My iPhone Headset Quest

My headset quest began the day I killed my poor, unsuspecting landline telephone.  I won’t say it didn’t hurt to off that precious 212 telephone number I’ve had for years, but it made sense.  I noticed that none of my friends had landlines any more, only cell phones.  And none of them ever really call me at home.  They call my cell (which makes sense - it’s always within reach at home, work or walking around).  In fact, as popular as I happen to be, I found I was getting more calls on the landline from telemarketers than from anyone else.   And those annoy me to an extreme degree.  Not to mention Verizon was charging me an insane amount of money each month for strictly local service with caller ID.  And with the increased cell phone bill the iPhone was hitting me with, logic dictated that it just had to go.

That’s been working fine.  No one has had a problem getting in touch with me and I am free of telemarketer annoyance.  But there is one small problem.  I don’t mind talking on my iPhone when I’m walking around.  But when I’m home I’m used to talking on a “real” phone.  I get tired of walking around the house with my iPhone held up to my ear.  So I figured I would get a headset of some type.

I checked out the Apple Store to see what was compatible and immediately got drawn to the whole bluetooth thing.  The wireless aspect sounded really handy and I narrowed my choice down to the Aliph Jawbone - either the original or the new one. But, as I was about to pull the trigger, I noted that some reviews said that the person on the other end couldn’t always hear you clearly as the mic picked up all noise.  So while the noise canceling works for you and you could hear them crystal clear…it might not be the same for the person on the other end.  That’s when I realized this wasn’t my original objective: to have comfortable, clear phone calls from home.  I might go for the Jawbone at some point if I feel I need it for walking around.  But my quest continued.

Okay, I said.  I need to think basic.  I need to think wired.  Well, at this point I figured…why not just try the wired headphones/mic that it came with?  I liked them and my phone convos were okay - but the fit just wasn’t for me.  I have V-Moda headphones that I use with my iPod and DS and PSP and I absolutely love them.  The sound is great, they look good and they fit perfectly.  If they only had a mic, I’d be set.  That’s when I saw that V-Moda does, indeed, make a headset for the iPhone.  I was about to order them on the spot, but the reviews stopped me.  All over the internet I found very serious complaints as to the quality.  Everywhere I looked people liked the headsets but they just kept breaking.  I found report after report of headsets being sent back multiple times.  I’m sure they will remedy this problem - I still think they’re a solid company because I love my original V-Moda headphones.  But for this particular quest…it was no dice.

Okay, I said.  Time to think even more old school.  My original plan was just to have a great way to talk on the phone from my apartment.  I love using my PC headset with Skype.  Why can’t I have something like that?  You know the setup - big comfy headphones and a boom mic.  Sure it’s not the most stylish look - but I was after a specific use here, calls from my apartment.  If I could have found a solution that would work the way I wanted to both in the apartment and on the run, that would have been great.  But maybe it was best for me to tackle those problems independently.

I saw some great headsets on Amazon that looked like they would not only be comfortable and have great sound quality on both ends, but were also way cheaper than the other stuff I was looking at. I was happy until I realized none of them were compatible with the iPhone.   I’m not an expert on this stuff but I think the problem is that the iPhone has a 3.5mm socket while most headsets are 2.5mm.  I honestly couldn’t find anything that even came close to what I was looking for in the Apple store’s iPhone accessory section.  Most were bluetooth or just regular earbuds with a mic.  The Bose headset looked like what I needed, except that it was $200.  There had to be another way.

Please Google - help me with your vast wisdom and powers!  Yes - I finally hit upon this thread in the MacResource forum. It was a post by “TheTominator” which finally sent me on the right track.  Thank you, TheTominator, wherever you are.  He recommended getting a special 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter (like this).  Then all you have to do is grab any commonplace headset (such as this one).  Of course, the beauty of this solution is that you can get any headset you like once you have the adapter.  The price?  Well, the adapter was $7.49 (if you look around a few other companies make similar adapters too).  And the headset (which happens to work great) was a hefty $9.15.  Yep, a total of $16.64.  That’s like $100 bucks less than other stuff I was looking at and it’s a great solution to my specific problem.

Like I said, I’m not knowledgable about this type of stuff.  The adapter thing may be totally obvious to most people.  But I had no idea it was out there.  So if I can help one person not waste as much time as I did on this, that would be cool.  

The main problem that you might have with my solution is that there is no control button. The headset that comes with the iPhone has a button that lets you end/take calls without touching your phone. And most headsets made specifically for the iPhone have this button. My adapter/headset solution does not.  This was not important to me at all since I’m only going to be plugging the things in when I make or receive a call.  But if you would like an alternate solution that will let you use any headphones you like and also has a control button, I’ve got you covered.  At some point in my quest I came across the Shure MPA-3C Music Phone Adapter for iPhone.  Now, these do have the control button.  But there were three problems.  

The first was the price tag of $40.  That’s way more than I paid and you would still need a headset.  Also, the Shure lets you plug in any headset (I’m pretty sure) but the adapter has a microphone built in.  So you would use that mic (reviews on the mic quality were mixed) and it’s a clip-on affair.  I had my heart set on a boom mic at this point.  Finally, most reviews definitely stated that the cord was extremely long and unwieldy.  I didn’t need to deal with that for the sake of a control button.  I’m terrible with cords to begin with.  However, this may be a good alternate solution to mine for some.  

I also found this forum post in my travels.  It sounds really cool and gives you the headset of choice plus the control button, but soldering happens to be beyond my expertise.

Well, I’m happy with the solution that I went with.  I think most people would have gone for more utility (i.e. a headset you can use both at home and outside).  But for me, this is a perfect replacement for the landline.  It was cheap, the sound quality is great and it’s extremely comfortable.  Sure, I still miss that 212 number.  But I definitely don’t miss that Verizon bill.