Mrs B works from home normally.
Now are sharing 'home office' space and both of us have calls, MS Team meetings, etc, etc, I'm conscious of being able to chat without 'interference'.
So...what should I be looking for in terms of headphones, mic to allow me to listen and chat without either of us interfering with each other too much.
Any cost-effective recommendations which can simply be plugged into usb or indeed phono?
Excuse my ignorance of such things.
Thanks all.
Work gives us Jabra, they work well
I got spendy and treated myself to Plantronics Bluetooth headset. Fits over both ears rather than just one. Wireless so I can pace around the house and load the washing machine whilst on conference call. It is clever though as bluetooth connects to two devices (phone and PC via tiny USB dongle). This means I can listen to music from my phone, it then cuts music if sype rings on PC. It also has some fancy stuff going on around noise reduction that I don't understand. Battery lasts all day and charges in 15 mins.
On the costs, aren't you able to approach work for some contribution? It is 'work' from home, after all. We used to issue them, as false economy to have teams on a mixture of crappy headsets they got themselves cheap.
Work gave us all Jabra Evolve 20 MS headsets. USB, with a big old desk button in the lead to mute / hang up. works fine for me
I'm using some fairly standard in-ear corded headphones that came with a Samsung phone. I find the overear ones get too hot, these work well and don't run out of battery at the wrong moment.
Depends on amount of usage for me: we have Jabra USB ones which are fine if you're on meeting/calls lots but seem a bit of a faff for the odd call; for that, I prefer just using my iPhone and plugging in some earbud headphones
I have a Jabra USB headset with mic and a monster sized mute button in the cord. It's currently sat at work.
So for the past three months at home I've just been using my normal headphones which have a mic. They work perfectly well.
Amazon have some by MPOW that are cheap, usb and normal mini headphone jack, comfortable and work well. Not as cheap as they used to be though!
I just bought some MPOW ones from Amazon that arrived yesterday after the too previous cheaper ones packed up. They seem pretty good so far.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B083WCNC1J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Just had an email confirming that my expenses have been processed too, so I'm not paying for them!
Work gave us Jabra engage75. Which work well. Volume, mute, accept and terminate call can all be done from the headset. Except in Teams when the mute button doesn't work and you can only mute in the Teams software. Suspect I need to play with some settings somewhere.
Plantronics are the other big brand used in call centres
I have a set of Plantronics, one of the Savi 8200 range. It is a cordless headset, mine has two ear pieces. Connects via USB to the computer and Bluetooth to the mobile. Uses DECT to connect from the base unit, which also recharges it, to the headphones. This means I can walk around the house/garden when on calls. Noise suppression is good. Mine are on ear (which I prefer) so don't get too hot. Not cheap, but quality costs.
I'm using a relatively cheap (but out of stock) Senneiser. It's better than the much more expensive work provided one because the microphone sits in front of my mouth not in my mouth.
Wireless - dect if possible , so you can leave the room and continue your call if you are both on a call at the same time.
Plantronics Savi is what I use - work supplied , its what we use in the office too , you can walk 50m away and not get disconnected in open plan office.
It connects to computer via usb , mobile via blutooth , and fixed line as well , switches between each and lasts all day , charges on its small docking station.
Just dont get anything wired - its like working with a chain round your neck.
Wireless is nice but the simplicity of a wired headset that you just plug in when you need it is hard to beat. I have lots of fancy headsets but come back to a wired Plantronics one a lot - having a physical button for mute that's easy to reach and see (and has a red light to show status) on the cable is really nice to have. The wireless DECT one I tend to just use for "listen in" kind of calls where I'm not actively involved, I can go and put washing on or unload the dishwasher instead because the range is huge.
You want one with a proper boom that sticks the mic close to your face to avoid picking up background noise (including someone in the same room talking too). Some people like single ear (ie the other one is clear), some like double (like headphones) - for longer calls I quite like single as you can swap sides and have better awareness of what's going on around you. In a noisy open plan office (remember those?) the double ear ones are nice.
Anything on the Microsoft certified list will be good and needn't be massively expensive - the certification means a minimum level of quality and it'll definitely work properly (mute on/off correctly, be recognised by windows as a headset, etc). https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/skypeforbusiness/certification/devices-usb-devices
I have a standing desk at home.
Ask me why wired headsets are a bad idea...
why are wired headsets a bad idea.....
every call we have starts with HOW DO I GET MY HEADPHONES TO STOP CONNECTIONG TO MY BLOODY PHONE
i use a basic logitech usb set and they work well .
😂 standing desks definitely need an "umbilical" cord bundle to the desk then hubs/power strips on the desk to connect everything to.
We have work issued Bose QC35's, which work well on most platforms but suck on Linux. I use a Mac so they were fine, but when it gets hot they aren't the best.
As a solution I bought a Jabra 510 (Amazon factory outlet, it had a tiny scratch on it) as I'm the sole user of my home 'office' - aka the spare room.
Personally I'd expect it to be hard to share an office if you are both on calls at the same time, your mike will pick up the other person quite easily.
Because if you keep it round your neck after a call and walk away from your desk for lunch your work comes with you.
I favour the earbud.
I bought some Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 years ago, they were great and really just plug in and they worked, but the top band hurt my bald head. My wife now uses them without issue.
I sometimes use my Sony noise cancelling headphones on calls which works fine generally but because they are noise cancelling I cannot hear any noise I might be making whilst on call e.g. doing dishes, watering the garden etc. I keep getting told off 🙂
My wife is sharing an 'office' with me but I use a laptop so I just grab it and walk away when there's a conflict.
Oh and when using a headset that's aimed at phones, make sure it also supports 'audio' or 'media' profile or is enabled for it, rather than just calls. Phone calls use much lower bandwidth and the quality is worse, and the 'calls' profile only supports this. For me this makes conference calls much much harder work especially if people are in noisy environments, echoey meeting rooms and/or have strong accents. When they use the internet for audio and a fully supported headset it is sooo much easier.
We use Plantronics/Polycom C310 single-side ones. I like them, and the single-ear means people can judge ambient sound a bit better and not shout quite as much!
Work send me some Sennheiser SC165 headphones. I work in my own study so prefer to use my Jabra Speak but that's no good unless you *want* everyone to join in.