Customer Reviews

AT&T 993 Corded Phone, Black, 1 Handset

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(45)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(38)
1 star:		(57)

 

 

I bought this phone to replace a somewhat similar AT&T 962 that had served me well for five years or so. My application is in a home office that has two lines--one for home and one for office. Important features to me are a speakerphone, caller ID, call waiting caller ID, and a dozen or more dedicated buttons for speed dialing. This phone has all those features, plus additional ones like headset capability that I probably will never use.

The phone looks and feels like a professional telephone. The controls are easy to see and identify, and easy to find and press with your fingers. The 4-line backlit LCD display is easy to see, even in a lightened or darkened room. A 9-volt battery lets the phone operate even during a power outage.

Many of the features are controlled by a menu on the LCD display. The controls and procedures for this are much improved over my older AT&T phone. The manual provides fairly easy-to-follow instructions for the fairly complicated setups that many of the features require.

I'm a bit concerned about the provenance and future of the phone, though, since this model doesn't even have an entry on the manufacturer's web site.

Putting that aside, it seems like quite a good phone for the money, and it's a considerably-refined improvement over its similarly-featured predecessor.

I bought this phone because I wanted a corded phone with both speakerphone and headset capabilities, and this was one of the few out there.

This phone is better than I expected in speaker and receiver sound quality, as well as in key response. The LED is clear in dark and light environments, controls are convenient and logically placed, and I'm pleased to almost baffled by the key response. I am a very fast button pusher, and often keys don't respond as quickly as I press them. This phone is so responsive it almost feels as though it's responding before I press. Freaky. Anyway, good phone!

I had a second phone line installed for my Home Office, but still wanted access to my Home line for personal calls. With limited desk space, a two-line phone seemed to be the answer, and it was! After a good deal of research, I settled on the AT&T 993 corded 2-line phone with speakerphone.

This phone has so many features, it will take a good while to learn how to use them, but I am not under any pressure to do so. I can use what I need now and implement the others as time allows.

I especially like the clarity, which is most important as I have a hearing disability. Next is the caller ID, which is large and very clear, and stores the last 99 call numbers and associated information, which you can then process in a number of ways, such as call-back, put the number in your directory, erase etc. Also, you can put up to twenty of these, or other numbers on your "Instant Call" list, accessed by a "one-touch" button on the front of the phone.

The instruction manual that comes with the phone is written in English (only), by some one who is proficient in both the language and the phone. It is extremely detailed and easy to follow.

Price-wise, the phone, purchased on Amazon, is a bargain. It has more value for the money than I have seen elsewhere.

I would highly recommend this telephone !

The At&T 993 is a great phone and good buy at Amazon. The dial pad has large, easy to use contoured keys. The receiver is comfortable. It features independent set up for each line. Choices include separate volume control & an option to set a "primary" line. There are separate in coming call indicator lights that light up and stay on until the call history for that line have been reviewed (a simple scroll down touch of the button). This feature works even when the incoming call were not answered. Time saver: quick dial a number in call history. To use it, scroll through the calling history for the desired ID/number, then touch enter, and it will dial the number for you. The call history remains unless deleted or excess of storage. The connection cord can be plugged to a wall jack directly behind the phone or to another location. I purchased this phone for these features: 2 line, speaker, hold, caller ID/call waiting, & AC powered. Other features includes speed dial, auto redial, conference calling, mute, 9v backup (battery not included), head set ready, and much much more. It is a large phone measuring about 7 3/4" wide x 7 3/4" long x 3 1/2" depth (without depth of wall phone jack). It can be use for both wall or desk use. We have used our new phone for about 1 month. I would purchase this product again.

This is a phone with minor but annoying flaws. Keypad volume can't be adjusted so key actions or auto dialing in the speakerphone mode is annoying loud. Of course, one can dial using the handset, but at the expense of freeing the hands. Some older AT&T models feature dialing tone volume which can be tamed by the speaker volume control
Each line has a single ringer tone and they are almost identical. Why such a primitive design when cell phones today offer a number of musical selections?
There is no ability to manually add a name when an incoming call number (private call) is saved. This is a very useful feature if one has many private callers with similar phone numbers. Speed dial is poorly implemented, not allowing electronic entry of names. As a result, it is not possible to display an incoming call by name if the caller is listed among the speed dial entries.

Clearly AT&T had low expectations for this phone. It is a dated phone and it shows.

After having several different phones, this one fills the bill. The Caller-ID works fine, the speaker-phone sounds good on this end and to the person I am talking to, and it has a headset jack which makes it easy to talk and type on the computer. The only thing it might need would be an Answering system. However, for those with telco voicemail it even has an indicator for new voicemail.

Pros;
1. Price,
2. Two line,
3. Decent display, (but see below),
4. Large area to write names for speed dial,
5. Decent sounding speakerphone, though 'tinty',
6. Battery backup for power failure, but time still has to be reset,
7. Auto busy redial: keeps on dialing every 30 seconds if line is busy (a rare feature),
8. Fairly large footprint, but not too big.

Cons;
1. New call indicator can't be turned off. Even if you answer the call on this phone, indicator still lights. I solved this by putting a small piece of electrical tape over the surface mounted LED on the circuit board for each line.
2. Display backlight is dim,
3. Base isn't angled up far enough. I cut a 1x2" piece of wood to prop up the back of the base so the display can be seen easier.

This VoIP issue with the hum should be fixable. It is just a ground loop, fixed by reversing the two wires from your POTS line. This worked for me!

Purchased primarily to use as a speakerphone (and needed two lines). Speaker quality poor; often have to pick up phone, losing benefit of speaker altogether. Disappointing. . .

I used this phone in my office. In a little over 18 months, I went through two of them. Don't waste your money on this phone. In fact, the only thing worse than the phone was AT&T customer support. I had purchased the extended warranty and found it to be almost as useless as the AT&T service representative for whom English was a third or fourth language.

Not bad for the money.

It works with just the battery.

The speakerphone voice quality is A+. I give it that because I tested it by calling my cell phone and leaving my usual sales call message from the speakerphone. I then called myself back from my speakerphone to listen to the message left and it was clear as a bell. If you are in sales or work on your phone that is very important, you can do your business hands free. I don't think I could ask for better clarity for the money.

I don't like the double click feature to make calls from the directory. And adding names is not intuitive.