Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Overall
Review: After reading the mixed reviews, I decided to take a chance on this phone. I like it. It has all the features I want and the quality so far is good. The pro's:
I have a silent OGM, and can screen incoming calls.
Speakerphone on handset and base.
Can control the answerer (even on/off feature) from the handset.
Voicemail indicator on handset and base.
Formatting of phone numbers in caller ID (7, 10, 11-digit).
Rubber on the sides of phone make it very comfortable to hold. The con's:
The voice quality is good for the handset and base, but messages are touch and go. Sometimes they are good, sometimes not so good. But the phone number and time/date stamp is there, so I will know who is calling, so I can live with that.
Also, on my old Uniden, I could select a different ring for EACH phone number I stored. With this, I can only set one ring for all the people in my phone book. Again, I can live with that. Overall, I really like this phone. Other than the individual caller ringtones, it has everything I want. I was overwhelmed when I started looking for a replacement cordless, I even researched Consumer Reports along with Amazon. I wasn't sure because Motorola is not a known name to me for in-house phones, but since I love thier cellular's, I decided to give them a try. I am really impressed. Also, if you get this phone, please do call the phone company if the voicemail indicator is not showing. I had to call several Motorola numbers, and finally got a live person who told me to call the phone co. to get it straightened out. Once that issue was settled through the phone co., I was fine. I have wireless 2.4ghz internet and there is no interference. Based on the base and cordless performance so far, I am going to get the additional cordless handsets. I would recommend it to others. I won't know if I would buy it again, until it has lasted as long as my 5-year old corded AT&T 1845, which is still going good!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Bought this phone for Christmas with an expansion handset. So far so good. Both handsets are clear and the shared phonebook is very handy. Menus are well thought out and phone features are easily accessible. Most impressive is the clarity of the speakerphone built into each handset. This is a must have for people suffering from RSI or carpal tunnel syndrome.
Rating: 
Summary: The absolute worst sound quality ever!
Review: Had this phone for 17 hours and returned it for a refund. Sound quality (e.g. greeting msg, incoming msg, etc.) is nonexistent. The absolute worst ever...period.
Rating:
Summary: These phones FIZZLE (literally!)
Review: I bought the base unit at one of the larger chains and decided to expand with a separate handset from Amazon. The phones felt good in my hand; the smaller antennas and the Motorola name were a plus. BIG disappointment. First off, the sound quality was terrible. I found myself having to ask the caller to repeat what they were saying since the last parts of their sentences would fade off in a brief scratchy fizzle. It was weird. I thought it might be in the handset. Well, to my surprise, I received my first recorded message and the recording (base unit speaker) would "fizzle" as well. Then my expansion handset arrived from Amazon. You must register each handset with the base unit. The written directions were telling me to do things I couldn't find on the phone! Plus, the screen was missing text. "Am I going NUTS?" I asked myself. I called the Motorola helpline. A very helpful fellow told me the directions were misprinted. He told me to disconnect everything and remove batteries & replace everything in order to reset the computer in the phones. He said the sound would be better by doing this and I would be able to register my other handset. I followed his advice and still nothing improved. I called Motorola again and a nice lady listened to my woes. She suggested I return both units and start over with new Motorolas. So I followed her directions ALMOST. I returned them and got a refund.
Rating: 
Summary: No toll saver? Caller ID not tied to voice message?
Review: I have a separate ATT 900 MHz phone and Casio digital answering machine. Since separate digital answering machines are so hard to come by (mine is a used eBay purchase because Casio stopped making the model), I decided to try a combo unit when my phone started acting up. I purchased the MD481 at BestBuy for ..... It looks nice and the box said all the right things. However I never even got to the point of fully charging the battery because of what I think are fatal flaws in its design. First there is no toll saver. You will have to call, wait 4 rings, enter your code just to find out there are no new messages. Sad but true. The worst flaw I found was that the caller ID info doesn't display while you are listening to voice messages. Hello! It isn't rocket science to tie the caller ID info to the message so you can see the name and number when you are listening to the message. For this reason alone I boxed it up and will be returning it. Lastly, and don't quote me on this, I don't think you can hear someone leaving a message while they are leaving it -- like when you are screening calls or just don't make it to the phone in time. So if they are yelling "Hey pick up the phone!" you won't be able to hear it until after they hang up and you replay the message. Also it appears you have to set the date/time and ring tones separately for the handset and the base. Why can't they talk to each other? I expect more from a ....phone and I expect more from Motorola.
Rating:
Summary: Great Build Quality but Terrible Voice Quality
Review: I have been using the base unit together with 3 handsets for two months now, and have to report that I am very dissatified with these phones, especially considering the high cost and Motorola name. The phones themselves are very well built, no complaints on the quality of construction. But the sound quality is TERRIBLE - even worse than the Siemens Gigaset that I had before and also didn't like very much. It must cyle thru the frequencies while you are talking, because every 2 minutes the sound quality will get even worse than normal for about 10 seconds making conversation useless in that time. And even when it does work, it sounds terrible, and is annoyingly LOW in volume - I got tired of having to ask the caller "What?" every other sentance, and this with the volume turned up to max. Also the answering machine recording quality is TERRIBLE - I could not even identify the voice of my freinds leaving me a message, let alone understand what they were saying. The phone does have a lot of interesting features, but those don't make up for the low quality of basic telephone functionality. Also one other warning: the additional handset I purchased would NOT access the shared telephone directory like the 2 handsets that came with the unit (I bought the version of the system with 2 handsets included). I have since moved on to Motorola's new 5.8ghz phones and am much happier with those.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent phone! Top notch
Review: I have read mixed reviews on this phone. But decided to go and buy one. I had a new Vtech 2.4 cordless, which was terrible. I returned it and bought this Motorolla. I have an extra handset also.
The sound clarity is crystal. This phone has every feature you would want in a phone, whether it be corded or cordless. You can also control everything from a handset. You can listen to your messages from your handset. Looks like Motorolla put a lot of thought into this phone. The tapeless answering machine works like a charm. If i have to come up with something wrong about the phone, I will say the handsets are a little heavy. Wish it had polyphonic ring tones, and after you listen to a message on the answering machine, and save it, the screen does not tell you that you have any old messages waiting. It only tells you when you have new voicemails. You can listen to the old when you press play, but you might forget there are messages there. But beyond those extremely minor issues. This phone is worth every penny.
Rating:
Summary: Motorola MD 480
Review: I live in Austin, Texas, want to support Motorola as much as possible. Have been pleased with Motorola Star Tac - dropped many times, still works fine. The MD480 is the worst phone I have ever had - worse than the '93 Sony that I was trying to replace. If you love to say it a lot, and your favorite word is "WHAT", you will love this phone. Thank goodness for the 30 day warranty. This puppy is going back to the pound!
Rating:
Summary: Motorola MD 481
Review: I live in Austin, Texas, want to support Motorola as much as possible. Have been pleased with Motorola Star Tac - dropped many times, still works fine. The MD481 is the worst phone I have ever had - worse than the '93 Sony that I was trying to replace. If you love to say it a lot, and your favorite word is "WHAT", you will love this phone. Maybe it's my computer - who cares because I have one desk. Both computer and phone must call it home. Thank goodness for the 30 day warranty. This puppy is going back to the pound! I love Motorola and will try the 5.8 GHZ MD681.
Rating:
Summary: Good features, poor quality
Review: I purchased this phone because it had ALL the features I wanted, especially the base speaker phone and how you could set different ringing volumes on each of the handsets different based on the time of day. But the problems of this phone definitely outweigh its features. The handset speaker quality is sketchy - there's always a lot of static. I usually can't hear up to half of the answering machine messages due to poor quality, even with the volume turned all up. And its impossible to tell if there are old messages saved (so if your roommate already listened to them, and there's a new one for you, you have no way to know). When retrieving messages remotely, I usually have to call back 3 times before the pass code is accepted (I think due to the same answering machine volume issue). I'm generally sorry I purchased this set.
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