Customer Reviews

AT&T SL82318 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone, Silver/Gray, 3 Handsets

5 star:		(215)
4 star:		(80)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

I had been using a Uniden digital 5.8 Ghz phone for a number of years. While that phone provided reasonable service, it was lacking in range. We have a large lot (over 5 acres) and the 5.8 Technology just did not have the reach we needed especially outside. Things got worse when we added a wireless network for our computers. When the batteries started to fail in the handsets, we knew it was time to upgrade.

After looking at a lot of phone specs, it was clear that the new DECT technology might solve some of the problems we had. The offerings are not very extensive in this area yet so the choices really came down to personal preferences. There were very few if any owner reviews to go on (that is why I am writing this one) for any of the products available. What was available about other brands was not generally positive.

So we settled on going with a known brand name. AT&T is a brand name product despite being made outside the US by a third party manufacturer.

So far we are pleased with the phone. It has a lot more range than our old phone (though still not really enough). We have a lot of electrical items, and any signal must go through the 8" think oak log walls of the house to work outside. Even with all of that, the phone works out to about 200 feet from the base unit outside. The old phone would barely reach the front porch, and the driveway was out of range. The driveway is only 75 feet from the base unit. This new phone would probable go further than the 200 to 300 feet we have tested it to, if I was willing to put the base on the upper floor of the house. All of the handsets work anywhere inside the house, no problem. The base in located near the cent of the middle floor of the house, so basically it is in the Middle of the building and the interior walls are all of standard drywall construction.

The sound quality is pretty good, and there is absolutely no background noise or interference of any kind. The handset buttons are larger than most and this helps my large fingers hit the buttons better. Also the numbers are protected UNDER the plastic so they will not wear off. The buttons are lighted with an effective lighting system. The volume is adjustable and is adequate, but for my taste it could be made a little louder. Still the volume is ok. Ring and caller volume can be adjusted separately, and the ring volume is plenty loud, especially with four handsets ringing at once.

For my tastes the handsets are a little too slim and light in weight, but this is just my personal taste, my wife likes them the way they are and I would think others would too.

We also bought two add on hand sets for a total of six. I tested the phone inside our barn, and it works fine so we plan to add one out there. The barn is 75 feet from the house, but this adds another set of walls to penetrate when using the phone. I think for most people the range will be fine, and if the older technologies worked for you or were marginal, the newer DECT 6.0 will be just fine.

The battery life seems to be very good. While we do put these back in the cradle at night, we have not had them go dead yet. Even with a very active day of calls the handset does not seem to require topping off to keep going. I would rate the stand by and talk time to be very good. I would prefer if the charge LED went off when the handset is charged, but no companies have got this idea yet.

All in all I would rate this phone highly. I would have preferred the ability to dial from a hardwired phone located on the base, and maybe more message storage space.

First and foremost, this line of AT&T DECT 6.0 cordless phones works extremely well, no background noise even with a home wireless system, great range, and very good sound quality both with the handset to your ear and on speaker phone. It does all that one should expect from a cordless phone system. Entering names and numbers into your directory is very intuitive, as is using the caller ID and changing the ringer tone and volume. You hardly need the manual. We use the "phone company" voice mail, so I haven't evaluated the "usability" of the answering machine, but it "talks you through" the setup steps, setting the clock, etc., and seems very user friendly to operate. Another nice feature is that directory and CID entries are maintained in the base station, so if, for example, you enter a name/number on handset #1, it is immediately available on all other handsets on your system.

The handset is quite lightweight and compact compared to our previous cordless phone, which took a little getting used to, but my wife and I adapted to it after one or two days. The handsets come with belt clips, which I use, not to clip them on my belt but because they raise the back of the handsets slightly if you lay them down, which I find improves the the speaker phone sound (the speaker is on the back of the handsets).

One minor drawback, compared to my prior cordless phone, which permitted each handset to be identified by location, e.g., "kitchen," "bedroom," etc., is that each AT&T handset has a number (and added handsets are given consecutive numbers as they are registered to the base up to the maximum of 12), so you have to remember the location numbers to call another handset on the intercom or to transfer incoming calls. Not a big deal, but being able to name each handset is a nice feature.

Be aware that the SL82(X)18 models are all the same, with the (X) indicating the number of handsets with that bundle. For example, SL82318 comes with three handsets, SL82418 with four, etc. I mention this because the various bundles appear to be different products, but they are all essentially the same, so keep this in mind when shopping for the best deal. The only exception seems to be that models SL82518 and SL82558 both have five handsets, but I haven't been able to find what the difference between them is, even on the AT&T site. Since my review applies to all bundles of this system, (if they let me) I will post this review under the several different model numbers.

All in all, I am extremely pleased with these purchases, first a four handset bundle, then three additional handsets for a total of seven. Hope this review is helpful in making up your mind about selecting a new cordless phone.

This unit was to replace an older Panasonic KX-TG series 5gig phone we had for a few years. I researched it and thought it offered the best of what I look for in a phone:

Backlit Keys (nice for at night)
Caller ID
Multiple handset conference calling (kids can talk to Grandparents simultaneously)
Speaker Phone on handsets

What I found hard to like was this:

-Inability to access answering machine messages via handsets
-To direct dial a number logged into caller ID list, you have to push # a couple of times to change the display to remove the area code or 1 so the phone can dial out.


I suppose I was used to the features of my old Panasonic and needed to research more before settling on this AT&T. I probably would have kept it had it offered the ability to default the local area code "off" so I could directly find who called and hit talk.

I ultimately purchased the Panasonic KX-TG9344 Panasonic KX-TG9344T DECT 6.0 Expandable Digital Cordless Answering System w/4 Handsets as it offered everything I like including a keypad on the base. With 4 handsets vs my original 2, I find the likelihood of all handsets dying at the same time scarce, but I have it nonetheless.

I imagine I'm being pretty particular about this phone, but I am probably like most in that we get used to expecting certain features and when they are absent, we miss them.

I have always liked accessing the answering machine via the handsets and the talking caller ID is pretty cool for the lazy screener.

Amazon as always ships quickly and handled the return very well.

I bought these after considerable online research. I am very happy with them. They look great, are easy to use, have all the features you could want, excellent sound quality, and there is no interference with our multiple wireless networks. Best of all, the handset-to-handset intercom does not ring loudly in the caller's ear, a particularly dismal feature of my old set. Good easy-to-read buttons with back-illumination. Inexpensive additional handsets through AT&T website.

I have been using the system for about 3 weeks and so far it is awesome, excellent clarity and also good range, which has turned out to be somewhat of a problem with cordless phones of late. All manufacturers seemed to have removed the antennas from them while at the same time increasing the gigahertz and that turned out to be a deadly combination that drastically reduced the range from what we used to get on the old 900 phones which had antennas. Since this one is a 1.9 and also has an antenna, I have my range back!

The phone is very user friendly and easy to set up. I cannot say enough good things about it (albeit I have only used it 2 or 3 weeks now. I had first bought a Panasonic 1034 dect 6.0 set. AWFUL range, awful reception. Calls would just go dead in the house for no apparent reason. I returned that set and tried this one and so far have been pleased.

This was the top rated phone by Consumer Reports, so I just bought it and set it up for my mom.

If you don't need three handsets save yourself $25 or so and order the AT&T SL82218 instead -- it's the same system minus one handset. If you need four get the SL82418.

The phone works great, but beyond that it also LOOKS REALLY GREAT (the pictures on here don't begin to do it justice -- at all -- but it'd not cheap looking dull gray plastic like you might imagine, but nice metal and so on).

Other than a few quibbles this is a really good phone (so good I'm now buying one for myself). These quibbles were:

- The manual seemed like it would have been easy to make much more clear than it was;
- The quick setup page was actually less quick than just ignoring it and going to the first few pages of the manual (and then it just ended without anything about setting up the answering machine); and
- It took awhile to unpack all the little overly packaged parts).
- The recorded sound quality if you want to use your own voice to leave a message is noticeably sub par compared to what it should be (and what it is on most any other phone), and when compared to the "robo voice" message of the machine itself which is quite useable (your own voice, however, will sound muffled and weak).

Beyond that, the call and hang up buttons could be more clear (my stepfather is color blind and can't discriminate between the green for go and the red for hang up, so icons for these would have been better, and even ignoring that fact the contrast of the red on the gray could have been much better -- it's just hard to see and makes you think the people who design and review these must all be in their 20s, but now I'm in my 40s and wearing glasses for the first time and I notice issues like this all the time that would be easy to make a lot better for people with less than perfect vision).

This is okay though because within no time you'll just remember where everything is by feel, it's just the period of learning it where it's needlessly difficult.

Overall a great choice since I've given up on Uniden products and needed to find a two handset model with voice mail.

Beyond all this, the sound quality is excellent, the range is good (it can be taken out to the pool), and it doesn't affect the wi-fi network for our laptops.

Highly recommend (with the caveat that I wish AT&T would go back to the drawing board for the next version and address the manual issues and the visibility issues on the handset -- especially that red on dark gray lack of contrast issue).

Although I had read that the low volume was an issue in other reviews, I found the majority of comments so positive that I decided to buy this phone anyway. It was a gift for my Mother who seems to have more problems with telephones than could be humanly possible. So I spent hours reading reviews and decided that this AT&T was going to be the one! However once we tested it, it was obvious that the volume concern was in fact a major issue. After 2 minutes of yelling across the phone lines, we decided this needed to be returned.

Just received this phone system and have used it only a couple of times. My wife used it once and was not happy. It's going back.

Pros: Very easy to set up. Appears to be of good quality. Clear display, nice backlight. I like the fact that the phone number database (Directory) is in the base unit and available to all handsets. You only need to store the numbers once and not in each handset like my old system. The larger letters on the display and on the keypad are a plus as I don't have to put on my glasses to dial or read the Caller ID. I have not had it long enough to evaluate the battery life or range, but the new technology should be better in both areas. The DECT 1.9 frequency does not interfere with a wireless router. The answering system announcement and recorded messages seemed very clear.

Cons: Two things that were a real problem from the start and prompted my decision to return the product. First is the volume contol button on the side of the phone. Maybe it's just me, but whenever I hold the handset, my hand and thumb are naturally resting on this button. The button is very easy to push, so even a little movement of the phone or shifting your hand position a little results in the phone beeping away and the volume going up or down during use. Very annoying. This button needs to be relocated somewhere else. You can reposition your hand to not rest on the button, but then the handset becomes uncomfortable to hold after a few minutes. My old cordless phones had the volume control on the keypad and was never an issue when using the phone.

Second is the reception voice quality. When you talk, the phone seems to mute the voice of the person you are talking to. In other words, what happens is that the voice of the person you are talking to fades to a low volume when you talk, and when they talk, it takes a second or two for their voice to get back up to normal volume. The constant fading in and out of the other person's dialog is very annoying and makes it difficult to understand the conversation at times. Maybe this is normal with the new DECT 6 electronics, but in any case, both my wife (especially) and I found it unacceptable. It wasn't a range issue as I was only 15 - 20 ft. from the base.

Other than those two negatives, the 3-phone set seemed to be a good value for the money.

Okay, we are not spending hundreds of dollars here on this phone. Given that, the phone is almost perfect. I read up consumer reports, read review did all the research for over a week before settling on this one. The Panasonic KX-TG1033S was my other choice, but this had more negative reviews.

The two most negative comments I read about the AT&T phone was that the voice was very low and that the battery went dead suddenly for at least one customer.

I found the voice loudness to be fine. Agreed, at the loudest setting you want to hear something that hurts the ear, but not for me. The battery, of course, I can't comment. It is a replaceable battery and buying one shouldn't be a big deal if the inevitable happens.

Some things I like very much about the phone is the keypad back-lighted. I have used some phone that miss this simple feature. The number buttons and fairly big for a small phone. I love the fact that the directory is common to all the handsets. My earlier V-tech was a pain in this regard as I had separate directory listings to maintain. I found the menu prompts fairly easy to follow. Again, my V-Tech was a pain when it came to setting up the clock time. Dect 6.0 has advantages over the regular 5.8 GHz range in that it has no interfernce from home wireless networks or microwave waves. Each handset has a speakerphone. You can combine directory listings - i.e., you can dial a number from the directory, and to enter the next number - a pin for example, you scroll through the directory and select the second number. Some phones have a pause that you can store with the numbers, which makes it a bit more convenient and frees up a address space. Setup was easy - it took all of 2 minutes to put in the battery and setup the time.

What is missing is a battery charge indicator. No wonder, some people found out that there was no battery in the middle of a call. This is not a big deal as I usually replace the phone in the charger. The phone is energy star compliant, if that matters. So far, I find the range is adequate for our fairly big home. The materials used in the construction are plasticy, the result when every manufacturer wants to makes a 30% profit but still provide many features at a price the consumer can afford - I am not hung up by this drawback. Also wish there was a audible beep for voice mails, need to walk up to the base to check it out.

The handsets look great - there are slim and light. I would have liked it to be a bit heavier, but that's just me. The directory can hold only 50 names, a bit small for today's connected individual. The handset's seat in the charger isn't deep enough, you can easily knock the handset off the charger, but if you are not clumsy :) you won't. It has only one mailbox - today's teenagers prefer their own, but each one has their own cell phone, don't they?

If you plan to return it for any reason that doesn't satisfy you, keep note of the way the individual items are packed. There is a lot of repackaging for a phone.

For the price I paid, I am not complaining. I plan to buy another handset though I would have saved some money buying a four handset phone.

We just love these phones, very clear, easy to use, love the ability to call the other two head sets. The price was great.($89.00) It also have the ability (for the Answering machine) to be wall mountable. I only found one drawl back. When holding the phone with your shoulder. If you hit a button it will mute you, you can hear the person on the other end. but they don't hear you. But all you have to do is hit the call button twice and there back. But we still love this Phone.