Endpoints: headsets
Every desk we equip gets a wired headset from the phone's own manufacturer. It is a deliberate choice, made for practical reasons and for one simple principle: keep radio transmitters away from the head wherever a wired alternative does the job.
The thought process
Exposure to any radio transmitter comes down to how close it is and for how long. A headset is the closest a transmitter gets, for the longest.
A handset in a pocket or on a desk is at arm's length. A wireless headset sits against the side of the head.
A handset is at the head only while a call lasts. A headset is worn for the working day, and for a heavy phone user that is eight hours, five days a week.
At a desk there almost always is, and it does the job at least as well. Where there is, we use it.
How they compare
| Wired headset | Bluetooth headset | DECT headset | Wi-Fi handset | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radio at the head | None | Yes, low power | Yes | Only during a call |
| When it transmits | Never | Throughout each call, and briefly between calls | Continuously while off its base, call or no call | During calls, and briefly between them to stay connected |
| Battery | None | Charged daily | Charged daily | Charged in its cradle |
| How we use it | Standard at every desk | Occasional use only | Not supplied | For staff who move around the site |
DECT is the one we do not supply. The DECT equipment we have tested on our own bench, with near-field probes, held a radio link to its base continuously, whether or not a call was in progress. Worn as a headset, that is a transmitter beside the head for the whole of the working day.
The practical case
No battery to charge overnight, and no headset dying halfway through the afternoon with a customer on the line.
A headset on a cable stays with the phone. It does not go home in a bag, get left on a train or end up paired to someone's mobile.
Plug it in and it works. No pairing, no dropped connections, and no calls to the HelpDesk because the headset has found another phone.
We supply headsets from the phone's own manufacturer, so answering and ending calls from the headset works as designed, without adapters or extra settings in the phone.
Every wireless headset carries a lithium-ion battery, usually left charging overnight on an empty desk among the paperwork. A wired headset is one less to put on the fire risk assessment.
With no battery to wear out, a wired headset outlives several wireless ones, and costs less to begin with.
What this is not
All the radio equipment we supply meets the exposure guidelines that apply in the UK, and we make no claim that wireless headsets cause harm. Our point is narrower than that.
Good health and safety practice reduces exposure to anything where it is reasonably practicable to do so. A wired headset at a desk does the same job as a wireless one, so it is reasonably practicable, and we take it. Where people genuinely need to move, we use wireless, and we choose the kind that spends the least time at the head.
Tell us how each department works and we will match the phones and headsets to it, wired at the desk and wireless only where people need to move.