Customer Reviews

AT&T TL74108 5.8 DSS Corded/Cordless Answering System (Black)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought the TL74108 system and then found out AT&T doesn't sell additional handsets to expand this system. Well I bought the TL71108 system that comes with three handsets for about 76.00 at Best Buy. Deregistered all the handsets in both sets and registered them to the TL74108 and now I have a system with 4 handsets! I purchased the TL71108 at Best Buy because on the box is says it needs the same model handset as my TL74108 system says, to get additional handsets. My guess is the model TL70008 is just an unregistered phone. The owners manual tells you how to deregister the phones and how to re register them to the phone base. If you lost the owners manual you can get it online at the AT&T web site. Hope this help people out there wanting to expand their system! I am happy with the phone because I like the intercom system in has.

I must say that this phone really cleared the space onb my desk with the speakerphone, answering machine, and address book all built into one nice small piece of equipment. It is so refreshing to pick up a phone w/ a cord for a change and the clarity is excellent. If I need the cordless phone, it is available when needing to wander around beyond a corded phones limits. I keep the cordless phone in another area of my home so I don't miss a call ever. The ring style options are wonderful and professional sounding so I can determine what line is being called in on.
Both phones integrate with eachother so that anything you add or delete from either phone will transfer info to the other phone.... yet another plus. The cordless phone has similiar charachterisitics of a cell phone regarding its being user friendly so I was able to adapt to its features as well. For my residence line I have a 6.0 DECT phone system and see minimal differences in quality or clarity. Oh yes and having the speaker phone feature on the cordless set is a plus as well.

Overall for the $$$, this phone is a great value and met or exceeded my expectaions and needs.

Be very careful with this phone.

While it is advertised as being expandable, they do not make or sell the expansion handsets. They do not make or sell the base handset, either, so if it breaks or something, you cannot replace it. You must either live without it, or buy a whole new system.

Its a pretty good phone assuming you like it exactly like it is.

Its expandable ONLY IN THEORY. You can't actually buy the extra handsets.

Here is a copy of an email message I received when I asked about expanding my system:
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Thank you for your recent inquiry to our Consumer Sales and Service Center. Please keep the original e-mail attached with our response in case further assistance is needed.

The TL74108 is compatible with the TL77008 accessory handset. This handset is not available for purchase through our Consumer Sales and Service Center or via our website.
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Buyer beware

Pros:

Good sound quality on base
No detectable interference on cordless
Easy to read LED displays on both
Simple setup for basic functions

Cons:

Corded base unit does Not work when the power is out
Cordless unit is too small
Ear piece speaker on cordless is much too small
Volume control for cordless ear piece speaker does almost nothing
Not exactly feature rich
No easy way to add numbers to the directory from the cordless unit

I bought this style of phone, instead of an all cordless system, because I wanted to be able to make and receive calls when the power goes out. This model's base unit doesn't work when the power is out, so there's no reason to buy this phone at all.

The cordless unit is much too small, making it uncomfortable to hold for a long conversation, the exact type of conversation which you want to use a cordless phone for. The earpiece speaker is small even for the size of the unit, and has a concave design. This gives it a very tiny "sweet spot" for hearing, and if the phone shifts slightly away from perfect alignment with your ear canal the volume drops to almost nothing.

I had a 30 minute conversation with a friend. By the end, my hand was cramped from trying to hold the cordless in just the right spot so I could hear him, and my ear hurt from the pressure of pushing the thing against it. Raising the volume was no help because the difference between minimum and maximum is barely perceptible.

Possibly the worst thought-out cordless telephone I have ever used. The screen says "Missed Call" for EVERY call that comes through, including those that were answered immediately. The CID says "unknown name" for most callers, including those who are in the machine's directory. The answering machine notifies of a new message with a barely audible beep, but not with a flashing light as do Uniden, Panasonic, GE and other machines. With the handset you can dial a number, then push the speaker phone button and get connected, but you cannot terminate the call by pushing the button again; you must also push the off button. (On the base, however, you CAN end a speaker phone call as you began it, with the speaker phone button.) But the most anoying "feature" of this phone is that you cannot automatically call back a number that is displayed in the Caller ID window if the number requires an area code; instead you must find a pen and paper, write down the number displayed in the CID window, get out of CID mode, get a dial tone, then manually dial the number. Next time lightening gets my phone I'll replace it with a Panasonic.

This phone is great as there is a dial on the corded phone, and you can use the corded phone if the cordless battery dies. One thing I noticed that I did not like is when making calls at night, the dialpad is not lighted, a definate minus.

I can't believe the base unit or the expandable unit has a clock display on it. All phones I've had have this feature, minimally.

Not a biggie but the display is goldish/yellow not blue.

We love our TL74108 and it is my understanding though there is no handset marketed for the TL74108, the ATT handset model number Tl70008 is compatable. It seems ATT has not done an adequate job infoming consumers of this, and it has lead to a lot of confusion and disapointment with their customers.AT&T TL70008 5.8GHz Digital Cordless Expansion Handset (Titanium and Metallic Charcoal)

This phone does most of what I purchased it for. The Answering System works good, and you can hear and understand the phone messages. The voice mail light only flashes if your phone is connected to an audix service, which is confusing. The light should flash also for any incoming messages on the machine. The display is the biggest disappointment on this phone. It is not the blue display as shown in the pictures, when purchasing it. It is just a plain LCD display, that is extremely difficult to read, even when the backlight is on, as it is very dim. But, overall the phone met my expectations except for the issues noted above. It is an overly large phone, so it does not take up too much space on a desk.

The remote unit reception was very noisy after a couple years and often got the "can't connect" failure message. Tried a new battery at $35 to no avail. Served me well, but expected that it would work longer than that, especially with little use (I use my cell phone the vast majority of the time.) I have had other phones for up to 10 years with heavy use. Will replace with a different brand.