GPO Carrington Classic Retro Push-Button Phone with Pull-Out Tray, Traditional Bell RingTone, Ringer On/Off for Home, Office, Hotels- Black

When this phone rings it will take your mind to a bygone era, old black and white classic movies, illusions of being somewhere else in time before picking up the handset to answer the call. If you buy this phone only for that evocative bell ringing sound it will be worth it. This retro type telephone is a little gem. I wanted this style of phone for my little office/study room and it looks just right with my blend of modern and old paraphernalia. The plastic material this phone is made from,I ordered it in black,is a shiny gloss finish so if you are looking for a matt finish only this may not be what you will have in mind. Mine sits proudly on my desk next to a computer screen and printer that are both in the popular shiny gloss black finish of many of today's modern electronic gadgets so it actually blends in very well with these. The style of this phone both contrasts with and compliments these present day gadgets. The phone is practical, with push button numbers in the illusory rotary dial frontpiece. The numbers seem to be set back into the rotary dial but this is only an optical illusion as on closer inspection they actually come just above the dial plate. The buttons are simple to use and you hear a touch tone sound in the ear phone when you press each number. There are star and hash buttons in the 'dial' as well so the phone is practical for all the normal calls you wish to make. Of course if you want to go the full retro experience you could always go for the more expensive rotary dial model. However, the push button one here offers a quicker and easier way of making calls so is a better practical compromise if you make a lot of calls. There is a very handy little pull out drawer in the base that you can keep a little note book or list of telephone numbers, the old fashion equivalent of memory storage on modern phones. As you will keep your phone numbers in this drawer they will not get lost compared to keeping them in a separate address/phone book. When the phone arrived in a large package I thought like another reviewer that it was lightweight. However, on unpacking and setting it up it turned out to be more substantial than I first thought and feels solid and secure on my desk, so no worries about that. The phone really was just an unpack and plug in, working straight away with no problems. The sound quality for incoming calls is fine and there are no problems with listeners hearing you speaking. You will be interested in this phone for its retro and appearance qualities. Don't expect a modern phone with all the bells and whistles. You get the bells alright! but for 'whistles' you will have to go for today's models. Well done Amazon and Royal Mail. Ordered on a Saturday, dispatched on Sunday and received on Tuesday,and this with free postage and packing. Top marks all round.

I purchased this phone to add a bit of fun (and as a nice feature) to our living room. Luckily, there was a used model on Amazon for only £15.27 delivered, as it had been returned but was in an 'As New' condition. I've seen this model sell for up to £55 in various places so got lucky here. Even if you pay around twice what I paid, it could still be considered a bargain. I didn't want to spend too much, as we don't have a land line. It is attached to my Ligo Bluewave Bluetooth Box to act as a house phone. I must say the overall build quality of the Carrington telephone is very nice. It's a push button model, but adopts the 'turn to dial' look of an original Carrington. There's a good weight to the phone too. It won't fall off a table when you lift the handset to make or take a call. It was a GPO replica so remains true in appearance to the 1929S model of it's day. I've only phoned my Mum to test the call quality so far, and we could speak to and hear each other clearly, which was great. Overall this is a nice quality replica phone that adds a nice feature to our living room. As a family that own mobiles only, this phone brings back the nostalgia of making a 'proper phone call' without texting, or using social media. Highly recommended. I've had to update my review to advise users that as of the 4th of May, 2019 (just under a month) that this phone has STOPPED WORKING FOR NO APPARENT REASON. I have spent the last week trying to replace wires, try in another house, etc, but it's now Dead as a Dodo. I will try and get a refund off Amazon or the Seller. My advice at the moment is to AVOID. UPDATE: 4th February 2021: As anyone who knows me or reads my reviews will know, I am a tinkerer. I love to repair, fix and build things. In this case, I decided to have a look at the Carrington phone which just stopped working with no apparent reason. It had been in my loft since I previously updated my review and lowered my rating to 1 star. WELL, IT'S NOW WORKING, WITH NO ISSUES! I was not hopeful really when I unboxed it to plug it in again after all this time. I had consigned it mentally at least, to the skip. I've not replaced or repaired anything. I can only assume it's something as spurious as a dry solder joint on the circuit board, or a loose connection. However, it pairs again nicely with my LIGO Bluewave, and allows me to ring from a 'normal' house phone, minus the landline costs associated with it! Numerous calls and tests have been 100% reliable with no issues. Call quality has been crystal clear. The first picture shows my test mock up upon purchase, whilst my 2nd pic shows the Carrington now in situ. As a consequence, I am very happy (for now at least) and will re-instate my 5 star review!

I bought this when I had a fault on my landline and mistakenly thought the fault was with the telephone handset. As it turned out not to be the handset I am still using the original handset and have kept this for a back up. I like the style of the handset and am happy with it but cant give a higher score as I am not really using it.

I bought this 'phone for one reason. Three generations live in our house and the two cordless 'phones are forever going absent only to found after much searching wherever our grandchildren left them. Usually under their beds! So I decided to have a fixed phone that couldn't be taken away. The problem was that the technological marvels on offer are none of them aesthetically attractive so I decided on the Carrington. This is the 'phone of the black and white movies, WHItehall 1212, Scotland Yard, the green scrambler on Churchill's desk. Ours sits on a small coffee table in the lounge and it looks perfect, a good weight and the ring is perfect nostalgia, easily drowning the melodic twitterings of the cordless jobs. The mouthpiece can even be unscrewed - perfect for hiding messages for spies! The push buttons are a giveaway but I don't mind as it was the style and design I wanted. However, if you seek an exact replica then this might disappoint. The buttons are sensitive and I was able to renew my pet insurance keying in the various call centre options with no problems. Speech is clear but there is a slight hiss and the call centre operator really did sound as if she was beyond the seas! To sum up, it's reasonably priced, it looks good, does the job and is great fun, I love it. Delivery was fast and it was well packaged. One caveat - if this is to be the only phone you have you may miss the specifications and audio quality of a modern 'phone but, of course there's always the address book drawer! Have both.

This phone arrived this morning and it is already on its way back to Amazon. The phone looks okay but when plugged in there was a constant buzz on the line but I thought that I could live with it. However when I tried to dial out it would not work. The press button numbers registered but, at the end of dialling, the phone did not call the number. Also something else that annoyed me is the fact that the phone is set up for left handed users. By this I mean that the handset connects to the base on the left hand side (as you face the phone) and, as the handset cord is quite short, you have to place it on the phone with the mouth piece end on the left. A right handed person would normally place the handset with the mouth piece on the right so that when you pick it up with your right hand the handset is the right way up. Sounds pedantic but believe me it's annoying. Anyway, as the phone didn't work it had to go back. I've placed hundreds of orders on Amazon and this is my first ever return. However I must say that the returns process is very good.

Having read some of the more negative reviews of this telephone I was pleasantly surprised when I unpacked it and set it up. Initial impressions are that it is well made, reasonably solid and weighty and works well as a basic 'phone. It's not a bad imitation of a 200 series GPO Bakelite telephone. Yes, it's plastic and a bit shiny, but I expect Bakelite phones were shiny too when new, and if you want one of those you can expect to pay anything in excess of £200 for a working example in half-decent condition. I'm well pleased.

The phone looks nice enough, though on closer inspection the quality is satisfactory rather than good. I like the fact that it doesn't do anything but make and receive calls (although it might; I never did read the instruction leaflet. Perhaps it has hidden secret amazing powers). I pick that bit up; I press those buttons; and if I ain't there to answer it, well, it just goes ding-a-ling all by itself in its pretty way. Although it worked fine initially, I hardly ever use my house phone so it was three or four months before I realised I couldn't make outgoing calls with it at all, and incoming calls were crackly. However when I brought this to Amazon's attention they replaced it immediately with no trouble at all, and the replacement works fine. Ding-a-ling.

Very good reproduction of the classic GPO phone of old. However it does have a very shiny plastic appearance and some may not like this I have a plan to 'weather' the finish to make it look more authentic. My opinion, the pushbutton version of this phone is preferable to the dial version Its so much easier to use and the appearance of the buttons in place of the dial holes does not detract from the good looks of the product. I could have spent much on Ebay for an authentic reconditioned GPO phone. But as an electronics engineer I know that this phone will be more reliable for daily use. And my wife likes it too.

Very pleased. Nice addition to my kitchen with red accents.

Enchanté

Nous avions déjà acheté un tel de cette marque dont nous étions ravi. Ce modèle ci nous l'avons choisi pour offrir. Grosse déception une première fois car la sonnerie est tellement faible qu'on entend rien à l'autre bout de la pièce. Cela peut arriver, donc on demande un échange. Là très rapide ... rien à dire. Mais ultra déçus de recevoir un produit à nouveau avec le même problème technique. De toute évidence la série est défectueuse. Résultat pas de tel et plus de cadeau : la loose ! espérons que le remboursement sera rapide...

... das Mikrofon ist sehr leise eingestellt, mir wurde schon oft gesagt, dass man mich kaum hört. Jetzt hat sich auch noch ein leises Rauschen eingestellt.. Mal abwarten, wie sich das noch entwickelt. Ansonsten, die mechanische Klingel funktioniert, manchmal auch wenn man gerade aufgelegt hat und gar nicht angerufen wird!? Die Tasten sind gut verarbeitet. Alles in allem bin ich trotzdem zufrieden.

Phone works on our phone lines. Interesting appearance. Basic features.