Customer Reviews

AT&T 9371 900 MHz Cordless Speakerphone and Answering System with Caller ID (Espresso)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

AT&T 9371 smartly combines speakerphone, digital answering machine and cordless handset functions with (optional) caller ID &/call waiting. After about a month of use and play, I think it's a terrific multi-function phone that should satisfy most consumers.

Setting up the phone base and the answering system is a quick and easy job. At minimum, you can set the date and time and let the simple default greeting take calls - always an option to one's own greeting. Remote access is possible for all the answering system functions, including turning the machine on or off. A wallet card displays all the remote access commands, but the system also has a complete audio help menu if you don't have the card handy.

First a bit of minor frustration as the handset must be charged for at least 16 continuous hours before initial use. So on day one, you must restrict all phone use and programming to the phone base and use the speakerphone option. Many of the smart functions (including the directory and caller ID) are on the handset so it's a bit of a drag having to wait until next day before you can program the entire unit. The handset can sit in the cradle either face up (with the belt-clip detached), or face down - a convenience not noted in the manual. I found it useful to do the initial charging with handset facing upward so I could study the buttons and observe the display window without lifting it from the cradle. The date/time settings must be programmed on both the base unit and the handset; a redundancy that could result in the answering machine and caller ID reporting the same call at different times if they are not synchronized.

There is no caller ID display at the base - a pain in the neck if the handset is hiding (with its ringer turned off) somewhere under the pillows while the base is ringing. But when the line is disengaged, a hidden or misplaced handset can be easily tracked down with the intercom function, which lets the base page the handset and vice versa, even with the ringer off. More than just a tone relay, this feature allows for conversation between the base and handset without tying up the phone line.

The handset works well out in the backyard and some distance down the block. Although not as stellar as the handset, sound quality on the speakerphone is very good to excellent, allowing clear transmission from several feet away. I enjoyed clean, clear sound on all my sound checks: conducting business calls while rummaging through files; walking away from the base to perform pieces of acoustic music; turning up the volume to check and respond to outside voice mail. The digital answering system also offers good sound, although there are sometimes negligible blips or slight sound gaps during some incoming messages.

Perhaps the one annoying aspect with the base unit are the machine's response/signal tones, which cannot be turned down, so it's impossible to quietly program or use most of the features at the base. Also, neither keypad (on either the base or handset) can be silenced. Thankfully, the message alert and call screening options can be turned off, and volume is adjustable on the ringer and during phone use and message playback. Volume is also adjustable on the cordless handset, and keeping its ringer off doubles the battery life between charges.

Programming numbers into the directory is naturally tedious, especially as you cannot backspace without deleting; but the process is simple enough with patience. Even easier is transferring numbers from the caller ID log into the directory. The caller ID and directory display is backlit during use so it's easy to read, and items in the caller ID log can be directly dialed, erased or edited for addition to the call directory. At rest, the unit displays how many old and new caller IDs are in the log, the new set being calls that came in since the user last scrolled through the log.

Slightly larger than the earlier 9370 model, 9371 boasts similar features and performance but seems easier to program and learn. 9371 stores only half as many numbers as 9370 in the caller ID log and directory, but has 3 mailboxes compared to 2 on 9370. Features present on 9370 but absent from 9371 are the talking caller ID announcement that users can record and assign to select numbers, the ability to use the handset to check messages, and the second answering machine greeting that can be assigned to select incoming calls.

Seldom you can find a phone with so many features in one
machine at a low price. Progamming and storing your phone directory is simple with instruction manual easy to
follow. However, an incoming call do not show the caller's name
of the person you program in your directory which is not sometimes helpful identifying the caller.
The answering machine has 3 mailboxes which you can assign to your callers which one to use for your convenience and easy retrieval. But one thing I found is the date stamp on the calls
is at the end of the message instead of the front which is rather
misleading when you have several messages.
I don't see an illuminated keypad as claimed on the Technical data but only few buttons on the base. It has only an
illuminated screen on the handset.
The range is excellent for this 900 mhz phone. You can still hear solid voice from accross the fence of your backyard and beyond.
It has LED display of the number of messages on the base. Just
push a button and it automatically plays your messages. Delete function is easy for tele-marketer calls for which you don't want to replay.
I recommend this phone compared to more expensive brand names
equiped with the same functions.

I've been on a search for a decent speakerphone, answering combo, with CID for a few weeks now and this unit was the 2nd stop on my search. Everything looked great on paper, even though I have no use for 3 mailboxes, I thought I'd give it a try and the price was quite attractive.

The first thing I noticed was that the CID display was hard to read because it isn't backlit, nor does it have any option to change the contrast. Sound quality on the handset was ok, although some people commented that I sounded muffled to them. The next thing I disliked was having to set the time on both the phone and the answerer, other phones allow you to only set it once, and even then it is updated automatically by the CID service. I then recorded my outgoing message and when playing it back I could barely hear it and it was badly garbled. I also found that recorded messages were badly garbled during playback as well. I've had a digital answering machine before this and never had a problem with garbled messages before. When I tried to retrieve my messages remotely, I was unable to get the machine to recognize my code no matter how many times I tried. Because of this, I ended up returning the unit the next day.

I'm now trying out a Panasonic 2.4GHZ combo unit - praying that I don't experience the battery problems that many others have posted about. For the money, the Panasonic has everything I need and more, and so far so good, but since I've only had it for a few days it's hard to tell if it's a keeper or not.

I bought this phone to replace my six year old Panasonic digital machine/phone combo that had begun to act flaky. I hoped that I would also get better sound quality with messages since computer memory and processing power have gotten much cheaper since 1998. Unfortunately the messages on this machine are worse than my old Panasonic, which weren't great to begin with. I also was annoyed by the feature that plays back the date, time, number of messages, etc. before it will play your messages: my old phone does this but the AT&T speaks v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y so you have to wait until it finishes its spiel before you can hear your messages (even if it's an old message). The sound quality of phone calls themselves are fine. I didn't try any other features because the message quality was poor enough that I'm returning it. Fortunately Amazon makes that easy and painless -- go Amazon!

This phone looked like a good alternative for people with wireless networks who want to avoid 2.4GHz interference but don't want to pay the inflated prices for 5.8GHz phones. It has useful features like answering machine and speakerphone. But the sound quality is very poor, even distorted. Callers sound like they are at the bottom of a deep well. You can hear an echo of your own voice in the handset along with a constant buzzing. As 900MHz phones get phased out, it looks like there will be no good alternative to 5.8GHz.

I've had this phone a little over a year, and now the LCD is starting to miss some of the numbers/letters. If I want to write a number from someone, forget it, its illegible. The amount of room on the voice list is great, the audio on the outgoing voicemail message is a little fussy. However, the incoming messages are very clear. I found that it losses time, so the clock on the phonebase has to be reset constantly which is an annoyance. I think I will try Panasonic or Sony on my next go round.

It sounded garbled and staticky when using the speakerphone and the caller id lcd screen broke. It is unreadable as well. Didn't last long.

I loved this phone. I loved it so much I've purchaced 2 of them. Now I'll admit, I'm rough on phones, but both managed to become unusable within one year of purchace. That is really my only gripe.

Now the good stuff. The design is good. I like the phone, the number of mailboxes, the answering system was great. The caller ID was a tad slow, but not any more than my other caller ids. Overall it was a good phone, but not meant for long term hard heavy usage.

I bought this phone after reading some reviews that made it sound like a wonderful buy for the cost. But once again, you get what you paid for and this phone was a waste of money and time. The sound comes in and out, the range is horrible and it isn't a very comfortable phone for long conversations.

this thing probably isn't worth it, even for this small price. sound quality is middlish, the caller ID screen went out within a year, it's IMPOSSIBLE to figure out what all the buttons do -- I mean AT&T, c'mon, put a little effort in DESIGN! really, simple things like setting the time and changing your outgoing message are really hard. luckily amazon has a link to the product manual, or I would have thrown it away a long time ago.