Overview of telephone and meeting boxes
The Phone Booth Guide - Part 1
Nowadays, telephone boxes and meeting boxes are all the rage in offices! No wonder: even though most of us now work a lot from the office again, the number of video conferences has not decreased.
With telephone and meeting boxes, open-plan offices can be adapted to the new requirements for sound insulation and privacy in no time at all - and without renovation or conversion costs.
But which telephone or meeting box is the right one for your office? Based on the questions from many customer discussions, we have developed this small telephone box and meeting box guide to help you decide and orientate yourself.
The overview
The following distinguishing features can be used to structure the field of telephone and meeting boxes:
- Which activities can or should be relocated to the acoustic booth?
- What type of acoustic booth is suitable?
- Telephone box (1 person)
- Work box (1 person)
- Meeting box (2 - 8 people)
The combination of type and intended use/activity results in the following matrix representation:
More on the use of telephone boxes & co
Telephone and meeting boxes (or more generally: "acoustic booths" or "acoustic cubes") are suitable for the following activities, depending on their design:
Telephone / Video call
The most common reason for using acoustic cubes is to finally be able to make phone calls in peace or take part in a video call without disturbing others.
Concentrated work
Acoustic cubes are also suitable for concentrated work - provided they are equipped with seating. They are particularly popular as soundproofed retreats in open-plan offices.
Meeting / Discussion
In many companies, meeting and conference rooms are in short supply, constantly occupied or too large. Acoustic cubes can remedy this situation in a small space and can be used for small meetings and short discussions.
The simplest case: The 1 telephone box (standing)
Modern telephone boxes are roughly the size of a telephone box from the 1990s. Thanks to the sound insulation, one person can make phone calls or take part in a video conference in peace and quiet in a space of around 1 square metre. Almost all models have a narrow table at standing height and a matching stool if required. Lighting and ventilation are integrated and are usually controlled automatically via a motion sensor.
Telephone boxes for one person are by far the most requested boxes and offer a very good price-performance ratio due to their compactness.
Concentrated working while seated at a proper table is not possible in the one-square-metre models due to lack of space (see here): Work booth).
Popular 1 Series phone boxes:
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Bosselino Uno phone booth (Bosse)
per month from 69,00€ plus VAT. Add to basket -
Silen Chatbox Single | Phone booth (Silen)
per month from 98,00€ plus VAT. Add to basket -
Jetson S1 phone booth (MUTE)
per month from 98,00€ plus VAT. Add to basket -
HOLA phone booth (Studiobricks)
per month from 166,00€ plus VAT. Add to basket
Very popular: Meeting boxes (4 people)
If there is room for more than one person in the box, most companies opt directly for a 4-person meeting box. Meeting boxes for 4 people require approx. 3 square metres of floor space and are usually equipped with two benches and a table in the middle, so that up to four people can sit opposite each other and talk without being disturbed by ambient noise or, conversely, preventing their immediate neighbours from concentrating on their work.
In terms of popularity, meeting boxes for 4 people are in second place behind the 1-seater phone boxes. This is due to the good price-performance ratio, especially when compared with the somewhat narrower but almost equally expensive 2-person boxes, for example.
Popular 4-seater meeting boxes:
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Meeting Booth Jetson L4 (MUTE)
per month from 194,00€ plus VAT. Add to basket -
Meeting booth Space L "Meeting" (MUTE)
per month from 361,00€ plus VAT. Add to basket -
MEET-UP Plus soundproof booth (Studiobricks)
per month from 293,00€ plus VAT. Add to basket -
Cube M (SEDUS)
per month from 235,00€ plus VAT. Add to basket
All the rage: Work boxes (1 person)
If you need a place to retreat for longer video conferences or concentrated individual work, you should look into the slightly larger "work boxes" compared to telephone boxes. Work boxes are usually equipped with a desk and a swivel chair and are therefore much more ergonomically designed than classic telephone boxes. You can therefore work comfortably in a work box for longer periods of time. Depending on the model and manufacturer, you should plan approx. 1.25 to 1.5 square metres of floor space for a work box.
Note: Workboxes are not suitable for permanent workstations but should only be used as a temporary, needs-orientated alternative and retreat option.
Meeting boxes in special sizes
There are numerous other variants of meeting boxes. These differ from the 4-seater meeting boxes described above in terms of size and/or interior fittings. Below we present a loose collection of other meeting box variants:
- (narrow) 2-seater meeting boxes: These are generally used when the available space (e.g. in the corridor) does not allow for a 4-seater meeting box. In terms of price, 2-seater and 4-seater meeting boxes are very close to each other. If the available floor space allows it, the choice therefore usually falls on a 4-seater meeting box. This offers the most flexible utilisation options.
- large meeting boxes: If you are looking for a solution for 6 people or more, or if the cheaper 4-seater meeting boxes are too cramped in the long term, you can opt for one of our larger meeting box models. There are virtually no upper limits to the meeting boxes: The range extends from 6, 8 or XL variants to room-in-room systems in which individual modules can be strung together virtually endlessly...
- Special video conference setting: Some companies regularly require two people to take part in video conferences at an optimum angle. Specially designed acoustic boxes offer a suitable interior for such cases based on the footprint of a 4-seater meeting box. In this case, the second bench seat is omitted and a monitor with a video camera is mounted on this side of the meeting box instead. These models, labelled "Video Lounge" or similar, represent a very professional setting for video conferences. This investment can make sense if a separate meeting room is not available for important customer presentations and the "4-seater box with laptop on the table" variant is not professional enough.
Conclusion
It is not without reason that the 1-seater telephone boxes (upright) and the 4-seater meeting boxes are among the best sellers. In both cases, there is a good price-performance ratio with good space utilisation. Work boxes for concentrated individual work are also increasingly in demand.
In addition, numerous special shapes such as 2-seater boxes or large meeting boxes have emerged on the market.
Part 2
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