Prevent phone base from being dragged by cord

Question

Suppose I have a desk phone similar to this one:

Or maybe one that's even smaller, like this one:

When using it, and moving around a bit, getting up from my seat or whatnot - the cord extends (it's flexible and short after all), tugging at the base. And the base, well - it moves, even with a relatively small amount of force exerted.

Now, this isn't really in my office, where I could do whatever I want (e.g. affix the phone to a wall, or drill holes into the desk for affixing the base there, or using strong glue). But - I still want to keep it in place. How would I do that?

Answer 1

You could put non-slip rubber "feet"/tape on the bottom of the console/base of the telephone to help it hold its position when sitting on its support.

A small square pad of non-slip shelf drawer liner (cut to fit with scissors) under the telephone will also help hold it from moving.

You could reuse an old Yoga or fitness mat as a non-slip pad under your telephone. Cut to size with a scissors.

This solution doesn't change the appearance of the telephone.

This won't add weight and the telephone can still be picked-up and repositioned easily.

It's important to keep the telephone base and the table/desk it sits on clean and dust/oil/grease free. Even a light coating of dirt/dust will allow the phone to slide more easily. Also, avoid putting the phone on paper or anything that can slide which will defeat (defeet?-chuckle, chuckle) the "fix."

Good luck.

Answer 2

I had this problem many years ago and my solution was good old blu-tack. In my experience, most offices have it in stationery - or it's very cheap to buy if you get it yourself.

I would recommend rolling out a long "sausage" which is 1 or 2mm larger in diameter than the height of the feet from the base (likely about 4 or 5mm). Make the sausage long enough to form a continuous rectangle on the base of the phone, then press the phone firmly onto the desk to squash the blu-tack and give a good contact area.

Answer 3

My hack is to replace it with a cordless phone, for example

Answer 4

One option is getting a longer cord, which doesn't have the springy character of the ones the phones come with, e.g.:

however, this has drawbacks: The cord clutters up your desk. It doesn't stay in a neatly packed form like the springy cords. And then, either it's long enough for its length to be a hassle, or not long enough, in which case you find yourself making your phone fly off the desk when you suddenly start tugging, having reached the end of the cord or it having caught on something.