Accessories

Avoid, avoid, avoid
I took a leap of faith and decided to trust some of these glowing reviews -- mistake. There are lots of little issues that add up to one bad phone inside, though admittedly good-looking on the outside.

1. The answering machine. There's no independent date/time stamp for messages. Believe me, I scoured the instruction manual to see how to turn it on. It's not there. Since I don't have caller ID, I can't say if the display will link the message with the name of the caller, but it doesn't with the date/time of the call.

2. The buttons. When you press on the numbers, it doesn't register right away. There's no satisfying "click." If you're used to functioning phones, you may press the button again, only for the number to appear twice.

3. The echo. It's like talking into a cave.

4. The rings. There must be about eight options, and they are all annoying. Most are cell phone-esque musical ringtones, and the two "normal" landline rings are awful. One is a shrill old-fashioned sound; the other is hard to describe -- maybe a low-pitched vibration?

Anyway, I will say that this phone is loaded with adjustable options and features, but it's missing the essentials that make a functioning, usable, quality phone.

Good Choice, Good Price
After about two weeks of research on the new DECT 6.0 phones, this was the one I settled upon- despite mixed reviews. I used to live by Consumer Reports until I found out that they factor cost into their ratings system.

In my opinion, so far the phone is a winner. I had a few short-lived worries. One- the phone called itself several times during the first 24 hours. My first instinct was to return it, but I left it to fully charge first. It worked- it has not done this again since the first day (I've had the phone for two months now).

Pros:
(1) The non-interfering frequency is a definite PLUS. No more static on the phone or weakened wireless signals from the router.
(2) It's so easy to use, I haven't even opened the instruction manual yet.
(3) Small, stylish phone- reminiscent of a cell phone (without the advanced features).
(4) Great price.
(5) Quality of sound is WONDERFUL (phone and speakerphone). Co-workers keep commenting on how I sound like I'm in the same room as them (compared to my last phone). This is my business phone, so sound quality was ultra-important.
(6) I had to have a phone with an easy to see message counter- this has it and it's one of the few DECT 6.0 phones that has this that also has good reviews.

Cons:
(1) As I researched these new DECT 6.0 phones, I began to wonder if I shouldn't wait another 6 months to a year to buy one because they seemed to lack some of the nicer features of the older, established-frequency phones. You'll find yourself making a few sacrifices to get one of these phones- and that's kind of dumb. I mean, why can't you take all the wonderful features of the best phones in the world and just stick it on this 'new' frequency?
(2) Limited ring tones, but then again- how much do you really care? Same goes for the wallpaper. I use the ring tones to identify business calls from personal calls- that's all I needed it for. I don't care to have every person I know have a different ring tone. And the only thing I use wallpaper for is to distinguish which phone is for which room (though you can use a phone name instead).
(3) I had that 24-hour 'I'm going to call myself every few hours' problem. This went on even through the wee hours of the night. It was a bit annoying, but hasn't happened since the first day. I tried answering it, but the phone had nothing to say to me.
(4) The first time I programmed the first phone, some of the settings were just lost. After that, it's worked fine.
(5) Every once in a while (it's happened about five times in two months), the phone goes completely dead and then starts 'searching'. I don't know what it's searching for...but it is very infrequent and only lasts a few seconds. And you do have an additional handset to use if this happens just as you're trying to use or answer the phone.
(6) The battery life is questionable. However, I'm going to get new ones and see if that helps. I was on a teleconference for 1.5 hours and the phone was nearly dead. It comes with the shorter-life batteries, so you might want to change them out immediately (I think another reviewer mentioned this, too).
(7) Digital answering machine sound quality? Aw, they're all the same. This isn't bad (and is still better than my last phone, which cost almost twice as much).
(8) Highly sensitive microphone can pick up every crunch and crinkle in the background as you're on the phone. I can hear myself breathing, so I'm using the mute button a lot. But I'd rather it be sensitive than have to scream into the phone to be heard (this is very handy on teleconferences- I used to get talked over because no one could hear me).

All in all, I recommend this phone. If you don't experience the same results as me, immediately return your phone for a replacement. It seems in this day and age, quality control is a MAJOR issue...so, yes, you might get a dud. But you might get lucky- surprisingly, I did.

Average Quality
Product is adequate. Works almost like a cell phone; interesting features. Battery life is nowhere close to as advertised though. Sound quality is good and set up is easy. It's a good looking phone; it's like a remote!

poor battery life, choppy voice at times
I had following issues with the phone:
- poor battery life. One full charge lasted only few hours of idle time and only 1-2 ten mins conversations
- answering machine does not announce time of the voice mail. Come on!! this is a must in any answering system.
- The voice was choppy at times. It was great the first few days but went bad after a week or so.

The phone looks great but not happy with it.

When equipment fails, Customer Support is NO help!
This system supports up to 5 handsets. Since I purchased the phone bundle and 2 additional handsets, I was under the limit at 4 total.

A few days later, I encountered a when trying to use one of the handsets. I could not pick up or make a call from one of the handsets, so I ran to another room where I had another handset and was able to pick up the call. I followed your guide to re-register the problem handset only to find that another handset would stop working. It seems that once I registered one of the additional handsets, it would disable the other (and vice-versa). Each time I would follow the unregister/register procedure it disable one of the other previously registered handsets.

I figured that it was probably a step I missed so I contacted your customer support number (800) 233-8413 in hopes of finding an answer to the problem when I could not find a solution on your website.

From the start of the call, his tone was arrogant and condescending. Working in the IT field for 20 years, I try to cut some slack to tech support staff who may have been troubleshooting calls all day. However, while trying to explain the problem to Alex he would repeatedly cut me off and begin to explain how I was not following instructions in the guide and that I must have more than 5 handsets already registered. He continued to speak to me in a very "matter of fact" tone, saying that if I couldn't remedy the situation on my own I would simply have to return the items to the vendor for replacement.

Each time I would try to clarify the issue I was having, he would simply say "Sir, I've already explained what you needed to do"...and then there would be an awkward silence. Never did he attempt to offer the most basic customer service responses such as "Let me see how we can help get you up and running" or "let's try a few steps together"...it was as if I was keeping him from something more urgent or that he was doing me a favor.

Because of that poorly handled customer service call with Alex, I decided to return all the products to Amazon for a full refund. Nobody should have to subjected to this type of poor service in an age of so many choices and options.