Rating: 
Summary: Good sound quality, but the designers could have done better
Review: The first thing you should know is this: This is a very good phone. It feels solid, its sound quality is great, the intercom works well, and it won't interfere with your WiFi network. My bet is that if you care enough to read to the end of this review, you should just buy it-- it's what you're looking for. And if the rest of this review seems overly focused on minutia, that's a result of frustration over the Phone That Might Have Been, more than criticism of The Phone That Is.So, it's a good phone. But come on: some of the design decisions are just plain weird. First, there's the oddity that while there's an indicator light for your (phone-company-supplied) voicemail, there's no easy way to actually dial that voicemail number and retrieve your messages. Rather than have a one-touch button, the phone requires that you assign voicemail to one of the phone-book entries. No big deal... except that it means you're pressing a minimum of three buttons (and likely more) every time you want to get your messages. Then there's the omission of a "this is my own area code" feature. This means that all caller-ID numbers show up as (and get dialed as) 1-XXX-XXX-XXXX numbers... which can mean long-distance charges for local calls on some systems. Yes, you can edit the number, but it requires three clicks. Lastly, there are the set of weird behaviors that come from having the built-in base-station speakerphone not know anything about the base-station phone handset. This means, forinstance, that if you answer a call using the base-station speakerphone, you can't just then pick up the base-station handset and have the call automatically transfer. Instead, both units will be active, which means you need to hang up two separate phones. All of these are nits, but in a system costing this much, they're silly. So should you buy it? Yes, sure: it does most of the basics well; the quality feels high; the backup battery feature will come in handy in a power-failure (though battery is sold separately); and 5.8 Ghz is the future. But don't expect perfection... and do send "you can do better" thought waves towards the folks who designed this unit. PS-- An equally small nit about the extension handsets: their a/c adapters don't detach from their recharging bases. That means you need an extension cord if your desk has one of those holes to thread cords through-- the adapter likely won't fit through to reach the outlet.
Rating:
Summary: AT &T 5830 review
Review: There are many neat features on this phone. I especially like the talking caller ID. No more dashing to the phone to see who it is. The speaker phone and handsfree speaker on hand piece work nicely and callers have mentioned how clear we are. I am still waiting for my addional handsets to arrive to see how it all works together. Purshased sets for intercom purposes. The only draw back has been not having an answering machine. I had to hook up to a message center through our local telecommunications company. The 5840 model has all the same bells and whistles and the digital answering machine. For the addional money it would be worth it. Message center costs are expensive and the addtional would pay for itself in a few months. The 5840 has addional mail boxs set up for more than one person in the household with seperate blinking lights. Good luck!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Phone
Review: This phone has great range, excellent clarity, clean good looks, and simple to operate. No interference from the microwave or wirless computer link...on either end of the conversation! (I have the 2.4 Ghz wireless B). Also has the annoucing CID which is cool. This phone is the same thing as the V-Tech 5.8Ghz in different clothing. The only thing it's missing for me is the locking keypad. I have tried several other 2.4 and 5.8 Ghz and this one seems to have the best reception (Uniden & Siemens had poor rnage) and sound quality (Panasonics had poor voice quality) of all the ones I've tried. I have tried Panasonic 2.4 and 5.8, Uniden Tru 5.8, and Siemens 8825. It may not have all the features that a SOHO may need or want but if you want a phone that works well for talking in a normal household, this is it! (If you really need a phone with lots of features you'll have to get a real phone system and spend some real money)
Rating:
Summary: Hi Tech and Cool
Review: This phone has the best sound quality of any portable phone
that I've ever owned. The signal range is good all around my
1/2 acre yard and in the basement and garage. It's relatively
light and fits in my shirt pocket. I'm glad I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: Hi Tech and Cool
Review: This phone has the best sound quality of any portable phone
that I've ever owned. The signal range is good all around my
1/2 acre yard and in the basement and garage. It's relatively
light and fits in my shirt pocket. I'm glad I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: Nice phone system
Review: This phone system is almost perfect. It works so much better than the Siemen's 2400 it replaced. The speakerphone (in both the base unit and the headset) is very handy and the Caller ID voice announce feature is pretty cool. It fits very nicely in your hand and feels like a quality piece of electronics. Very nice display and the buttons are easy to press. And, it has great looks. Battery life also seems very good. As much as this phone has going for it, I can't for the life of me figure out why they would choose to not add some very basic features that other phones have had for years. 1.) You can't share phonebooks between handsets 2.) No speed-dial feature 3.) A rather cumbersome menu system 4.) No way to insert pauses in stored numbers so you can't program the phone to access your phone company-hosted voicemail and automatically enter in your passcode. 5.) No phonebook or number memory on the base (which makes sense since there's also no display). If the phone had these basic features, it would easily rate a 5. That's the deal with these phone systems - there simply isn't a perfect phone system. I've looked at Uniden, AT&T, Seimens, Panasonic, and VTech. They are all lacking in way or another. It's maddening that these systems are sooo expensive, and yet manufacturers can't seem to find their way to implement feature sets commensurate with the price of the phones. Cell phones can be had for far cheaper with far greater convenience features. There's no reason why these features couldn't be added to home phone systems, especially when you have to pay ... for each handset. The Seimens 2400 series phones had many of the features missing on this phone, but the quality/reliability of at least these 2400 series Seimens phones is pure {junk}. I considered the new Seimens 4200 series, but some brain-dead exec somewhere along the line decided the phone didn't need a headset jack. How moronic is that??? Not too mention that in my experience the Seimens phones are totally unreliable, pure junk. Bottom line - though missing some really basic and *very* useful features, this new AT&T 5800 system has so far been of top notch performance, and it does have some useful advanced features of it's own (which makes them ommitting the more basic features even more bizzarre). The performance of the phone has been so good that I guess I'll learn to live without the features I liked about the Seimens. I'd rate this new 5800 Series phone system the best out there right now, even with it's shortcomings. Once someone builds a system with the quality of this phone and the feature set of the better cell phones, you'd have prefection. BTW, through my research, I suspect the new VTech 5800 series phone is pretty much the same phone in different clothing. They share much of the same feature set and even appear to have identical menu systems/keypads/displays. The Vtech doesn't have the talking Caller ID, and the AT&T doesn't have the LCD display or phonebook on the base, but other than that, the differences appear superficial. I'm currently trying both phones out. It's really a toss up. The Vtech is little less $$$. I like the talking CID, but also like the number memory and LCD display on the base unit of Vtech.
Rating: 
Summary: CAUTION! DOES NOT HAVE AN ANSWERING SYSTEM!
Review: While this phone has fantastic voice clarity even in the speakerphone mode, it does not include a digital answering system as described in the features list! The other features are very nice.
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