Yealink T30The newest cheap phone that does not feel cheap.

Why the T30 is on the catalog.

The T30 is what Yealink ships now when someone asks for the cheapest current single-line desk phone. It uses the same T3-family chassis as the popular T31 / T33G — same key spacing, same handset feel, same modern UI — but with one SIP line instead of two and no PoE. At $59, it lands in the same price slot as the legacy T19 E2 but with a noticeably nicer screen, newer firmware, and Opus codec support.

Why pick it over the T19 E2: the firmware track. The T19 E2 is a 2014 chassis getting maintenance updates; the T30 is a 2020s chassis still receiving feature improvements. For a deployment you expect to keep for the next eight years, the T30's longer development window matters. The keypad and screen are also genuinely better — caller ID is more readable, menus respond faster, the LED for incoming calls is brighter.

Where to skip it: anywhere PoE is available. Spend $10 more and get the T30P instead — same phone, no wall wart at every desk. The T30 makes sense only when the building has no PoE switches and never will. Also skip it if you need a second line on the same handset — at that point go T31 (no PoE) or T31P (with PoE) for marginal money.