Dear Unplggd,
My wife and I have a stylish home - or think we do - and are looking for the perfect single house phone. We can't stomach putting in a beastly Uniden or Vtech or Panasonic - BORING - phone and really like the Philips phones in white. The best one and simplest is the cd2401s - and seems to only be available in the UK:If we bought this phone through Amazon.co.uk, would it work in our house?
We're willing to pay for shipping if it will work in the US....
Best, Maxwell
Hi Maxwell,
We have had similar thoughts when travelling through Europe and seeing all the lighting that is both more beautiful and cheaper than anything available to us in North America. Ditto for simple electronics like the cordless phone. The problem that you run into when trying to bring in anything from Europe that needs to be plugged in is the power. 220 to 240 volt in Europe vs. 110 to 120 volt in North America.
While not impossible to use a 220v appliance in North America, you will require a bulky converter which kind of defeats the beautiful minimalist design you were after in the first place. Does anyone else have suggestions for Maxwell?
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
Hi there,
If the phone has what is called a standard 'BT' connection then it pretty much won't work in the US because the line won't fit in the phone without a hard to find adapter. Plus, if it is a cordless you will need a step-up converter for power, which in addition to being expensive and ugly, tends to physically ware on most kind of electric equipment and so is not ideal for long-term use.
Best, Rebecca
view rebandvic's profile
Being a Brit living in the US, I hit problems like this (in both directions) for power conversion all the time.
You will have two issues bringing over a phone:
The actual "data" plug is a very different size between US and UK - as rebandvic says, there are adaptors, but good luck finding them.
The power conversion is a pain - the 220v to 110v adaptors are bulky, and not always reliable - however if you look at the transformer of the phone, if it states it can support 110 - 220v, you can either just switch the plug end of the cable out, or put a non power converting adaptor (like a travel adaptor, just a plug to plug one), which is a lot less bulky.
If the transformer only states 220v, I'd give up.
view smeg's profile
Oh dear. I thought as much. Thanks so much for the thorough answers. We'll settle for the other Philips handset. It's not that bad, and it's available in the states.
view Maxwell's profile
You can buy and adapter like http://www.laptoptravel.com/Product.aspx?ID=1785
for the phone plug itself. As for the power of this model you will need a transformer. As said earlier they are big and ugly. They like white in Australia too so I would look there as well.
view Michael Dumas's profile