Rating: 
Summary: Nice product, a couple oddities
Review: I just bought this system with a few wireless extensions for a 2-bedroom apartment. I've seen people have problems with range with these devices, but in 900 square feet of space, it works great.By and large, I love this system. It's cool, the extensions have nice displays, and the base unit has lots of features. There are, however, a couple small limitations. First, while you can transfer address books between the extensions, you cannot transfer an addressbook to/from the base station -- so if you build an addressbook on the base-station, that's where it stays. Second, you cannot just put a call on hold and pick it up on another extension. To pick up a call somewhere else, you have to transfer it there, which involved 5 distinct key-presses, and requires you to know the number of the extension that will receive the call.
Rating:
Summary: Old version - new version - which one do you have?
Review: I read through most of the reviews on this product, and I have experienced many of the problems/annoyances that people have addressed. Thanks to the newsgroups I found that I had purchased the initial release. The newer release solves many of the annoyances, but battery life still suffers and range would depend on the environment. The old version is commonly purchased as a refurbished unit... The new version has a red/silver and black box, and has been offered since the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2000. Here is a summary of problems people have written about, that were corrected in the new version: Power outage - If your power goes out you will not lose your messages, directory, pin code, etc. I've had my set unplugged from the wall for about an hour, and the only thing lost was the date/time. You can reset this yourself, or when a call is received, it will take the date/time from the caller ID. Directories - The new version of the phone allows you to transfer directories from the handset to the base and vice versa. Transfer/Pickup of calls - On the old version, you had to transfer a call from one handset to another. You could not pickup a line that was in use. This was particularly annoying when you had both Siemens phones and regular phones in the house. The new version allows you to join a line, which overcomes this problem. Now to address other problems, I have never had problems with calls dropping unexpectedly when in range. We've been able to take the phone out of the house and almost a city block away. Like a digital cellular phone - you don't get static, you just lose the call. Also, I've never had a problem with going out of range >in< my house. I live in a typical ranch, with the base at one end and have used the handset at the opposite end. Call quality has usually been good, and very few times I had a garbly effect like that which you would experience on a digital cell phone. Running the microwave usually caused this problem. Otherwise, I have 2-line GE ProSeries speakerphones in the kitchen and bedroom, and I've been told that the Siemens speakerphone and handsets sound much better than the GE's. I've used this phone while working on my laptop, which has a wireless network card that operates on the same frequency. I can hear a slight intermittant popping, which is apparently when the spread-spectrum overlaps the other devices signal. But, both devices remain usable. The answering machine and caller-id work great. You can access the answering machine with the handset or remotely, and you have complete control over replaying and deleting messages. The annoying thing is that the numbers you need to press to do simple things, like play a message, don't make sense. When calling remotely, the voice prompting's first selection is to change the outgoing message. When the heck would I want to do that? But, once you read the book and memorize the buttons, accessing your messages is a breeze. The handset has a headset jack and a belt clip. I've plugged a headset in and clipped the phone to my pants, and off I went gabbing on the phone while doing housework, etc. (The base has a headset jack too.) The battery life sucks, honestly. That is my biggest complaint. As long as you put the phone in the cradle every night, you shouldn't have a problem. You can also purchase additional batteries, which can be charged in a special compartment in the cradle, but changing the batteries is clumsy. The other annoying thing is when I receive a call and put it on hold, and then answer it with a non-Siemens phone. I noticed that the call never goes "off-hold" on the Siemens, and there is a "holding tone" that continues to play in the earpiece until the call is released from the Siemens. I've had the new version for about 7 months. It's not perfect, but I'm not disappointed. It's lightweight, full of features like caller-id with name on the handsets, and I can setup a handset as a baby-monitor. You can also call other handsets internally on the system, like having an intercom system in your house. Realize that this system is like having a business-class telephone system in your house, and business phone systems don't cooperate with regular phones either.
Rating:
Summary: A 4 because the first unit I got was faulty
Review: I haven't used this system for a tremendous length of time yet. However, I have run into problems. This review is to help some of the others to solve this problem. The first base unit I purchased with the two extra handsets turned out to be faulty. It seemed very much like the systems that got low marks with the other reviews here. In frustration with crackling and cutting out, I returned the base unit and handset to get another... Wow, it was like night and day. Prior to returning this unit I called Siemens to see if it was installed wrong or I might have it improperly located. After trying a number of options the service technician pointed out to me that while 2.4 Ghz has greater range(than 900Mhz), it is more sensitive to things like ceramic tile or metal objects. He figured my problems were due to that. Only on the outside did he consider I might have a bad antenna... I would say I did. I'm writing this note to tell all of the others out there that got this system, and are experiencing broken up sound and the handsets acting as if they are out of range, to return this for a new base unit. Use your warranty and it will be worth it. This system is way too expensive to put up with this. This system's features are wonderful and interesting to use. I will write a later review of this. This review was just to inform people that that don't have to settle for the poor quality they are recieving. It seems to be a mechanical problem.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't think about it
Review: The handset sounds great. That's as far as I can go. I bought the base system and three additional handsets for our two story home. It is convenient to have these phones in each room, but the sound quality is absolutely terrible for the people on the far end. Every conversation we have someone mentions the "popping" that they hear. I wish I could return these, but I waited too long.
Rating:
Summary: Product Does Not Work
Review: In mid-2000 I purchased two base units (with a total of 8 hand sets)for the Sieman's 2.4 GHz system, and I have found the system to be a major disappointment! Incoming calls are regularly dropped or cut-off; calls are often "garbled" (even when the phone is as close as 5 feet to the base unit); the "range" is no more than 60 feet; and a transfer of a call often results in it being dropped. Add to this non-existent customer service and you have a formula for a very unhappy customer. Would anyone be interested in buying a used system?! I strongly recommend that you avoid this (and any other) product from Seimens. It deserves a "no-star" rating.
Rating:
Summary: A for Design and Features, F for Quality
Review: I was attracted by the design and features of the Siemens telephone and the reputation of Siemens itself but after 9 months the backlit LCD screen became faint and became illegible. The #2 handset would regularly begin to loose synchronization with the base station and the call in progress would begin to "stutter" and then drop. The charge on the handsets would drain in short periods of time and, finally, the keys in the handset became so unresponsive that I could not make calls. I have contacted various consumer agencies concerning a product that is in terms of quality, completely flawed and renders the product unusable.
Rating: 
Summary: I regret purchasing this phone
Review: It has been only 1.5 year or so but the keypad is occasionally unresponsive and I have to try really hard to dial a number. The handset must be kept at the charging unit otherwise unlike many phones, it discharges in hours.
Rating:
Summary: not happy with the Siemens 2420
Review: the owners manual is very hard to follow. the format and directions are terrible. my wife and i have decided today to return this unit on account of the poor written manual and after reading others reviews of this unit, it is scarey to have so much invested.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, but not awesome - Gigaset 2420
Review: I've owned the phone for about a year -- I bought it for home & home office use. There are some major-minor drawbacks to this system as cited in earlier posts. But ignoring those I was mostly disappointed in the range, which was no better than my 900MHz. I live in the suburbs & not open country so perhaps there are electro-magnetic disturbances. Regardless, there's nothing I can do about it. In general it works fine, but there must be a better system out there.
Rating:
Summary: The great disconnect
Review: I would not recommend this or any Siemens product to anyone. I have had this phone for less then 1 year, back in June the phone began disconnecting any call that I was on when call waiting was activated. I have contacted Siemens several times via email to get a fix for the phone, but they will not respond to me. I have called and have been told that I've called the wrong division and to call another number, only to be told that I have called the wrong number. This is not good customer service.
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