Now that I’m working at home a lot more lately, I wanted to upgrade my phone system a little. I have a Motorola 5.8GHz two-line expandable cordless phone system that I’m relatively happy with — but when I saw this baby from Plantronics, I had to check it out.

You see — my office is down in my basement, and cell coverage is somewhat hit or miss, and there’s few things I detest more than choppy phone conversations. Since I’m on my PC’s keyboard for long periods of time, being able to use the phone hands-free is a must. The Motorola cordless phone I use has a 2.5mm jack which I use with a corded headset. But it was cumbersome, because the cord would get wrapped around things, and the headset just wasn’t very comfortable.

The Calisto Pro from Plantronics offers a neat approach to an otherwise boring telephony category. Working with an existing phone line, it has a DECT 6.0 cordless phone handset and Bluetooth headset. The Bluetooth headset is factory paired with the cordless phone, but it can also be paired with a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, and you can easily use the headset to field calls from either source.

The headset is very comfortable to wear, with a small rubberized piece that nestles slightly in your ear, with a wrap-around earclip to keep it firmly in place and a noise canceling boom mic. It is very light, and often times I forget I’m wearing it. Sound quality is excellent, and when you aren’t using the headset, it has a handle little spot on the base station that you snap it into to keep it charged up next to the handset.

The neat thing is that you can walk around with the handset and headset, and use them pretty far away from the base station. The base station has a USB interface that can be used to exchange phone book data with Outlook as well as in conjunction with a VoIP application like Skype (I’ve not experimented with this yet).

Overall, this is a great device, and one I’m happy I purchased. So far, the only complaint I have is that it is only capable of working with a single phone line. I have two lines in my home, so I’ve got it plugged into my business line. It would be nice if I could have both of my lines attached to it.

So if you’re in the market for a new cordless phone that has some great features, this may be for you. Yes, it’s a little on the pricey side, but I think it’s worth it if you need to work a lot on your PC while on the phone.