Telephone Reviews

We got this phone... a few months back, and I've regretted it ever since! It looks nice, is comfortable to the ear, and the clip is definately conventient, but this phone is really a piece of junk! The sound is bad. We have the base in our kitchen and when we have the dishwasher on, or the dogs walk through the dog door, you can actually hear it over the phone, like somehow the speaker is on on the base, when it's not. There's a lot of interference and echo, the person you're talking to sounds like he's/she's miles away. It wasn't bad at first, but it's gotten worse over the weeks. The worst thing is the muting. It'll mute out multiple times in a conversation. You know how most phones have a "Mute" button on them? Well, I have yet to find one on this one, but that doesn't keep it from doing it. I'll be in the middle of a converstaion with someone when, all of a sudden, it'll just mute me out. To the person on the other line, it sounds like you hung up. You can hear everything the other person is saying, but they can't hear you. It's a nightmare, especially if it happens after you've been holding for 20 minutes and finally get through to the person you want to speak with, only to have it mute out and the other party, thinking you hung up, hangs up on you! There's no rhyme or reason to it; sometimes you can get through a whole conversation without it happening (though that's rare), and sometimes it'll happen 3 or 4 times in 20 minutes. A mute out usually only lasts 4-7 seconds, but it can go on longer. I thought at first this was a defect in my phone only, but my uncle, who bought the same one at around the same time, has the same exact problems!

Save your money and your frusteration. If you need another phone, do yourself a favor and don't go with this one!

This product is not bad. BAttery lasts long enough for a 2 hour conversation. Sound is not bad and The telephone has good features!

I have this phone and am in the process of getting another one like it. We dropped it and messed up the caller ID. The phone still works great. My mom lives next door, about 400 ft away and I take my phone with me to her house and can still answer and make calls with great sound. I have purchased two other different cordless phones with caller ID to replace this one but have taken them both back because the phones have so much static. My sister in law has even asked me to get on my old phone so she can here me better. I can't wait untill i can get a new one just like this one. It is by far the best cordless phone i have found.

After getting a Siemens S55 (Or S56 in the US, I guess) with Bluetooth enabled, I decided to go for the Jabra BT200.

Having used two regular carkits before, I found I always had trouble with the microphone not working as it's supposed to. I could hear people, but they were unable to hear me. Bluetooth seemed like a perfect option.

The Jabra solves this problem. The only time you'll find people unable to hear you if you're walking outside in the wind. Other than that, reception is excellent on both ends.

Setting up the Jabra is rather easy. Hold the main button for 5 seconds, configure your phone to link the two devices, and you're pretty much done.

The first headset I got didn't quite function properly at first, but the company I bought it from replaced it, and ever since, it works. To some extend.

The problem is the headset seems to drop calls quite a bit. In the middle of a convo, suddenly the call is back at your phone, which is quite annoying.

Using it in your car is not a problem though. Pick it up, put the speaker in your ear, press the main button, and you're talking.

It's a nice product, but the dropped calls make for quite some annoyance.

It is difficult to set up for use, especially in the car where one is most likely to use it. If it is not setup and on your ear, you have to put the phone down (if you received a call) and spend 20 to 30 seconds getting it turned on, and on your ear, then the call may get dropped. Regardless of the claims, the batteries don't stay charged very long. You must remember to shut it off properly or it gets worse. You would think for the money they would include a car charger. It does work well after you get it going, butI think the simpler ones with wires are more straight forward.

i LOVE it! no wires, no mess, totally decent battery life for the headset and it's not like cell phone batteries that you need to let die before recharging, just charge it every night before bed and unless you're a use-your-cell-phone-a-holic it'll last PLENTY long :) other great features, you can switch calls just by pressing the answer button and it'll automatically save the other call, get the new one, and then when you want to go back, just press it again. so easy. i can hear things perfectly in my ear most of the time too, it doesn't exactly go 30 feet (more like 15) but still! that's awesome to me. oddly enough, the bluetooth doesn't like to work through wool... don't ask why, it just always gets really fuzzy for me. oh! it's really quite comfortable in the ear. i can usually go for hours (not like that's necessary very often) without taking it out and not have my ear ache like a lot of other uncomfortable ear peices.

Comfort:
Not sure if it's this brand, or all behind the neck headphones/headsets, but the are horribly uncomfortable for me. The plastic part that fits over your ear (between the top of your ear and your head) ends up hurting after about 10 mins of wearing these. My brother has a pair of altec lansing AHS-302 that are the same style, and he likes them. We are the same shape and build (6'2"), so I'm not sure if it's the brand or the style.

Sound:
The sound from these are lack luster. I mainly used them for playing online games and using teamspeak. I could hear other people's voices just fine, but the sounds on the game (BF1942) where nothing to write home about. I suppose for the price, I can't expect too much.

Microphone:
This microphone on this or horrible. It comes to the corner of your mouth (as designed) which I like. Problem is, you have to turn the sensitivity up to high to pick up your voice. Using teamspeak, the sound quality of the microphone was the worse of all friends logged in. I know that internet chat sound quality is not a great test, but everyone commented on how "tinny" the sound was from mine, as compared to everyone else (no one else was using these headsets).

Conclusion:
I would not recommend these even if you like the behind the neck headphones. The sound is rather lack luster and the microphone is one of the worse ones on the market. I took my back to the store and bought a set of over the ear (ear-cup) headsets from Altec Lansing (AHS-502). The AHS-502's where $25. They are far superior to the logitech, although the microphone one both are not as good as the Sennheiser PC-130's. I enjoy the performance of the AHS-502 sound much better than either of the other headsets though.

Fits good on your head and sounds great. There is also the volume control on the wire. Fits comfortably around your ears and the cool red ear things look great. The only drawback I have is that I wish the microphone was on the other side.

I just got it today and it is really comfortable. The sound is great too. Would definetly reccomend it.

The readout on the handset is very small, and difficult to read the caller id feature. Also, there is no dial pad on the base unit that hinders the use of the speakerphone. When accessing the machine from a remote location, there are no voice prompts to lead you through the options. I would not buy this phone.

Attractive and well-made phone-some of the features are integrated telephone answering device,call waiting,caller ID,speakerphone, conversation record,voice memo, easy to understand directions...The features on the base are readable and the handset fits perfectly in palm of hand. It was very easy to program and the directions are clear. The handset also stands by itself anywhere.

this phone reaches all the way to my pool-that's 7 stories below. it is very easy to program. my phone got wet and broke-i bought a v-tech phone-it stinks! very cheaply made. i am taking it back and getting this phone again.

I purchased this phone but returned it. My initial reaction was to the sound quality. When comparing this item to my Panasonic 2 line 900 mhz spread spectrum phone, I noticed that the sound quality was noticeably worse.

My second reaction was to the inability to use both handsets simultaneously. I feel that if a cordless system has two handsets, they should both be able to talk on one line at the same time. Plus, there is no feature to transfer the address book from one phone to another.

Overall, this phone is very slick looking, and might work for someone who is satisfied with only 10 minutes of answering machine recording time and doesn't mind mediocre sound quality. I find that the older 900 mhz DSS panasonic phones offer much higher sound quality and extended range in comparison to this phone.

I am very impressed with this system. I never liked cordless phones but needed one. The range is amazing and I've bought two extensions. Thank you Uniden!

Well, not exactly - the base does need to plug into the wall, but what a handy extra phone. I have the base phone and I love it, and this makes a nice addition to the home network. I have this extra one plugged into the wall of a room that does not have a phone jack, but it doesn't need one, since it communicates w/ the base on the other side of the house.

I bought my base phone about a year ago, but just got the additional handset 2 weeks ago. All I had to do was to put it in the base cradle for 3 seconds and it automatically was programmed for use.

The built-in speaker phone is not the best in the world, but still pretty awesome, all things considered. The jack for the hands-free mike is awesome, and in my opinion, absolutely necessary. I won't buy a handset that doens't have a hands-free option anymore... and it's a normal jack, not some funky jack that needs an expensive adapter.

The caller ID holds 99 numbers and you can easily begin and end calls and use all the features without a manual or a degree in rocketry science.

I got this phone and returned it the next day. It had a very annoying echo when you spoke. I dont know if I got a defective unit or if it's a design flaw because I opted to get another phone instead.

Note that I have a wireless network in my apartment, so who knows if that had any effect one the phone; however I have another 2.4ghz Panasonic that works just fine.

This phone is comfortable to hold and the base station is relatively compact. And the sound quality is OFTEN decent. However, there've been too many times in which there's weird static when I speak... and I think this may be due to the phone being sneakily 5.8 *AND* 2.4ghz (and I have a wireless network). Indeed, I find this to be really misleading advertising! Why is the phone trumpeted as 5.8ghz when it uses both the 5.8 and 2.8ghz bands? Given the number of people with wireless networks nowadays, I think this should be prominently mentioned on any spec list (and I didn't discover it until I looked in the manual -- too late for pre-purchase decisions!)

We've had this phone about a month and it works wonderfully. Reception and sound is great. Clear as a bell. Phone is easy to use and easy to program. We were looking for a basic phone and answering machine with good voice quality. With this phone, we were pleased that it had the basics plus several extras. The keypad on the handset is backlit - it's blinks in red when the phone rings. You can operate the answering machine using the handset. Range is excellent. Again, it was wonderful to find a phone that had excellent voice quality. No background noise, static or interference of any kind. With our personal preferences, we did find one minor issue: When the ringer is on low it's still a bit loud. Overall, can't beat the quality and price in today's market of unreliable cordless phones. GE has done an excellent job. Highly recommned.

I've tried several Voice-over-IP products from delta three, dialpad, vonage. Net2Phone is absolutely the WORST of them all. First, the quality is lousy. The thing sounds like a tin can under water that is receiving incoming enemy fire: sssshhhh, warble, pop pop pop, ssssshhhhh ... who is this? ... it's me grama ... who is this? ... ME! ... sssshhhh, warble, warble, warble ... if you don't stop calling me I'm going to call the police! ... no, it's me grandma! ... pop pop pop.

Their 1000 free minutes might as well be a million. I wasn't able to tolerate this product even for 10 minutes.

Good luck if you need tech support. Ironically, the most reliable way to call Net2Phone's tech support is using the old kitchen telephone. Calling tech support on the Yap handset DOES NOT WORK. You can't even call the company using this thing!

Overall, the handset appears to be good quality plastic and the packaging is nice.

By the way, grandma did call the police on me. Thanks, Net2Phone.

I live in Moscow, Russia and we cannot call 800 numbers direct so need to use a phone card or call back. I had a net2phone account from years ago that I never used as quality was so bad before broadband but happened to notice progam and tried it and it is very good so found this little phone in a store here and plugged it in. It is great. Now I can call all 800 numbers for free using freeworlddialup or Sipphone and for standard calls prefer net2phone for quality. Even now have free USA phone number with voice mail so my friends in USA can call me for free.

This phone works great and interface programs opens when you lift phone. Base of phone is way too light but I filled it with plaster so not is fine. Here it sold for $20 and I got a 20 foot cord. I like it

this is perfect if you have teenagers,you can limit there call time if they arent good or if they dont do there chores dont buy them many minutes great to help control how much they spend on a cell phone

I have two of these phones. One was a gift, I never would have bought two.

The sound quality is acceptable at times. At other times it gets a very hollow sound with an echo.

It consistantly picks up conversations from other cordless phones, which may mean that other cordless phones are picking up conversations from these phones.

Do your research before buying this phone. There are higher quality and more secure forms of communication than this phone, including, but not limited to, semaphore and smoke signals.

My old 25ch Panasonic started acting up after 6-7 years of perpetual abuse, so I bought this as a replacement for both it and my old AT&T answering machine. I haven't activated caller ID yet, but I really like it.

In a 14x70 mobile home loaded with two computers, two TV's, two stereos, lots of flourescent lighting, a wireless X10 home control system, and a host of other noise sources, I get no noise at all. It still works well at my mailbox at least 100 ft away.

Nearly half the messages left on my old answering machine were hang-ups. If you allowed the phone to even think about a 4th ring, the machine would pick up. This phone lets me change the answering machine to 5 rings, doesn't seem to pick up until after the 5th ring, and lets me change the message length from three minutes to just one. Not only have 90% of the hang-ups disappeared, my sister has gotten a clue and no longer rambles on for 3-5 minutes before getting to the point.

I'd give it 5 stars if I had anything similar to compare it to or if it would record more than 15 minutes of messages. It is my first 900 MHz cordless, and I'm sure my next long backpacking trip or bike tour will exceed the maximum recording time.

Having had a very negative experience with Panasonic's 2.4Ghz phone, I decided to go back to the 900Mhz model. I have another 900Mhz cordless from Panasonic that has given me great performance for 5 years, and this phone appears poised to provide the same level of performance.

Key benefits:
- Clear signal throughout my house and even outside 50-75 feet (to the mailbox and back!)
- Ability to turn on the speakerphone from the handset (which means you don't have to walk back to the base unit to activate speaker)
- Answering machine has plenty of recording time and (finally!) does not cut people off mid-message
- Clear digital display which is easy to read and faster in scrolling than the 2.4GHz
- Long talk time, without the handset getting too hot after a few minutes of use (another downside of the 2.4GHz)

Many people probably think that because 2.4GHz is "greater than" 900MHz that it is a better phone/value.. in my experience this is not the case. Panasonic delivers a solid 900MHz product that provides great value for the money.

This handset eats batteries to the point where it is almost unusable. If youy leave it on the charger base, the NiCad batteries develop the "memory effect" and lose the ability to hold charge. If you leave it off the charger base, it doesn't have much usefull battery life, and you're always dropping conversations because the battery pooped out. The flaw in the design is the lack of a "smart" charging circuit in the phone that cuts off charge current automatically when the battery is charged and allows the user to keep it on the charger base.

We have enjoyed both the base and the expandable Panasonic cordless phones. This is nice because of the alarm feature. I've used it for conference calls with work while at home. A good option for one of you expandable pieces to the base.

Hey, the picture is not clear at all-- this is a phone with an alarm clock on its "back" --when the phone is laying down in the charger, it looks like an alarm clock, with a design on the side. (The Amazon photo above shows only the "face" of the phone; you can't see the clock display at all.) Search on the web for "tg272s" and tyou can find other, clearer photos.

That said... this is a VERY well designed handset. The alarm has a backlight but it's not incredibly bright, which is great since it sits right next to me on the bedside table (my last alarm clock was like stadium lighting at night!)... the feature set is almost identical to the base handset, including the integrated speakerphone (!), the dual line support, etc. There is no headset jack, that's not cool, but the alarm is clear, has a snooze feature and is easy to set, too. The phone book can be transferred from the base unit, just like the other expansion handsets. Overall, smart design, and a perfect mix (for me, anyhow) of the alarm clock and phone functionality that I needed in my bedroom.

Cheap phone. It has very dirty sound. Range is way under what is expected for a 900 MHz DSS phone. You get what you pay for.

This phone works fine, but its definitely bigger than most phones. That makes it uncomfortable to carry around or hold. It also doesn't have a lighted keypad. So I returned this one and got the Panasonic 900MHz Gigarange. It's much smaller and has a lighted keypad. I've had a Panasonic in the past and the sound and quality is amazing.

I bought this phone about a year ago, and love it. The sound quality is great. The distance it can travel is amazing! I went about 200 yards from the charger and got barely any static/interference at all. The Battery life is also good. It has never died on me. It can take a beating pretty well. I Unfortunately put it through too much. I was very unhappy having to replace it and so far I havent found one that even compares to this phone.