What is the difference between phone instruments used in company
offices and the ones used at home ? Compnay phones used for conference
calls seem to have very sensitive microphones and powerful speakers as
everyone around a huge conference table can talk and listen to the
conversation very comfortably. On the other hand it requires a great
deal of effort to talk into a speaker phone ( the kinds which are
typically used at home) as the party on the other end would always
complain about not getting good quality sound.
Is there a difference in the phone instruments or the phone lines ?
Can these office phone be used at home ?
If digital and analog phone line is the main difference, can someone
recommend a office quality phone for home ?

Hi tuhitu-ga,


Office phone are digital phone – residential are analog  phones.
The lines are different, the residential line is called 1LR and
business line is 1FR.  LR – Local rate ,  FR - Flat rate

Business line uses digital phone and to use a digital phone in the
home you will need to change the class of service of thenline not the
physical line itself ie from 1LR to 1FL. This is done at the central
office, as it is just a software change. The cost will be more approx
5% -10% more.  Business phone are more expensive and have a greater
amplification factor and being digital makes it noise free.

Model business phone to use to suit the purpose is M7310. 

http://businessweek.buyerzone.com/telecom_equipment/phone_systems/buyers_guide2.html

Digital vs. Analog
http://businessweek.buyerzone.com/telecom_equipment/phone_systems/buyers_guide4.html

Analog vs digital phones
http://www.globalsources.com/MAGAZINE/TMA/0207/ANALO.HTM

Analog vs. Digital
http://www.at-t-wireless-phones-4-free.com/cell_phone_facts/analog.html


Business Phone Direct .com
"At Business Phones Direct, we stock over 100,000 new and refurbished
business telephones, business telephone systems and new telephone
system replacement parts...."

http://businessphonesdirect.com/?source=overture

Hope this helps.

If you have any other questions please contact me before rating.

Best regards.


jeanwil-ga

search words 'digital vs analog'
other source my husband who works the phone company

Many office phone systems use analogue extensions and even if they
have digital extensions (eg the Norstar M7310 phone mentioned) may be
connected to analogue lines. While the Norstar M7310 and similar
digital phones have quite good - but not great - handsfree speech
quality (and cost about $100) that's because they're good quality
phones, not because they're digital.

The main difference is cost. If you want to spend between $300 and
$1000 on a conference phone such as a Polycom (see URL below) instead
of $30 on a home speakerphone, you can get the benefits of echo
cancellation and noise supression too.

http://www.dynadirect.com/tp-00106.html
http://www.dynadirect.com/tp-03200.html

Owain