Customer Reviews

AT&T CL82309 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone, Black/Silver, 3 Handsets

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Amazon is presenting this as the "newer model" of the the AT&T SL82318 DECT 6.0 phone. It has most of the same features -- high quality, clear, crisp sound, very good range, clear display, reasonably simple number storage and auto-dial -- but it does NOT have a jack for a headset, which the earlier model did. So if that feature is important to you, this is not the phone you want. (And no, the old model handset is not interchangeable with the new ones. It would be great if AT&T offered a compatible single-phone expansion set for this series with a headset jack.) Another minor annoyance is that although the phone hangs up when you put it in the charging cradle, it does not automatically turn on if it's ringing and you remove it from the cradle; you have to push a button. But overall a very good phone.

These phones do not give caller id information when just one phone is off the cradle. Screen reads incoming call on all phones. When all three phones are on the cradle, caller id appears correctly with name. Calls are not recorded in the phone log when they are off the cradle. Have talked with tech support and unable to resolve this issue. I now have to return them, at my expense, and wait at least 14 days after return package is received for replacement phones. Will do more research to see if this is a product flaw in this model before deciding if I want replacement phones. I also disagree with others on clarity of these phones. It is okay but not as good as my older panasonic. Range distance to receive calls is very good.

The long range (525+ yards line of sight range) and the extremely clear sound are so good that not even my brand new Panasonic can come close. This phone has more features than I'll probably use. I like the large, easy to use buttons. For the quality, the price and all the features this phone has, I really don't care about a jack for headsets or pushing a button to answer, after all, I'm use to push a button on my cell phone all the time in order to answer a call so, I don't think is a BIG deal.
Happy with purchase price. AT&T comes through again!

The AT&T phone is manufactured by VTech but has some better attributes (human factors) than the normal VTech. The best elements of this phone are the functions you use every day: Sound, speaker phone, range, battery life and dialing. When dialing, you can either turn on the phone or just enter the number then hit the call function. Unlike other phones, you can switch on/off the speaker and mute functions while the phone is dialing (others make you wait for the call to be engaged). You can also select a number from Caller ID and press "1" to add a "1" for dialing long distance. For conference calls and general phone calls, you can't beat this phone. Now the limitations: No headset jack, voice mail is an icon--not a blinking light--and is tiny, and no speed dial for voice mail (probably since this system has an answering machine). In summary, a great phone for 90-95% of your daily needs. BTW, CL phones are the 2009 models. EL phones were 2008. Hint: Also look to see if the model is expandable depending on your needs.

This set of phones is pretty good looking. Each handset is pretty light and the voice quality sounds great. I like the fact that I don't need to set the time. They just get that from the caller id information. I haven't had any problems with the range of the phone either. Overall, this is a great phone. The only problem I had with it is that after having it for a little less than 4 months, one of the buttons in one of the handsets stopped working. I managed to return it and got the same model again. Hopefully this one will last longer.

UPDATE: The second set I got had a problem about 5 months later. One of the handsets became unresponsive (no buttons would work). I had to unplug the battery and plug it back and it worked after that. It seems like just like many electronics these days, it needed a power cycle after being on for a long time.

We are loving this phone (or should I say THESE PHONES?)!
We have one in the living room, one in the kitchen, and one in the bedroom. It's awesome to always be right near a ringing phone, and also very convenient to intercom each other across the house.
The sound quality is superlative, and I am EXTREMELY picky about sound quality.
The range is great - I can go far down the driveway before it starts getting scratchy.
My two cons are that it the units don't have a headphone jack and belt clip, and they are a little on the small/skinny size for holding with your shoulder hands free for a long period. But then again, the speakerphone quality is EXCELLENT as well, so you don't really need to hold the phone on your shoulder while working with your hands anyway - you can just set the phone down on the table and put it on speaker!
Battery life seems virtually infinite. We hardly remember to put the living room phone on the charger, for days and days, and it has never run out of battery on a call.

Overall rating: 4.9 Stars out of 5. (Would be 5 if it had a headset jack, and would be 4.0 if it didn't have the great quality speakerphone.)

I researched a lot of phones before deciding on this one. It had all the features that I wanted... or so I thought. However, I didn't see reviews about the lousy design of the handsets. I find them extremely difficult to grasp. The back of the phone is cylindrical in shape - they're about the size of a TP tube cut in half - lengthwise. There's nothing to hold on to! They slip around in your hand - its almost impossible to hold the phone and activate buttons with just one hand. The plastic is too smooth and there's nothing on each side of the phone to hold on to. The back does not need to be round.

I have the same complaint about panasonic phones. But this one is far worse. Give me flat sides!

Re-Edited after 2 months of use: dropped the rating to 1 star.
Another annoyance I discovered just recently: I live in the country and the power blips off for a fraction of a second - especially in the summer during storms. This phone immediately forgets the time and date. There's no battery backup.
The messages are retained, but then you have to listen to "Time and Date not set" at the beginning and end of message retrieval. It's a 26 step, button-pressing process to reset the time and date. This is an unconscionable oversight for any answering machine.

It looks good but it has a number of disadvantages when I compare it to my previous, similarly priced Panasonic cordless phone. For example, its current date and time setting will be lost if the power is interrupted even for a moment. Once you press "Talk" you cannot access the directory menu. This makes it impossible to conveniently use a calling card with this phone. (I used to store the access number in the phone directory along with the PIN, and then use one-touch dialing and one-touch PIN submission.) The handset cannot be used hands-free as it does not allow you to connect an external earphone.

For the money this has was good purchase. After considering info. from consumer reports, which they recommended for basic usage. Sound quality is good except sometimes I get feed back which makes it sound like I am speaking on a loud speaker. However, the receiving person does not hear it that way. As far as all the features it has way more than I would ever need. The phone locator on the base is a good feature. Very good product.

These phones and answering machine work well. Much better than my previous cordless phones. The DECT 6.0 technology is very good. One thing I didn't like was the number of rings available for the answering machine. Can only select 2 or 4 or 6. Of course I wanted 3 but other than that I think it is an excellent product.