Plantronics M20 Bluetooth Headset
Given how much time many of us spend on the phone whilst at our desks, it seems odd that we don’t seek out better alternatives to the traditional desktop phone. OK, I know some people use those wired headsets with the little plastic tube that sticks out in front of your mouth (of the type commonly seen being employed by good-looking customer service representatives in stock photography), but they seems so, well, 80s.
With it being Christmas, our volume of telephone calls is skyrocketing, and I’m spending most of my time tied to my desk on the phone to customers. I’ve got a fantastic Snom desktop phone as part of our VoIP PBX, and whilst it’s fully loaded and very funky looking, there’s one thing about it that has been driving me crazy since I’ve been using it 6 hours a day – the curly wire that links the handset and the base unit. Most traditional phones have one of these. It hadn’t been a problem before because I don’t normally talk that much, but now it’s the bane of my life. The elasticity has completely gone and it winds itself up into a tight little ball so that after every other call I have to dangle the handset and let it unwind itself. If I don’t, every time I answer a call I end up yanking the base station across the desk.
I’m a gadget-head, so I figured now would be a good time to play with a more comfortable solution. Those little clip-on Bluetooth headsets seemed like a good way to go – they’re minimal, light and fairly inexpensive. You might associate them with mobile phones, but most computers now have Bluetooth built in, so it should be easy to connect one to a desktop or laptop and use software to make and receive calls. As we exclusively use voice-over-IP for the business, I can use a range of softphones for that purpose.
I had a Motorola Bluetooth headset before, about 5 years ago, and I remember it being crap. The range was generally less than the distance from pocket to ear and the sound quality was awful. I dug it out, and tried to see if I could get it to work. I think I managed to charge it with a USB cable, but I definitely couldn’t connect it to the computer, it just gave an error message. I figured that would be the case, so I resigned it to the trash heap of gadgetry.
So, I popped down to the local electronics store and picked up an entry level on-ear Bluetooth headset – the Plantronics M20 – for about 30 Euro. I din’t want to splash on a more expensive unit, in case this solution didn’t suit me, and the Plantronics looked OK – small, smart design, good advertised battery life, comfortable looking earpiece and ability to pair with two devices (which would be useful for switching from desktop to laptop).
Here’s how the experiment is going
I’ve been using this for two days now, so can relate my initial findings. It’s definitely a promising solution, and I feel it could work long-term if I manage to smooth out some of the difficulties.
The Setup
As I said above, my aim is to use the headset in conjunction with a VoIP softphone on my computer(s). I have always used X-Lite on my MacBook when travelling, but decided to have a quick search around to see what was available because the free edition does not allow for multiple SIP accounts.
The Software
I came across Telephone for Mac OS X which is free but with a minimal feature set, which I don’t mind, because I find X-Lite to be too full of unnecessary stuff. I decided to give it a go.
For a start, it’s free, which is great. It installed in seconds from the Mac app store and took about 15 seconds to configure after I had retrieved the username and password for my SIP account. I didn’t need to tweak any of the advanced settings, it just worked straight out of the box. Nice.
Connecting the Headset
From my limited experience with Bluetooth, I expected a fight, which only partly materialised.
The first time you turn on the headset, it goes straight into pairing mode. Otherwise you just hold the call button down for a couple of seconds. I asked the Mac to search for devices, it immediately found the M-20 and after a few clicks they were paired.
But not connected.
If you understand the difference between those concepts, you’re doing well. ’Paired’ means that the computer and headset are linked and can be used together for ever more. Connected means that the headset is actually online.
I had some trouble getting the headset to connect, but after some switching on and off, I got the green light from the Mac. I had to ask it to ‘use as audio device’ and then set the M20 as the preferred audio device in the preferences for Telephone, but that was it. I made some test calls to the other extension in the office and it seemed to work. They could hear me and I could hear them. So immediately I started using the headset and Telephone software to make and receive business calls.
The Headset
The quality of the sound is excellent – just as good as the Snom desktop phone. I figure the other people can hear me well too, as nobody has said anything like “you sound like you’re in the bath” which was the norm a couple of years ago. On a few calls, there seemed to be a bit of lag, but nothing too bad and generally that hasn’t been the case – the headset feels just as ‘responsive’ as a regular phone. These things have obviously come a long way.
The range advertised is 10 meters, but a quick bit of experimentation suggests that that is very optimistic. Half way down the stairs (less than 5 meters), the sound starts to crack up and by the bottom of the stairs the connection drops. On the plus side, I can walk around in the immediate vicinity of the computer without any sound issues.
And that’s one of the immediately noticeable improvements over the desktop phone: you can get up, stretch your legs and have a stroll, all whilst talking to someone. If you’ve not experienced that freedom before, it’s quite liberating and mood-enhanceing. +1 for the headset.
And of course, that’s not the only ergonomic advantage. Freeing yourself from the traditional phone means two free hands, no cradling the handset between your neck and shoulder whilst trying to do something else and no wires trailing across your desk and getting in the way of keyboard and/or mouse. All in all, the ergonomics are great – liberating, comfort-enhancing and even mood-brightening.
My only complaint with regards to comfort and useablity is that with extended wear, the headset does put some pressure on parts of your ear and can cause ache. Nothing major, but enough discomfort to want to remove the thing after a while. I don’t know yet if this is a feature of all clip-on style Bluetooth headsets, or particular to the M20.
The other niggle I’ve had is with using the headset on two devices. Whilst I can get it to pair with my laptop as well, this seems to cause havoc with its ability to ‘connect’ with the other computer. In fact, after pairing with my laptop, the only way I was able to get it to reconnect with the iMac was to un-pair, re-pair and then reconnect. Predictably, after doing that, I could then no longer get it to connect to the laptop without doing the same thing. It seems that my dream of gliding between the two computers effortlessly with the gadget attached to my ear and expecting it to just automatically connect is beyond its capabilities. Again, I don’t know if that’s just the M20, or a feature of Bluetooth, Mac or whatever. It’s not a big deal, but definitely annoying enough that I can see myself not bothering to take the headset downstairs when I go to work on my laptop.
Two more points which were pretty much predictable from the start. Don’t expect to be enjoying your tunes through this device whilst waiting for that next call. The sound quality for music is pitiful. Adele at the Royal Albert Hall sounds like Me in the Shower. Secondly, the ‘Call’ button on the headset has no relationship with the Mac. So if you’re taking a pee when the phone rings, you’ll have to sprint back to the computer and click ‘Answer’ rather than just pressing the button. Annoying? Yes. But let’s be realistic here.
The Software
Telephone for Mac OSX - Dialling Window
Using a soft phone also brings a number of advantages, the biggest of which I have found to be the ability to copy-paste telephone numbers instead of hand dialling. Since most of the numbers we have to dial these days originate on a computer screen, it makes sense not to have to physically press buttons in order to place a call. With the softphone you just copy the number, paste it into the dial box and press enter.
Telephone also integrates well with the Mac address book, so to dial a contact you only have to type their name into the box and press enter. Very nice.
There’s a little bit of fiddliness in using the software that I haven’t managed to overcome yet. Perhaps it’s a feature of Telephone, or perhaps it will be inherent to all softphones, I don’t know yet. The problem is that you lose some of the ‘immediacy’ of the desktop phone when using software. With the normal phone, when it rings, you just pick it up. When the conversation’s over, you just hang up. With the software, I’ve found I have to do quite a lot of hunting to accomplish these tasks. Telephone doesn’t have an ‘always on top’ setting for the window, so it often gets buried under the mass of other stuff I’m working on. I’m constantly having to use Mission Control to find it. Worse still, it doesn’t pop up to the front when a call comes in, so I’ve missed a few calls whilst hunting for the app (although if you have Growl you get a notification which you can click to take you to the app). The same applies to when you want to hang up, compounded by the fact that the hang-up button is tiny. It’s a little frustrating and I don’t think I could continue to work like this.
Thankfully, I’m pretty sure X-Lite doesn’t have these issues, so perhaps the professional version, Bria, will be worth the investment once I’m sure I want to work like this.
The Verdict
The concept of hands-free, wireless talking is a definite yes. The solution of a bluetooth headset connect to the Mac, along with a softphone is also a yes. The M20 is good, but I can see it getting relegated to a travel and backup unit if I can get my hands on one which is:
- More comfortable
- Has better range
- Has proper sound quality for listening to music whilst working
- Has fewer problems connecting between computers
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