Rating: 
Summary: Warning: Study the manual before answering the phone
Review: This phone seems to have all the functionality a person could want...and then some. For example, handheld units that don't require a phone jack give you lots of flexibility, and the directory feature is great. BUT this phone isn't for the technologically wary because the user interface is nearly impossible. Most people expect a walk-up-and-use phone, but you'll have to work harder than you expect to use this one. Keep the manual handy, because you'll never figure out some of the strange button sequences. The people who built this phone must have spent all of their time thinking up cool functionality and no time watching real people try to use the phone.
Rating: 
Summary: Great system, but could use better range
Review: The Siemens Gigaset is a great wireless phone system. I have four of the wireless phones, and two of the deskphones that are all but the only telephones in my house.The phones use regular AA batteries, and includes a pair of NiCd batteries with the phone. These NiCd batteries are good for about a day on a full charge. I replaced these with NiMh batteries that do not have the same battery memory problems that NiCd batteries do. Unfortunately, the range on these phones in not all that great. My house is on 1 acre, and I can not reach to the far corners of my property (approx 300 feet). But, this is true of most of the 2.4Gz phones I have run across, and not specific to the Siemens phones. If you buy just one of these systems, it works fine out of the box, with little setup. But if you add additional phones, the setup can be a little involved; but no more complicated than a VCR. The answering machine is great. It answers two phone lines without difficulty. It is a completely digital answering machine, so the clarity is excellent. It also provides security for remote message access.
Rating: 
Summary: So much promise so much disappointment
Review: This phone system couldn't clearly communicate to a hand unit more than ten feet away. Any wall in my 90 year old home was too much for the system. I did find the functions relatively easy to use but there were annoying quirks as to how to release a line when switching to another, the LED is not backlit, and the handset on the base is fuctionally stupid although good looking. These are among many other small problems. Overall the biggest problem is the handheld units did not work which is why you would buy this system.
Rating:
Summary: great sound, a few needed improvements
Review: I purchased this phone system as a package from a local retailer; it contained the base unit model 2420 and two of the handsets, model 2400. Things I like: sound quality and design appearance. The phones are crystal clear all the way from my basement office to the second floor bedrooms. The base unit and handsets are sleek and stylish, and the handsets are unobtrusive in their handset cradles. I also like the ability to route fax calls through the unit automatically. The speakerphone is the best I've ever heard, loud and clear without the cheap tinniness of most speakerphones. Things I don't like are the complexity of the caller ID and answering machine menus, and the kludginess of the handset menus especially when transferring calls to another location. Additionally, the handset keys are not backlit (although the display itself is backlit,) making dark-dialing impossible. Similarly, the base unit display is not backlit. Combine this omission with the slanted arrangement of the base unit display, and it is very hard to read unless you have a light shining directly on it and you are at just the right angle. All this being said, I think I'd still buy the phones because their overall functional quality is excellent. If Siemens will just tidy up the user interface and remember those of us who get and make lots of phone calls while half asleep in the middle of the night, they will have a real winner.
Rating: 
Summary: siemens telephone
Review: I've had the phone for a few months now. Great product! Short learning curve, very trouble free, excellent reception. Bought hands-free for all the kids (3) and they love it too. I really appreciate the intercom and directory functions. My only recomendation-more mailboxes for each phone.
Rating:
Summary: So Close...
Review: Bottom Line: I'd buy this phone again, but I really wish they'd fix a few details. There's a lot I like about these phones. I have the base unit and 4 hand sets spread around my house (3 floors, max distance of about 100 feet). The sound is great, I have no problems with distance, the functionality in the hand sets is fantastic, and the styling is great. Programming is not too difficult (despite other comments in the reviews here) and I love not needing phone outlets to put phones wherever I want. But there are some irksome features: The answering machine commands could be simpler, the base unit handset hurts to hold between your neck and shoulder, and there's that problem when the base unit looses power. This system is close to being the best home phone system ever. Even with its few rough edges it's a pleasure to use.
Rating:
Summary: For use in open space
Review: As with another reviewer, I too bought this system elsewhere, and with great difficulty returned it. That said, the system was not capable of working in my house. Features notwithstanding, I could not get the answering machine to talk to the hand units if there were even two walls between them. The system would not even work 30 horizontal feet away and one floor down. Then I tried 50 feet and three walls, NOTHING, The last effort was 60 feet and up an open staircase, again nothing. I checked with Siemens technical staff, and was told that my walls were too thick (they are drywall, in a new house, not foot thick masonry walls). I suggest you wait for the next version or use it outside or in a very small house.
Rating: 
Summary: Good clarity, weird features
Review: First off, I want to like this phone. The clarity of the sound is very good as is the range with the cordless handset. The base unit and the cordless handset are also stylishly designed. The backlighting on the cordless handset is also very useful at night. I like the directory feature in both the handset and the base unit. However, that said, you can't transfer your directory information from the base unit to the handsets. So, you have to enter the directory information twice. Once for the base unit, then for the handset. You can however transfer directories from handset to handset. I wish Siemens would do the same for the base unit->handsets. Another irksome "feature" is transferring calls. Most phone systems you put the caller on hold and then let another person pick up the call. You can't do this with this phone. You have to put them on hold by pressing conference. Not the most intuitive way of placing calls on hold. This is also the only way of joining a call. You can't just pick up the phone and press talk. The message system is also cumbersome to use. Deleting messages involves navigating through way too many menu's. Something this simple and used often should be very accessible. If Seimens were to make the phone a bit more user friendly, give the base unit battery backup I think it would have a clear winner in the cordless phone market.
Rating:
Summary: This phone system is a nightmare!
Review: I hate this phone system with a passion. I did not buy it from Amazon and wish I did because I would return it in a second. The manual is over 100 pages. This is the most complicated electronic appliance I have every purchased. It makes my computer, stereo and television look like childs play. I can't imagine how they could make a phone system that takes a 100 page manual to use. Examples of my problems: Turning off the ringer....its a huge task. I read the manual for an hour an could not figure it out. Finally it took ten minutes on the phone with Siemens to walk me through how to turn the handset ringers off! I still can't figure out how to answer the handset when the voicemail picks up the call. The sound is terrible on the handsets! If you plug your head set into the main the phone the sound is also bad. I'm telling you this phone is the worst. I'm buying a new phone system today once I'm done with this review. Then I am going to take a hammer to this phone!
Rating:
Summary: all in all, I am happy with this phone
Review: This is a really nice integrated unit. The desktop phone works great, with 4 spots for 1-touch speed-dial, and memory for all the other numbers.The cordless handset memory is easily accessed too, and can be trasferred between phones. One thing bad: The caller handsets can not "barge in" on a call. If someone else picks up, you have to wait until they conference you in, or transfer, but you become powerless, including when the answering machine picks up. Also, the cordless handsets can not choose which line to dial out with on the fly. You program in a set preference of which line to try first for each cordless- if that line is busy, it goes to the next. (The only way to get around is to click "talk", "end" "talk" real fast, and it will pick up the other line because it thinks the first line is busy). The answering machine isn't that wieldly, I can't really explain why, but its not the most user-friend voicemail I've used. But this is a really nice phone set, especially if you need the intercom feature, and multiple handsets at an affordable price. The base-phone is very stylish, ergonomically luxurious, as are the handsets. The range is good, the handsets work over a block away for me. Also, the phones have the standard 2.5mm jack for handsfree sets, which work well when waiting on hold with all the other companies you are stuck with.
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