Panasonic KX-TSC14W 2-Line Corded Speakerphone with Caller ID (White)

Rating:
Summary: buyer beware! does not work if you lose power!
Review: As a long-time happy owner of numerous Panasonic corded and cordless phones over the years, I purchased this 2-line corded phone as a backup in the event of a power failure (when my Siemens 2-line cordless system wouldn't work).

Well, imagine my surprise when I unpacked it and read the manual only to discover the phone does NOT work when you lose power! This is COMPLETEY unacceptable for a corded phone -- my older single-line Panasonic corded phones use AA batteries instead of the 9V power adapter on this model.

The manual claims that in the event of a power failure you can only use line1. This is NOT true. I could not get a dialtone from either line without plugging in the power adapter.

I consider this a fatal flaw. Thankfully I was able to return it for a refund. It's a shame, because there aren't many choices in 2-line corded phones.

Rating:
Summary: No MUTE button while on speakerphone
Review: Great phone for 2 line use in my home office, however lacks a MUTE button for conference calls.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Phone, But Lacks Some Essentials
Review: I have to agree with everyone. Two lines are very nice, but the lack of a mute button makes this phone unusable for conference calls. Unfortunately, I am going to have to replace it with another phone that has two lines and a mute button. Fatal design flaw. Lack of a lighted "message waiting indicator light" is also a big drawback, but there is a faint message waiting indicator on the LCD.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Phone, But Lacks Some Essentials
Review: It's true, it's not perfect, but it doesn't cost a fortune either. There is no mute button, but I use the speakerphone to listen until I get off the endless hold of banks, tech support, whatever.. so that is not a problem for me. I like that I can use my headset, the handset OR the speaker. The sound quality is good. I set Line 1 as my default line, and I HAVE dialtone on Line 1 when there is no power. I have had the phone unplugged for up to an hour an NOT lost my settings, so I don't think that's all that much of a problem either. Yes, you have to be able to use a menu to set the ringer volume, but once it's set, I leave it, so again, no problem there. For me this phone was a good value for the money, and I am happy with it.

Rating:
Summary: I like it better than most
Review: It's true, it's not perfect, but it doesn't cost a fortune either. There is no mute button, but I use the speakerphone to listen until I get off the endless hold of banks, tech support, whatever.. so that is not a problem for me. I like that I can use my headset, the handset OR the speaker. The sound quality is good. I set Line 1 as my default line, and I HAVE dialtone on Line 1 when there is no power. I have had the phone unplugged for up to an hour an NOT lost my settings, so I don't think that's all that much of a problem either. Yes, you have to be able to use a menu to set the ringer volume, but once it's set, I leave it, so again, no problem there. For me this phone was a good value for the money, and I am happy with it.

Rating:
Summary: Beware No Mute, No Easy Ringer Off
Review: No mute button? Isn't that illegal? How about having to drill down menu after menu to just to turn off the ringer? Otherwise the phone works great and sounds great. But these are biggies to me.

Rating:
Summary: Sounds good on paper but...
Review: This phone appeared to have everything I was looking for: a 2-line phone with phone company voicemail compatibility, including a speakerphone and an earphone jack, with caller-id/call waiting. There are few alternatives on the market with all these features bundled together, if any. But Panasonic blew it with several big mistakes.

First, there is no mute button, which is unheard of for a speakerphone. Many speakerphones "cut out" when you are making noise, like when you are on hold and typing or rustling papers, and mute solves this problem. Even if Panasonic solved this "cut out" problem, what about times when you are listening in on a teleconference and want to be a silent witness? Or want to "cover the phone" for a moment, for privacy? That's the first mistake.

Number 2: no blinking or easily visible voicemail indicator. Never before saw a phone with voicemail capability that didn't have an easily visible indicator, usually a blinking light. They bury the indicator as a little icon on the LCD panel. So you can't just pass by the room with the phone in it and glance over casually to see if there are messages waiting - you have to go right over to the phone and peer down onto the little LCD screen. Imagine an answering machine with no blinking light and you'll get the picture.

Number 3: if you like to turn down the ringer at night, you have to make a lot of noise to do so. The ringer control is buried in the menus, and each key press to navigate the menus causes a beep. Then, as you lower the ringer setting, the phone RINGS to demonstrate each setting. So you beep like 5 times and ring 2 or 3 times to make the phone go silent.

The last point I'll mention is no battery backup. The user guide admits you will lose settings if there is a power loss, though they don't say how long the memory lasts or exactly which settings you'll lose. So why not give us an optional battery backup?

This phone just cut too many corners in an attempt to cram in all these features.

There were even more things I disliked about the phone, but I'll leave it at this. For now, I'll limp along along with my old 2-line phone with separate devices for headset amp and caller id/voicemail indicator. It takes up a lot of space but does everything I need, perfectly. And it has an old-fashioned mechanical switch for setting ringer volume control; sometimes the old ways are better.

This is my first Amazon review; I was just too disturbed by the gap between how good this phone sounded "on paper" and how badly it skimped on the essentials that, like that ringer, I couldn't stay quiet about it.