Customer Reviews

AT&T CL81309 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone, Black/Silver, 3 Handsets

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Finally a phone that works and isn't a P.O.S. I had an expensive Panasonic ($125) single cordless phone with no answering machine. Can't hear anything on the Panasonic phone and they said it needs to be unplugged and plugged in when it does this - to reboot it. Needed to be rebooted a few times a day - now it's in the garbage where it belongs. We also had Uniden phones (5 of them) - all very poor quality and noisy with poor range.

This AT&T phone has a great range with excellent sound. No noise! Easy to program. Only need to program one phone - all the handsets will then see your directory entries. No need to program each separately. These were so great that I bought a 3 phone expansion pack: 3 more handsets. I also bout a great headset that works on the DECT 6.0 1.9GHz instead of bluetooth. That means it has great range.

We have AT&T voicemail - so we didn't need or want an answering machine. A Voicemail button would have been nice, but we just put it in as an entry in the directory.

Another big plus is the ability to talk on multiple handsets at the same time. My other cordless phones couldn't do this (just one conversation between the base and one handset at a time). Now I can pick up the phone and when it's for someone else - they can pick it up before I hang up. And we can both talk to someone on two handsets at the same time. I think it supports 4 handsets simultaneously...

here's the headset that works with this:
AT&T TL7600 DECT 6.0 Digital Cordless Headset and Charger (Silver/Black)

OMG. What took me so long to stumble upon this fantastic cordless phone?! After purchasing several pieces of crap from Uniden, I FINALLY learned my lesson and switched to this wonderful AT&T cordless phone set! It works BRILLIANTLY!

It has every single feature that you could imagine under the sun (except for a headphone jack & a belt clip, but those 2 things are completely unimportant to me), it is totally logical & intuitive to use, it has crystal clear voice quality, it comes with a wonderfully helpful and intelligently-written 60-page users guide, and it comes with all sorts of clever things that I never would have thought of (for example, your address book on one phone is instantaneously shared on all the other phones).

I can't really say enough great things about this phone. I am so happy to be finally using this cordless phone set in my household. This is the one. This is the cordless phone set to get.

These phones are a huge improvement over our former equipment (Uniden). The three handsets are interchangeable, the reception is excellent, and we like that the headsets blink when there is a voicemail.

We had a Uniden previously and it worked well, but we wanted to expand so I went searching for a new system. I did research online and then went to a local store to 'touch' the product. The initial system I was considering turned out to be too light weight - this one seemed perfect. Came home and researched this model and found rave reviews. There are so many things that don't seem to work correctly that I have to assume we received a defective system. I like the orange background on the screen. The actual font is different than what is on the demos and I cannot read the handset when it is in its base. I like the bigger buttons, the larger phone book (which is really easy to creat) and the ease of communicating between handsets. We've been using the phone for about 4 days now. When talking on the phone, we can barely hear the other person when the volume is at its highest - they fade in and out. If we happen to talk at the same time as our caller, they blank out completely and its like talking to dead air. The speaker fades in and out even if you aren't making any noise. I had to shut off the speaker each time I tried it as the caller couldn't hear me clearly. I thought one of the main features of a DECT was less interference from wireless networks. The main unit of our 5.8ghz Uniden used to sit right next to our wireless router without issue. We tried to set this one up the same, but the feedback and buzzing was so great, we had to move it. I cannot comment on battery life nor the signal strength. Like I said previously - since there are so many other very high reviews, we must have gotten a defective one.

PROS:
--Attractive, but not flashy and "space-age" looking
--Good range
--Clear sound quality
--Syncs with my Vonage "V-Portal" phone adapter perfectly: Caller-ID works fine. Notifies me of voicemail then deletes the voicemail notification after I've finished listening to it.
--Intuitive interface (a rarity with phones, these days). All buttons and their purpose are clearly labeled. No "combo" key codes just to delete a letter, etc. Just hit "delete"
--Inexpensive in comparison to more popular manufacturer's models. From what I've read... more reliable, too.
--Well written and informative user manual.

CONS:
--Earpiece could be louder. It won't be a problem under normal circumstances, but I can think of a few where it will.
--16hr initial charge period, before you can use it. Don't they manufacture rechargeable batteries that maintain (something like) 80% of their charge, while idle? It's heart wrenching to not be able to play with a new toy for almost a full day after removing it from its packaging.

OTHER:
--Though I realize that not everyone has voicemail, it would be nice if they included a programmable "voicemail" button (or just an unlabeled programmable button for your customization), for quick access. It's easier than scrolling through a library of contacts to get to your voicemail.
--Amazon's photos make the phone look white. They don't do it justice.

OVERALL:
A well thought out and designed wireless phone system that sacrifices the bells & whistles (that other manufacturers seem to concentrate on) in favor of reliability and ease of use.

UPDATE (01/21/2012): The phone system still works perfectly, though I thought that I should mention that you CAN adjust the volume of each earpiece. I overlooked this in the manual.

This phone gets good reception. I can walk a few houses down the street without any interferance or static. My only complaints would be 1)There is no page feature if you misplace the handset. 2)There is no voicemail button. 3)There is no visual voicemail light other than on the base system. If you don't care about those things then this is an excellant phone.

This is an awesome phone, it is easy to use, it's large enough so you don't have problems shouldering it to your ear. It has good clarity, the Voice mail indicator is nice. The other review is correct, they do need to add a Voice mail button. I would recommend this to anyone.

This telephone is very easy to set up. Just install the batteries and charge. Then connect the main unit both to an outlet and a telephone jack. The separate
handsets do need an outlet but not an additional telephone jack.
The clarity is superb both for reception and transmission. It is so easy to check and delete the list of prior call that you do not need a separate caller ID unit.
The telephone number keys are among the best available for older persons who may have arthritic hands. This is clearly a superb unit.

First a touch of background.

I've had cordless phones for about 25-30 years running. I've had everything from Cobra (yes, if you remember those) phones to Panasonic & everything in between. The last set of phones that I had were a by Panasonic, but they would cut out in the middle of the conversation...or even when we'd try to pick up a call.

As a result I did some research and selected this phone. What follows is my personal view over the past month of ownership.

We have a three level townhome & the base unit stays on the middle floor. Each handset is numbered (which comes in handy should you choose) and the range is more than adequate for a relatively good sized townhome. I can use the phones from the garage to the back yard & the sound is very clear. I haven't gotten to the limit of these phones as yet even though I've walked out into the cul-de-sac (in other words the range is MORE than enough) and there's no static what so ever. The speaker phone is actually very clear in a quiet room - both speaking & listening - but I've not used it in a noisy room as yet. Most of the time with speakerphones you want to have quiet (for obvious reasons) but it does the job surprisingly well. I give range & clarity a score of A - understand that if you have a larger single family home with a lot of land your milage may vary.

Features: We already had caller ID & that works with this phone. The directory is fairly easy to work with - it just takes some time to add a name. Adding a name is like texting with a phone that doesn't have a QWERTY keyboard, so keep this in mind. Once you add a number from one handset it's updated on all three (or however many you have with your system) so that's a nice little plus. Being able to select a specific ringer tone is standard fare; you cannot select a ring tone based on whomever's calling however. You can turn the volume up or down (standar fare again) and you can turn the key tone (the sound that the buttons make when you press them) off...which comes in handy for operating late at night or when you'd rather not make noise (keep babies sleeping, etc.). Buttons are illuminated and are very easy to read as is the display - but take note that if you are vision impaired the menu is not much better than a normal cell phone display.

The menu is linear - and can feel a bit clunky at times - but it does work fairly well. You just have to select the option, then scroll up or down within each option to find what you want, then select it. Accessing your directory works the same way, but you can also search by the name - big time saver if you have a large directory.

Calling between handsets is a great little feature that you may not think is worth it, but here's a scenario: I'm out back grilling & my wife is in the guest room. I want to ask her a question about what I'm grilling for her and rather than going inside & upstairs I can just ring her fairly quickly. Each handset is numbered so you can call the one you need. The only thing you have to keep track of is what handset is where; we keep them in a given room all the time to avoid the confusion.

The shape of the phone is not an issue & it will stand on it's own with no problem. There is no belt clip that comes with it but if you're outside grilling (catching a theme here folks?) you can just stash it in the apron pocket or on a table. It will lie flat without depressing any buttons.

Price is actually pretty good for what you get. You *don't* get a voice mail option but it will work with a standard phone provider voice mail. You do get a very good phone with solid features, good range & great voice quality. You don't get an answering machine and it doesn't have *all* the bells & whistles...but you get a good phone for your money in my personal opinion.


I want to stress two things: 1) this is just my personal experience and 2) I've had the phone for a month.

Thank you, and I hope this helps.

When this phone first arrived and I saw it had "voicemail notification" on it I was skeptical. However, when I came home from work one day and saw the notification on and that there was actually a voicemail I knew this was the best phone for me. No longer would I miss an important message because I forgot to check my voicemail. My other favorite feature was when I programed some phone numbers into one of the handsets and discovered that those numbers were in all the handsets (a feature my old cordless phones didn't have) I was so please because now my husband & I didn't have to ask "Which handset is this one?"

If you have voicemail on your phone, this is the coreless phone for you.