Office product reviews – liGo BlueWave
Office product reviews – best kit for the home office
It’s essential to have the best tools for maximum productivity when you work from home, but it can be difficult to decide exactly what is the right purchase. The following office product reviews have been carried out by home workers with that purpose in mind.
liGo BlueWave
What is it?
The liGo BlueWave enables you to make and receive mobile calls from any phone in the house.
Design ***
This is a functional looking gadget in matt black. It stands discreetly by your main landline phone. My husband did wonder if it couldn’t be smaller (it measures 120x120x45mm) but I feel that in an office it won’t look out of place. There’s a few lights on it to show connections, active or otherwise.
How easy is it to set up & learn to use? ****
Very easy to set up. Plug your main landline into the liGo BlueWave and then run the supplied cable from the device to your main phone. It uses mains electricity so it will need to be situated near a plug socket. Connecting via Bluetooth to my Android phone was a total breeze.
The included instructions were clear. You are allowed to connect up to three devices, there are three blue lights on the top which show which connections are active. If the Bluetooth isn’t connected then the light flashes.
Does it do what it claims? ****
In a word – yes. I tested it out to call my dad on his birthday. Rather than using the mobile I used the landline phone which connected my call via my mobile. The mobile showed I was on a call as usual. I did have to remember to dial the area code first though 🙂
Later on a call came through on my mobile which was across the room so I answered it using the landline. Very handy.
Quality ****
The gadget itself feels a little plasticky but it’s certainly sturdy enough. The sound quality was as perfect as I am used to on both mobile and landline.
One problem is the range of Bluetooth. My office is not in the main house but only about 20ft away from the liGo BlueWave. However the house wall must have a detrimental effect as I can only keep my phone connected if it’s near the house. My desk, unfortunately is at the other side of the office. This is not necessarily a problem with the device but with bluetooth itself. The instructions do state to keep the phone within 5m (around 15ft) of the device.
Does it increase your productivity/ save you money, time or hassle? ****
This was a difficult one to answer for me. As a sole freelancer working from home I might not find it as useful as, say, an small company with an office. However, it was certainly great to be able to use the landline phone rather than my mobile to make and receive calls – landline handsets are more ergonomic to use than a slab of a smartphone.
I can see it being great for an office where using this will mean you can answer a call made to any attached mobile on one landline. Certainly cheaper than rerouting calls from mobile to landline I suspect.
I also found it handy when I made a coffee in the house. I often leave my phone in the office and you can bet someone will call in those few minutes. Now I can answer the phone in the kitchen and don’t have to worry about missing a call. When a call comes in the relevant blue light on the liGo BlueWave lights up to show whose number is being called. Useful if a call came in for me so my husband didn’t answer it by mistake.
I didn’t attach more than one phone but it does state that each attached phone has a distinctive ring tone.
Worth the investment? ****
I think that for sheer convenience of being able to easily use your landline phone to make and receive calls the liGo BlueWave could be quite a good buy and certainly saves using another service to redirect calls. Some may still balk at the £99 but redirect services generally have a monthly cost and you would have to pay for each mobile.
Also, you can keep your phone on its charger yet still answer phone calls. Huge plus for today’s smartphones which often have a poor-ish battery life.
Overall score **** 3.8
Best for
Small offices, those who don’t always carry their mobile with them everywhere when home/in the office.
With thanks to liGo BlueWave for supplying the sample for our office product reviews.
Buy the liGo Bluewave
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