Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointed with Siemens quality
Review: I have to agree with others about the poor quality of the Gigaset 2420 phone. I'm on my second Gigaset 2420 in the same number on years. My fist one developed a problem with the handset where it wouldn't recognize the base station anymore.I bought another one about a year ago & now the base station locks up periodically with all the buttons lighting up & requiring the power to be cycled before it works again. The handset battery charger has failed & the reception is very sporadic. Hard to believable for a ($$$) phone & a company that has it's deepest roots in the business not consumer market. I was considering upgrading to the Gigaset 8825 if Siemens is willing to take my problematic Gigaset 2420 & offer a credit on the 8825. I haven't found another SOHO phone system with similar features offered by the 8825 but I'm concerned reading that others are experiencing similar quality problems with their 8825!! I'll have to take a closer look at the top of the line Panasonic & maybe give up some fancy features for reliability! I'm actually concerned that phone experts like Hello-Direct.com don't even carry Siemens products!?
Rating:
Summary: The handsets have serious problems
Review: I got two handsets with the system, after 1 weeks I noticed a lot of waving in the sound to the extent that some calls where dropped or I simply can't hear the other party. I called customer support that were friendly and responsive but even during the warranty period they charged me for expensive UPS shipping and handling to replace the set with a *refurbished* one, after a couple of weeks the second set started waving and is almost useless, I called customer support again, charged shipping and handling and got another (Used set, some number keys are almost worn out) that still has the same problem but not as bad. The surprise is that after a couple of months, my first handset that I already replaced starting having the waving problem again and I'm seriously thinking of selling the system now. The directory synchronization is at best primitive and any changes are hardly synchronizing properly. Also there is no auto-redial feature, no backlight on the keys or the set and no auto attendent feature, the internal clock is 2+ mins / hour faster, any minor power interruption resets your phone settings. Definitely not recommended, try the panasonic phone.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the Effort
Review: Purchased the 8825 in July and am satisfied that it is the best telephone system currently available. It does require an investment of time in order to set it up properly. But once setup, it has an excellent set of features with the majority quite useful. I believe the problem most people have is the mind set that this unit can be plugged in out of the box and used. You have to completely read the manual which is fairly good. I did call the help line and following a 10 minute wait talked with a knowledgeable person who solved the problem [do not record your answering machine greeting with the handset (use the speakerphone) or the last 1/10 of a second of your message is cut off]. That one is not in the manual! Quality of construction/design is excellent and sound quality is very good. The ability, with caller ID, to "announce" the person who is calling is great. The four stars relates to the length of time required to completely setup and the cost of the unit and additional phones.
Rating:
Summary: Soooo disappointed!
Review: We have had this phone system for over a year now and it is absolutely worthless. We thought it would be great to have several handsets attached to only one base, because you could have phones all over the house- and it was great until they just started falling apart. Whatever you do DO NOT drop the phone because it will bust- this happened to two handsets- that is the end of them. I have owned many cordless phones that you could throw against a wall a million times and they wouldn't even falter. Another thing is the battery life- it is horrible. If you just must have this system then go to Radio Shack and purchase lithium batteries for it. However, the range will still be awful. The only part of the system that is trustworthy is the base. Now, I will have to say we haven't had any problems with that, but then again- you're stuck to a cord in the wall. The Siemens support has been worthless as well. They obviously know that their system [stinks] cause they don't really care about your satisfaction- I guess cause they're tired of hearing it! We researched this phone on consumer reports and took the advice of several neighbors who own the phone- and have since been sorry themselves. Save yourself some grief and stress and research another phone- I'm still looking!
Rating:
Summary: Lack of Support
Review: If you'd asked me a year ago I would have said that I loved this system. But now, the displays on three of my handsets are blown and the base station dropped one of the two lines. Siemens is no help at all. Their only advice was to buy another system. Fat chance! This would be terriffic if it actually worked.
Rating:
Summary: Utter crap!
Review: We have the base speakerphone as the ONLY working phone in the house. NONE of the other four handsets work; they all clunked at about a year after purchase at the same time. We have a large home and initially these phones were perfect for us, but we expected more longevity, especially after paying a small fortune. Our phone co. stopped selling them due to complaints, and everyone we know that has them had problems. Great concept,inferior product.
Rating:
Summary: Beware lack of support from Siemens
Review: Beware Siemens lack of support. I owned the previous system, the 2420, bought a short 3 years ago. While it is understandable that products come and go, that Siemens offers absolutely no service for this product is unconsionable given the price of the system...
Rating: 
Summary: Siemens expandable cordless phone system is lousy!
Review: I purchased the Siemens base staton and 4 handset units. Within 3 months, two of the handsets were unusable (battery stopped charging and the other unit had too much static). The ones that are still usable are lously at best. Scratchy sound, and voices fade in and out. The bright side to this sad report is that the base station is great! It is easy to configure and works very well in all aspects. Do not buy this system if you intend to expand it by using additional handsets!
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome concept; flimsy product?
Review: The predecessor to the 8825 was the Gigaset 2400 series. We purchased the base unit and 3 handsets in March of 2001. It is now June of 2002 and we have two hobbled handsets (on one the display doesn't work anymore, on the other the charging ability of the base unit has mysteriously disappeared). This is after we had already replaced two handsets under warranty in the first 12 months. We love the functions on the phone--intercom especially--but unless Siemens can convince me that they're serious about building durable, solid hardware and not just selling feature-packed hi tech phone systems, I won't be replacing my 2400 with the 8825.
Rating:
Summary: Yes, you CAN interrupt the answering machine!
Review: A number of people have said that you cannot retrieve calls from the answering machine using the cordless handsets. This is incorrect, you can retrieve those calls. The deal is this: You cannot interrupt the Auto Attendant message from anywhere except the base. However, once the caller hears a greeting from an individual mailbox (1 through 4) or begins recording a message in any one of those mailboxes, you can JOIN that line from the cordless handsets (which will stop the answering system and give you the call). I have my cordless sets programmed for Manual Line Selection to make these things easier, but you can push the 'talk' key and select the line in use by the answering machine if you prefer to setup the cordless handsets for Automatic Line Selection mode. The call quality and answering machine recording quality is quite good for this price. In fact, the answering machine quality is much better than most other one- or two-line cordless phones with integrated answering machines. The program menus are quite easy, and the cordless handset menus are very simple once you get used to them. It is a slight learning curve... but what phone SYSTEM isn't going to have a learning curve? The name-directory speed dialing is very FAST and easy to navigate. The speakerphone quality is average, and I would recommend that you use headsets if you really need to be "handsfree" (since the cordless handsets and the base have the 2.5mm connections). I have set the base next to my many computers, and have noticed an occassional "click" while using the cordless handsets. It is very rare, and I am sure it is because of the placement of the base unit. I intend to soon relocate the base to another location in my home to solve this problem. Overall, this system is well worth the investment. Once you take a few minutes (and a few calls) to get used to it, you will be quite pleased. As mentioned, the manual is average and could use additional detail... but Siemens toll-free technical support is only a phone call away and they are very helpful with any question you could throw at them.
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