comment/question on my blog. Sorry for the delay in responding to your post but unfortunately, the first thing that you will need to do is to get the unlock code for the device. However, even if you have the unlock code for the device, I'm not sure how to enter this into the device in order to properly unlock it so that it will work with any carrier.

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  10. I have now same device from Fido Canada Provider. I was wondering if is option to use my own Voicmail which I have on Cordless home phone or only Fido's Voicemail only

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    1. Thank you Igor Keselman for taking the time to read and post your comment/question on my blog.

      It is possible to use your own landline phone's answering machine instead of using Fido's voice mail system.

      What you will need to do is contact Fido and ask them to disable the voice mail for your Fido Home Wireless Phone account and then whenever someone calls your Fido Home Phone's number, your phone's answering machine will pick up. The other option for you would be to decrease the number of rings on your phone's answering machine so that it picks up before Fido's voice mail system kicks in.

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  11. can this unit be connected to a LAN line and use all the existing home phones? I want to know if I could use the phone upstairs, down stairs or is only option is the two phones? I have a good wireless connection from Rogers so I imagine that my wireless home signal will be as good or better but I want to know if we connect the phone to the main jack and use existing infrastructure at my home?

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    1. Yes, the telephone line output from the Fido - Rogers phone service device can be connected to your home's existing telephone wiring (infrastructure) so that you can use the telephones that are already in your home.

      First, you MUST DISCONNECT any previous telephone suppliers (such as Bell) from your home's inside telephone wiring to prevent any unwanted incoming electricity from outside sources being transmitted into the Fido - Rogers device.

      Then plug the Fido - Rogers device into an existing telephone wall outlet and it will supply the remaining telephone wall outlets with a telephone line. You can now use the existing phones that were in your home or office. However, there is a maximum number of phones that it will support.

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    2. Thank you Wireless user for reading and taking the time to post your question on my blog. What "Les Entreprises Dilaney" wrote is correct.

      You must be aware that there is a maximum amount of phones that it will be able to support via splitting/splicing the telephone cables. Unfortunately, I am not sure what that number is.

      I use my WTE device mainly in my car but when I do connect it inside, I have it connected to a cordless phone base which has multiple cordless phones (in my case 4) such as the one I wrote about *HERE*.. This is another option that you might consider.

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  12. The Fido - Rogers device IS compatible with certain alarm and security systems.

    We are a security company located in the Montreal area and we have already connected many of our clients' alarm systems to our central monitoring station using the Fido - Rogers ZTE WF720 Wireless Home Phone Device.

    Another similar product that we have used is the "Rogers Rocket Hub" which provides internet as well as telephone services.

    The advantages of using the Fido - Rogers device for alarm transmissions include improved security for our clients without any increase in the monitoring fees that we charge for using a traditional non-supervised telephone line.

    Once the alarm panel is properly connected to the Fido - Rogers device, transmissions to our central monitoring station are then being sent over the cellular network. Therefore, there are no exterior telephone lines that a burglar can cut before entering your home or business that would disable transmissions.

    I can report that our clients are very satisfied with the home telephone service provided by Fido - Rogers.

    We are now recommending this Fido - Rogers telephone service to our clients as it is a much less expensive option over the purchase, installation and monitoring fees associated with a stand-alone cellular communicator that is used ONLY by the alarm panel.

    Note: Clients that have a stand-alone cellular communicator that is devoted solely to an alarm panel for its transmissions are paying annual cellular monitoring fees but THEY cannot place any calls.

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    1. Thank you for reading my blog and taking the time to write your comment.

      Your post was very informative and I'm sure it will help a lot of readers.

      My only comment regarding the ZTE WF720 device is that in my 2 years of using it, it has its drawbacks over "regular" cellular service as well as over a traditional landline.

      There have been times when I picked up my phone to make a call and was not able to make a call. Hanging up, waiting a few seconds, and retrying would fix this issue. With my cellphone, I would not have this problem.

      Also, sometimes when a call comes in, my phone would not ring and it would go directly to voice mail. Similar thing would sometimes happen on my cellphone depending on signal strength, etc.

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  13. Hi, I got the Fido wireless home phone device today. It seems strange there are two SIM cards in the box. One already in the device, the other marked LTE not cracked. Don't know why they gave me two SIM cards. Was the same thing happened to you?

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    1. Thank you wooway for taking the time to read and post your comment/question on my blog. It was over 2 years ago when I received my Fido Wireless Home Phone device (WTE WF720) so I don't remember exactly what I received but I'm pretty sure that I only received one SIM card and that the SIM card was already inserted inside my ZTE box.

      Since you received two SIM cards, the other SIM card was probably sent to you in error and was never activated. My suggestion to you would be just to keep it as a backup SIM in case you want to subscribe to Fido with another device in the future.

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    2. Eventually after a few days, I called Fido and have the phone activated. They asked the number of the SIM card that is already in the device, then in a few minutes reboot the device and it worked, so the second card is never used.
      But I think the guy mentioned some sort of tandem service, maybe able to use the second SIM with a regular cell phone. Because it will have extra cost, I didn't get too much detail of that. Anyway, thanks for written the blog and shared information with all of us.

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  14. Hi there, Imcjipo; thank you very much for writing this blog!
    I'm hoping that you may have a suggestion for me.
    I've had the ZTE/Fido system for two years now, and have been reasonably happy with it until a couple of months ago, when the service began to disconnect. It seems to brake the connection when someone leaves a voice message, as well as at random times, often causing us to have to call back to someone several times in one conversation. The signal strength is Yellow/Moderate, going to Red/No service. I've disconnected/reconnected everything each time we run into problems, but there's no improvement.
    Do I need to replace the ZTE device or is there another answer? Any thoughts are appreciated.
    Susan

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    1. Thank you Susan March for reading my blog and taking the time to post your comment/question.

      It is possible that your ZTE system has gotten buggy after a few years and might need to be replaced. You will probably need to contact Fido to be sure (I'm not affiliated with Fido).

      You mentioned that you tried powering it off and powering it back on and this didn't fix your issue. Do you have a "regular" Fido cellphone? If so, turn off your ZTE system and with your Fido phone, check the number of bars that you have on the phone near where your ZTE system is located. Do you have maximum bars with your Fido cellphone? If not, try moving your Fido cellphone around where you get the maximum number of bars and then try to relocate your ZTE system to this area.

      You can try removing and placing the antenna back on your ZTE unit. Make sure that the antenna is facing upwards.

      Is your ZTE device near anything electronic? Like most electronic items, the ZTE device can be affected by electromagnetic fields so I don't recommend having your ZTE device near radios, television sets, television receivers, computers, or microwave ovens.

      Occasionally my ZTE device won't work but I live in an area that has a weak Fido signal. I purchased a larger external antenna which helps with my ZTE unit not going orange/yellow/amber in terms of the signal strength. My external antenna improves it so that the light doesn't go to orange/yellow/amber as often but it will still do this as I live in an area with a weak Fido signal.

      My only suggestion to you would be to try to relocate the device and see if you get any better results if you don't have a regular Fido cellphone that you can check the signal bars on.

      I hope this helps you or gives you some ideas.

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  15. Hi! Thanks for sharing your opinion, it's very helpful. I'm wondering about a couple of things..1) I'm looking at the Rogers wireless home phone system which uses the ZTE device you reviewed...Roger's marketing materials say you can keep your home phone number..which I'm confused about. My home phone is now with Bell, if I switch to wireless home phone how can I keep the same number? What stops Bell from giving my number to another customer if I cancel my Bell service..or do I need to keep my Bell service ?
    2) Does this essentially turn my corded home phone into a cell phone with all the same safety considerations of cell phone usage? I try not to talk for extended periods on a cell phone or a cordless phone due to the possible dangers..I assume with this device I'll be exposing myself to cellular radiation through my corded phone, is that correct? Thanks so much!

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    1. 1 - you set up the Rogers service FIRST, and they transfer the number from Bell, which effectively cancels your Bell services.
      2 - Scientific Studies have shown (google them) that the amount of 'cellular radiation' is NOT a problem for people who talk for long periods.

      3 - (not on your list but important) the device DOES NOT work for extensions, or IVRs.
      (i.e. if you call your bank, and need to input your bank card and pin, you may get the card number in, but if the pin is 1-2-3-4, the ZTE box 99.999% of the time will send out "1-1-2-3-4" thus rendering your pin wrong.

      I've spoken to someone in the Fido Office of The President and there is NOT work around, NO fix at this time for this, and it could be 3-5 months before it's fixed.

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  16. Per comment on June 2, 2015 about connect to a LAN line. Your comment “
    First, you MUST DISCONNECT any previous telephone suppliers (such as Bell) from your home's inside telephone wiring to prevent any unwanted incoming electricity from outside sources being transmitted into the Fido - Rogers device.” My question is what about if you have internet such as ISP which can be set up as “Dry Loop”. Is there still be electricity?

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  17. Yes, there could be electricity from the dry loop line. Therefore, you do NOT want to connect anything to the dry loop. The only connections that should be made are from the Rogers / Fido device to a telephone (or several telephones using the inside wiring of the home). When you use the inside wiring with the Rogers/Fido device, the inside wiring MUST NOT be connected to anything other than telephone(s) inside the home.

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  18. I have my cell phone with Cityfone which is actually Rogers. I have my landline with Bell and it also gets internet via the same twisted pair If I go with this device and have it changed to my existing number will I still be able to get my internet on the twisted pair now that I have given up my landline number from Bell? TGhan k you for a great article.

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    1. Thank you "Unknown" for taking the time to read and comment on my blog post. Sorry for the late reply. I don't have the same set-up as yourself. I don't see any reasons why your set-up wouldn't work. HOWEVER, when you change your existing number to the ZTE wireless home device, Bell might (and probably will) cancel your internet. You will probably have to pay a new installation fee for them to install a "dry loop".

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  19. We have the wf720 on the AT&T network and are happy with it. We might be getting new windows in the house and I am worried that the signal might not be strong enough, I can't seem to find out what the Mhz is for the device to possibly purchase an outdoor antenna booster that I could put in the attic. Any comments or help? Thanks

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    1. Thank you Victor Norwood for taking the time to read and comment on my blog post. Sorry for the late reply. I am not 100% sure of what MHz the device uses but it would probably use the same frequency as AT&T's GSM frequency which is 850 & 1900 according to http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=14003

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  20. Can I use any brand of no.e phone? Ie. Say vtech or Panasonic. I just ordered the unit. The girl at girl said I did. But not sure. Or do I need to buy the zte device?

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    1. Thank you PETER S for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. Sorry for the late reply since as you can probably tell from my latest blog review, due to circumstances I haven't had a chance to post on my blog or reply to comments. I'm sure you've already gotten your answer but you can attach any phone that you would normally plug into your house line into the ZTE wireless home phone device. It doesn't have to be a VTECH phone or a Panasonic phone. In my case, I plug a standard inexpensive landline phone to the unit as I keep the unit in my car.

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  21. I have cell phone from Roger. My house phone is Fido ZTE. All my call go to voice mail and no ring.

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    1. Thank you Myo Swe for taking the time to read and comment on my blog post. I'm sorry for the late reply and you've probably already been helped but my suggestion would be to call Rogers if it is your cellphone that always goes to voice mail or Fido if your home phone is always going to voice mail. It sounds as either your calls are forwarded to voice mail or you don't have strong reception where you live. Another possibility is that you have a defective device.

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  22. Can you add the unlock procedure to the blog post? I just was helped by a guy in Reddit and got it all figured out.

    *983*86*unlockcode#

    Star 9 8 3 Star 8 6 Star unlock_code Pound

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    1. Thank you KC Commuter for taking the time to read and comment on my blog post. I haven't tried to unlock my ZTE wireless home phone device (since no carrier where I live can match the $10+taxes for unlimited calling in Canada, voice mail, call waiting, call display, and call forwarding that I'm currently playing) so I can't vouch for the unlock sequence you specified but hopefully it works and it helps people who read this blog post.

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  23. Are you aware of any antennas that are more powerful than the one attached to the ZTE720. My signal strength is very week and could use a boost

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    1. Thank you Dwight Barnes for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. I suffer a similar problem where my signal strength is weak. I'm not sure where you can purchase an antenna for the ZTE ZF720 wireless home phone device but one of my very old cellphones (we're talking over 20 years old), had the same type of screw on connection which was used for an external magnetic car mounted antenna and this is what I use on my ZTE WF720. I then place this antenna close to the window.

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  24. I just got a fido home phone and I would like to use the answer machine that is built into my cordless phone. Is there a way to do this? I have tried to reduce the rings so that my own machine picks up but after I phone it and leave message on the machine it goes to the dial tone once I hang up. Is there some way that I can stop this? I would like to use my own answering system.

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    1. Thank you Sarah for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. The way that I did this is I contacted my carrier (Fido) and I told them I didn't want the voice mail which was included. I asked them to disable voice mail for the phone number. I did this over a year ago so I am not sure if they might still disable voice mail at customer requests (you still pay the same so you aren't getting any discount for asking them to disable voice mail). You would need to contact them. After I had them disable voice mail on my account, I shortened the number of rings on my home answering system (which is a computerized answering machine) and my home answering machine picks up before anyone gets the message "The customer that you are calling is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later". This message happens after ~10 rings so I set my answering machine to answer before that time. My answering machine then e-mails me an MP3 file containing the voice mail but that is just how my computerized answering machine works.

      The only negative thing about disabling voice mail is that I'm not sure if it has ever happened to you but I live in an area that doesn't have a very strong signal and sometimes my cellphones (including the ZTE WF720) will not ring when people call (similar to calling a regular cellphone and that regular cellphone being off). It happens sporadically and since I don't use my home wireless phone as my "main" phone, I don't really worry about it.

      If this happens when voice mail is disabled, you won't get any notification that someone tried to reach you. Also, if you have a power failure in your place and your answering machine doesn't have a battery backup, people won't be able to leave you a voice mail. In my case, I didn't really care since no one should be reaching me directly by calling that phone number.

      I hope that this helps.

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  25. I am very interested in this device because right now our carrier is offering it free except for the monthly charge. A question I do have though is do you loose the calker ID function using it or will it display on my Panasonic cordless phones plugged into the device? Also, the voicemail feature needs to use a handset to hear, right? My present phone system uses a speaker to hear the message.

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    1. Thank you Duffman for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. You will not lose the Caller ID function on your phones provided that your carrier's plan comes with Caller ID. In my case (with Fido), it comes with callerID so the Panasonic cordless phone that I'm using with this unit has Caller ID. The only thing that I don't get is name display (unless the number is in my Panasonic cordless phone's built-in address book). My Panasonic cordless phone even has a feature to speak out the phone number which works well with the ZTE WF720 wireless home phone device.

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  26. I have the Rogers wireless home phone service and like it a lot. We are close to the tower, so have great signal strength. Last month I decided to add call forwarding as a feature, so that I could receive calls to the house on my Cell. I tried everything the book says, and it will not forward. I get the tone after entering *21*phone number# as the instructions say, but my home phone just rings anyways. My cell provider is not Rogers, it is Virgin. Is that the problem?

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    1. Thank you "Unknown" for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. I'm not sure why your call forwarding doesn't work but it might be as you stated... that you are with Virgin. The only suggestion that I have is to try removing your Virgin SIM from the phone unit and putting it into a traditional mobile/cellphone and then use the same *21*phonenumber# to see if this will cause your mobile/cellphone to forward your calls. If it doesn't work, you've found your problem and you must ask Virgin what the proper code is to enable call forwarding on a "dumbphone" (smartphones generally have menus to do this so you want the keystrokes on a non-smartphone).

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  27. Can I access WiFi through this device? So instead of a router can this be done?

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    1. Thank you Helen for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. Unfortunately, this device does not have any WiFi capabilities and it can NOT be used as a router or an access point. You also cannot plug a DSL router into this unit (nor ask the carrier to enable internet on the device like you can on a traditional landline phone) like you can to a real landline phone since the technologies are different.

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  28. Thanks for your response. We got the device and all is going well. Getting used to not hearing the message being left on the device like it did on the Panasonic phone base.
    Thee only problem we have had with dropping the land line phone was the three letter phone carrier also dropped our DSL service and then proceeded to tell us they were capped and couldn't restore that service. Was forced to get internet through the cable company.

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    1. Thank you Duffman for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. I'm surprised that your phone landline company did not offer you the option of a "dry-loop". I probably wouldn't go for the dry-loop option myself since I prefer cable internet service over DSL service (although I'm using a mobile carrier for my internet service as I have a grandfathered unlimited data plan which offers me the mobility to take my internet wherever I go but restricts my speed to 3G/4G (non-LTE) speeds)

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  29. Hi,

    Just got the fido home phone! My mic on 2 devices seems to be picking up too much sound. The other caller can hear nearby voices or even a tv in the background. I tried with a corded and cordless DECT phone with the same results. Is there a fix for that?

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    1. Thank you Par for taking the time to read and comment on my blog. Is the signal strength displayed on the box showing green or amber? If it is amber, it sounds as if the signal strength is not adequate and you might have a defective unit or the signal where your device is located is not strong enough. If this is the case, an external antenna might help. I replaced the antenna that came with my unit with an antenna that was designed to be mounted on a car and I find that it improved the signal strength of my device.

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  30. Thanks for your review it was quite helpful. I am currently using the ZTE with AT&T in the US. I moved from a location where my family had the same landline number for 75 years. I moved to a different central office and could not take that number for a regular landline. So, I ported it to AT&T and I am using it with the ZTE wireless home phone device. In my case, the sound quality is like a regular landline. I am amazed. The device is connected to one jack to distribute dial tone through my home. It rings all 5 of my phone, 2 of which are old Bell system phones with a real bell. There are two minor functionalities that are different from a regular landline. First, it takes about 6 seconds for the call to connect once you are finished dialing. A regular landline connects instantly. And, second, you have less time to dial the number before you get an error message. So if you pause in the middle of dialing the number you have to hang up and redial. However, all in all, this is a superior service....$20 unlimited nationwide calling on AT&T and no bundling or installation required (unless you want to wire it to your phone jacks).

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    1. Thank you Mark F. for taking the time to read and post your comment/experience on my blog.

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  31. Am I correct in assuming that once I port my Bell phone number over to this service and cancel my Bell service that anyone who previously called my old phone number locally at no charge will now pay long distance fees calling me on my old Bell number? And if this is the case is there any way to avoid this and still use this service?

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    1. Thank you Cathylea for taking the time to read and post your comment regarding my blog. To answer your question, if you port your Bell number over to this service, anyone who paid long distance to call you at your Bell number will continue to pay long distance to call you since the phone number will be the same when ported. People who didn't pay long distance to call you at your Bell phone will continue NOT to pay long distance when calling you after your number is ported.

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  32. Not sure if this is being maintained but my question is how can I retrieve messages remotely? I set up a code for remote message but I cannot get messages. No info in the starter guide. If I set the code up as 08 does the system add a preceding number I have to use? Would be great if I could get it working.

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    1. Thank you for reading and commenting on my blog. To get the messages remotely, it will depend on your carrier. I disabled my carrier's voice mail and connected my device (when it isn't inside my car) to a standard answering machine so I remotely listen to my messages by calling myself and then keying a code but this is dependent on my answering machine.

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  33. What power source do you use when in a vehicle? I noticed you said it worked in your vehicle. I am asking as the battery will only last an hour or so.

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    1. Thank you Jim Cassels for reading and commenting on my blog. I use a simple car power inverter adapter which plugs into the car's cigarette plug and converts this to an AC outlet.

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