Customer Reviews

AT&T DECT 6.0 Black/Silver Digital BlueTooth Cordless Answering System (TL92378)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love this phone. It has perfectly clear sound and allows me to roam...out of my apartment and about 200 yards down the sidewalk and past our complex pool...no static at all until a VERY long distance when it starts to cut out the signal a bit.

The bluetooth feature sounds silly but it really is great...if someone calls my cell phone I can answer with any of the handsets in the house.

My only criticisms would be 2:

1) you can only pair one cell phone. I think other AT&T phones offer multiple pairing options

2) the menu system on the handset itself is a bit clunky and it makes it easy to accidentally delete a stored number

I bought both the AT&T TL92387(TL) phone system and a V-tech DS6222 (DL), but settled on the TL , mainly because of the Bluetooth feature. Please note - This does not mean that you can connect this phone to a bluetooth headset, but that you can pair it with a cell phone that has Bluetooth capabilities.

I bought the new cordless to replace an older AT&T E-580(E)that has served me well, but one of its handsets failed and I could not find economical repair or replacement. The V-tech and At&T phones have many similarities as they are both made by V-tech. The AT&T has certain advantages that were important to me, the biggest of which is the ability to pair with a cell phone (only one at a time). I make a lot of business calls from my office, which is located in my home, most of which from my cell phone. I tried using various headsets but wired versions are cumbersome and BT became uncomfortable in time, plus the batteries often run out before the workday is done. The TL gives me the ability to use the cell phone from various locations in the house without having to carry the cell around. This is also important as reception on my cell varies widely within the house. Now my cell remains in its charger, located in a good reception area and fully charged and ready to. It also make speaker phone calls better.

Since the BT pairing capability was the most important feature in making my selection I will review that feature first. I have a HTC/AT&T Tilt smartphone running WM6.1. Setting up the bluetooth (BT) connection was very easy. Reconnecting after a break in pairing was equally easy, just like pairing with a BT head set. The Tilt allows me to pair with multiple devise but not at the same time, so if I pair with the desk unit and then change to a headset I need to take a few steps when I get back in the office to switch back to the desk unit. The phone works well when paired with a mobile phone for basic calling and receiving calls, however the audio quality is just OK. I found it works best if the cell phone is left plugged in to a charger and placed between 12-18" from the phone base. In fairness taht may be as much an issue with the cell phone as the base unit. The biggest annoyance with BT is the quirky nature of the BT connection to a cell phone. There is a delay between the time you connect with the handset and when the party on the other end hears you. If you "answer" the phone in the same manor you would with he phone connected to a land line the party on the other end may not hear your greeting. I find I have to wait about 2 seconds after pressing the BT key before saying hello, which feels a bit strange but I am getting use to it. Similarly there is a delay between when you initiate a call and when you get a dial tone, much as with regular cell phone use. It just takes some time to get use to it.

Please note, that when using the TL paired to a cell phone you can not access may cell features, like the address book , voice command etc. The cell phone is basically a secondary connecting device. The features you have access to are the features on the cordless phone.

The TL allows you to set up separate ring tones for both BT and land line connections. This is very helpful in identifying what type of incoming call you are receiving. This is particularly important because the key you must push to answer BT is different from the one you have to push to answer the land line. Both keys are well marked and not located next to each other to minimize confusion. Again this take a little getting use to but works well once you acclimate.

Handset: The feel of both the TL and DS handsets is light but fairly solid. Based on "feel" alone I doubt that either will hold up under rigorous daily use as well as that of my older E860.

The lighted key pad is an important feature but is also found on most cordless phones today. The blue color back light is nice, and I prefer it to green or yellow as seen on other models.

Both phones have similar key pads. The keys sit virtually flush however you can easily feel the keys one from another. To dial you have to push down firmly, which feels a little awkward, particularly if dialing one handed. The key pad on the E580 was more comfortable to use one handed. Also, the TL and DS hand sets are smaller and sleeker than the E580, 40-50% smaller. While this perhaps looks sexier it moves the number pad further down near the bottom of the handset making one handed dialing more challenging. The BT dial/answer key is located at the bottom right side of the hand set making it a challenge to answer one handed.

In general the sound quality of this phone is a bit tinny and not as rich or clear as my old E. Those I have talked to on this phone, that were accustomed to talking to me on the E, noticed the difference and commented that the new phone does not sound quite as good.The sound was described as clear but thin and a but distant. On the other hand folks use to talking with me on my cell phone said the sound was improved when using the TL with BT connection.

Pphone feature layout and design is similar between the TL and the DS but there are several noticeable differences. The DS hand set can be stood on end, on a desk or table, but the TL has an angled bottom and won't stand up. It has to be laid down and this is an annoyance when using the speaker phone for hands free as the speaker is on the back so the sound bounces off the surface it is laying on distorting or muffling the sound. Also the DS has a data screen that is nearly twice as large making it easier to read. On the other had the charger base for the TL is much more substantial and supports the hand set much better. The DS handset was easily knocked from the charger base if the table or desk it sits on is bumped. Another advantage to the TL is easier and more intuitive access to the redial functions and certain other function keys.

The base for the TL has a smaller foot print and more up rite design the is easier to read without being on top of it. Answering features etc were basically the same in function. While I prefer the upright design of the TL it makes pushing buttons on the base more challenging as it wants to move under finger pressure. I think the base would be better if it was bottom weighted. I may try wall mounting to see if that solves this problem.

While I wish the TL had better sound quality, in this regard it is virtually identical to the DS. If you do not need the BT capability I think the DS may be a better value as you can get a 4 handset bundle for the same price as a 3 handset bundle of the TL. For me the BT capability was the deciding factor, and while that function is not bullet proof it beats having to talk directly on the cell phone when working at my desk.

It would be nice if there was a belt clip for carrying the hand set when not in use and if they can figure out how to make this phone also connectible to either wired or wireless head sets that would also be a plus. Most importantly I wish the audio was better and that the handsets used rechargeable AA or AAA batteries instead of the small, more expensive specialty batteries.

I hope this helps you in making your selection.

I read a lot of negative reviews on this model with only one extra handset. This is the exact same as that model except there is an extra handset for a total of three with this one. NOTE the problem with Searching for base occurs when the connection in the phones come loose. ALSO Plug in the base to the power cord and begin installing the batteries one at a time. This will register each phone in sequence. No problems with dropped calls but the bluetooth cellphone does have to be inside the house near the base. YOu might try to move the base away from routers and other electronics. But I tried leaving the cell phone in the car with bluetooth on and even 30 feet away from the base through one exterior wall I got static.
All in all it is great and works great if you install the batteries correctly and make sure you have the phone plug snapped in the base and the power cord connected to the base and the outlet before you start installing batteries!

Bought this phone (AT&T TL92378-3) because my old Panasonic 2.4 cordless was over 20 years old and worn out.
Shipping from Amazon was quick and earlier than promised. But the AT&T phone was not loud enough for my old ears, I could barely hear it even when set at the loudest. The clock settings was a pain to set on the base unit, you have to press a button to set the time and date, but you can't see what is being enter, and to make matters worse, every time the phone loses power the time and date is gone and you have to set it all over again. It seems that all new out now have this same trouble of losing the time and date. The phone has a battery to remember all the phone numbers stored, why can't it remember the time and date? Very bad!
End up returning the phone a day after receiving it, and Amazon was very helpful in taking the phone back! Thanks Amazon!
I am now a happy owner of a Vtech DS6322-4 6.0 cordless bluetooth phone, which is loud enough for my old ears (this one loses the time and date also, but it only takes about 7 seconds to reset it with the handset.) My Motorola H681 bluetooth headset works great when paired to the base unit, loud and clear. Four bluetooth units can be paired to the base unit, but only one bluetooth headset (which works only with the landline) and only one cell phone can be working at a time. The bluetooth headset can only be paired with the base unit, so 30 feet is the limit away from the base unit. Can't wait for a bluetooth that can be paired with the handset instead! Paired my Nokia 6555 phone to the Vtech DS6322 base unit also, and its just like using a landline. All the features on the Vtech are easy to use. I believe the Vtech DS6322 is the best bluetooth phone availabe at this time.

I bought this phone as an attempt to get my parents to drop their landline. The TL92387 is essentially a two line phone. Line 1 = your landline. Line 2 = your bluetooth cellphone. Paired with a Sprint Sanyo Katana II, this unit works flawlessly. Just like a bluetooth enabled car, when the cellphone is in proximity of the base, it is recognized and paired with that system.

When your TL92387 phone rings, one of two lines will light up, cell or landline. You press the corresponding button (just as you would with any 2-line phone) and presto. The sound quality of the bluetooth is as good as the landline. I suspect other comments complaining about bluetooth just don't understand the limitations of the bluetooth technology which is limited. The cellphone has to be within a few feet of the TL92387 base in order to achieve good reception. That's true of any two bluetooth paired devices and is not a limitation of the TL92387 unit.

My hope is that with this unit, my parents will realize that the "landline" is meaningless now that they can use their "landline phone" to accept any type of call. They have a 2100 anytime min cell plan with 6pm off-peak; so going cell for them just makes sense. I'm confident this phone will eventually make them realize they don't need two lines.

Pros:
- AT&T did an excellent job of programming features; very intuitive, easy, and the defaults are pretty on the mark.
- Bluetooth; again AT&T did an excellent job of integration. Even my 80 year old mother can use it.
- Range; pretty good.
- Programming the contacts directory in one handset automatically copies it to other handsets.
- Speakerphone works pretty well.

Cons:
- Handsets are somewhat cheaply constructed & I would venture to say this will impact longevity.
- No speed dial buttons.
- Sound quality is average.
- Sound volume at its highest level is only medium to low range at best. My father cannot hear using this phone (very disappointing).
- Others have complained about battery life. Time will tell.
- Others have complained about other quirks. None experienced here, but again, time will tell.

I bought this system to replace our landline. We are on a family plan with a phone for each of us so I bought an additional unlocked phone through Amazon.com to be used exclusively as our home phone and had our landline phone number ported over to it. The extra phone only cost an additional $9.99 a month which is a great savings over what I was paying for our landline. The only reason I only gave it four stares is because they do not tell you before you buy, nor does the instructions say anything about the fact that the answering system and voice mail notification light only work for the landline. I had to call their technical support people to be told this. I selected this system over others because it had an answering system. My technology challenged family will never check their cell phone voice mail so I thought a conventional answering machine would serve us better. Had I realized the answering system would not work for the Bluetooth connection I probably would have bought the Panasonic system because, even though it does not have landline capability which I do not need anyway, it does have some nicer features for about the same price.

As far as some of the reviews go that say it has trouble reconnecting with some devices the fact is it is the device that is the problem not the phone. Some phones have a problem reconnecting especially if they have more than one Bluetooth device defined to them. They only want to connect to the device they were last connected to. If you want them to search for a different Bluetooth devices it is sometimes necessary to power the phone off and back on again.

I needed six phones so I bought two of these systems and registered all phones to one base. I use the other base as a recharging stand just as the satellite phone have. This was easy to do but I was a little disappointed to find you must unregister all phones including the ones already registered to the base then reregister them all to the one base.

In summery if you are going to have a landline and want a modular phone system throughout the house that also connects to one of more cell phones this system is the one for you, but if you are using it to connect to a Bluetooth phone only with no landline capability I would suggest you look at some other systems because you will be paying for an answering system that you will not be able to use.

I purchased this to eliminate my land-line. I ported my home number to a cell number and added to my cell plan for $9.99 per month. For those wondering I use Verizon for both so this represents @39 per month savings. The phone was easy to setup. For a short while I used as a land line only, then my normal cell and land-line and now just ported cell number. I keep the base and the cell phone together so I do not have any pairing issues. When I leave the house I take my cell and leave the home cell behind.
Pros: Easy to setup and use, good sound quality, headset's are light and have a speaker option (nice).
Cons: None really but things you should understand Caller Id shows the Name of the Blue-tooth Phone not callers name it does show callers number. Once on cellular only you no longer have a answering machine on the base, your answering machine is your cellular voice mail.
One other thing to consider is if you have a alarm system most companies want to charge too much money to convert to cellular in my case @300 initial fee for hardware installation and another $10 additional per month monitoring fee. What I did was get the cheapest dial tone service available from Verizon @17 per month for my alarm system. Therefore my savings ended up being only $22 per month, so not to bad.

Like a previous review points out, this product has trouble reconnecting with an iPhone once it comes back into range. Unlike the other reviewer, this *never* works for me.

Worked great out of the box, the next day I went out on an errand. When I came back, sure enough the bluetooth light on the base doesn't go on. Ok, fine, maybe just a glitch, I'll just unpair/re-pair. Works now.

Ok, let's turn off the bluetooth feature on the iPhone and turn it back on. Again, the base station won't reconnect to the iPhone. Unpair/re-pair. Works now.

Ok, let's reboot the iPhone. When it comes back on, again, the base is deaf to the phone. Unpair/re-pair. Works again.

Called support, their answer was that this was the expected behavior. Excuse me? I have un-pair/re-pair the phone every time I walk back into the house? Uh-uh. Back to the store it goes.

Now, I was hoping to replace my existing Dock-n-talk bluetooth gateway which allows you to bridge your phone to Line 2 in your house. Have used that for a couple of years now, with only the occasional glitch with the phone not reconnecting (power-cycling the Dock-n-talk fixes it). Otherwise it's completely seamless. Ditto with my Toyota Sienna's bluetooth feature. Walk out of the house, start the car, and the iPhone is connected to the car. Come back home, walk in the door, and before I even get to the charger the iPhone is connected to the Dock-n-talk.

That's the bar AT&T, if you can't meet that, this product is going nowhere.

Phone worked for first 3 months then stopped being able to break dial tone. Phone rings but you can't connect, likewise, when you pick up the handset there is a dial tone but you can't break it to dial out. Spent infuriating long time with customer service and they tell me this is an unreported problem,yet when I google the problem there are thousands with the same issue. Phone is terrible, customer service is even more terrible.

The quality of the product is great. The voice quality with my home line is crystal clear and am able to take calls several 100 feet from the base station without any noticable drop in voice quality. The bluetooth feature is really easy to setup but the voice quality isnt the best. I have it setup with an iPhone and can notice some static. However the caller on the other end doesn't seem to notice any difference. I am not quite sure if its the iPhone or the cordless that is having these problems.

The directory is stored on the base station and makes it easy to add/delete numbers. Overall I am pretty satisfied with the product so far.