Customer Reviews

AT&T 992 Two-Line Corded Speakerphone with Caller ID

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

I have two phone lines and needed a two line phone to be able conference the two lines together.

Generally speaking, there's nothing wrong with this phone. The buttons are large and have good tactile feedback. The display is backlit and always on; the default screen shows the number of new calls on each line and the current date and time. The screen is easy to read, and the base of the phone make the angle perfect for my desk.

Many other reviews here have stated caller ID doesn't work--It works fine for me on both lines. Maybe I'm quite lucky with the phone, my phone wiring, maybe others are unlucky. But it works great here.

Another review stated that the phone makes irritating 'beep' noises when hitting buttons. Personally, I don't find this too irritating, except for the 'mute' button. The person on the other end will hear you 'un-mute' them (but not 'mute'). That's just bad--especially since there is a light next to the mute button. I am thinking about opening up the phone and disconnecting the speaker/buzzer/whatever it is inside of there.

Someone makes a headset adapter that plugs in between the phone base and the handset; I might evaluate that to get a quiet mute feature.

The handset is comfortable even when talking for over an hour. The handseat is quite lightweight as well. I don't use a headset (yet), so I cannot evaluate that feature.

Anyway given these small negatives, the positive features are overwhelming--especially when you consider what alternatives are there? Virtually none at all (a few phones by Panasonic, but I didn't like the buttons on those).

DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE!! I only put 1 star because the online rating wouldn't let me do zero. Do you know that I almost called the phone company out here to re-wire the jack in my office. I had a new line put in for my business line and a one line phone would work perfectly. When you plug a one line cord into this At&t 992 phone the caller ID works, but as soon as you add another line it won't work. I even had the technician re-wire the line one time so two lines were coming out of two cables..and the other time with the two lines in one cable. Neither combination worked. I even tried other cords. While the technicians were here I explained the issue with the phone. They told me there was a short and I went to Staples and I exchanged it for another one.

Now that I am on phone #2..it still doesn't work. How on earth could a company sell a phone that doesn't do what it is advertised to do? And yes. I called At&t customer service. The woman on the other end of the line was very bothered by my call. Her recommendation to me was to spend another $59.99 to buy a different 2 line caller ID phone to see if that one worked. Nice troubleshooting.

If you work from home and need caller id, skip this phone, unless you don't mind unplugging the second line each time you want to know who's calling you. That's right, you read correctly: For the caller id and/or the call waiting-caller id to work, you can only have one line plugged in. I've been in Telecomm for 22 years so I've tried everything: I tested it at the home demarcation point, I used a friend's phone, the works. Funny fact: I tried making Line 2 my primary line and this made the caller id work for 1 day; but now we are back to plugging and un-plugging the 2nd line. I'm on my way back to Staples to return this piece of junk.

I chose this phone because it looks neat (kind of art-deco) but it has a few fatal flaws that make it useless.

1) It makes a very loud uncontrollable beep whenever you hit any key... So if you mute the conversation, when you un-mute it the other side hears a loud "beep!". You may not want them knowing when you drop off and come back on. Also, the beep is just plain annoying all the time... seriously, it will drive you nuts.

2) the headset has a hiss to it... And for some reason with my GE headset I get feedback sometimes when I mute it via the headset button. This doesn't happen on any other phone.

3) the lights by the mute and headset buttons are offset just enough that you might hit headset when you mean to hit mute. This may just be me being stupid, but I dropped a conversation once at the worst possible time because of this.. (long conference call on mute... Hey Pat, what do you think? I try to hit unmute and drop the call... they think I wasn't listening or dropped off earlier.)

I'm returning this phone and going to check out the Panasonic.


Pat

Update after a year of use:
I'm no longer satisfied with this product(but I don't seem to be able to change my 4-star rating. If I could, it would be a "two". It worked fine for a while; now the speakerphone is nearly useless (which I use constantly). Why is so hard to find a reasonably priced, two-line speakerphone? As far as I can tell, it's going to be a long time before VoIP, cell phones & Skype offer the reliable quality of good old POTS. Unfortunately, nobody seems to be making quality POTS phones.

I must say I purchased this phone with great trepidation. When I have purchased items in the past with this many negative reviews, I've almost always regretted it. Nevertheless, paying double for the 4-line version (recommended by several reviewers) which I didn't need seemed insane.

My experience so far definitely puts me in the satisfied camp. Caller ID works on both lines. The new call light works correctly, the voicemail light works fine. Headset (I'm using a Uniden), handset and speakerphone all are decent quality.

I do think you need to read the manual, though. Some of the features are definitely not intuitive (like how to make the "new call" light go off). For my requirements, I think this phone is about as good as it gets for this suite of features. I looked at competing models at a few brick&mortar retailers, and thought they all looked far worse.

People have reported the Caller ID feature on this phone not working. When I first got the phone, it didn't work for me either. I discovered an interesting anomoly by trial & error that makes the phone work properly.

For people who subscribe to voicemail service, the phone has a COVM indicator light that flashes when new VoiceMail is present. This light also comes on steady when Caller ID has new calls to display. Through the programing menu (under the "Voice Message" section), this feature can be turned on/off independently for each line.

This programming option is controlling more than just the VoiceMail waiting (flashing) feature (despite what the Ops Manual indicates). It is also controlling the Caller ID. If this option is turned off for a particular line, the Caller ID will not work for that line.

I have Caller ID on both lines and I have VoiceMail only on line 2. Therefore, I had the COVM Indicator (Voicemail indicator) for line 1 turned off. CID worked fine on line 2, but not line 1. To make CID work on Line 1, I had to turn on the COVM Indicator for line 1, even though I don't have voicemail on that line. The phone functions properly now.

Despite this problem with the programming menu and the ops manual, I think this phone is great. Haven't had it long, so time will tell.

I'd like to echo everything else said in these reviews: caller ID doesn't work, static, etc. I've also found that if you dial at a normal speed it confuses the tones and doesn't put the call through. It only works if you dial extremely slowly. I tried calling AT&T and they said they'd send a replacement. They never did.

I'm another victim of this phone. My wife's home office needs two lines, needs a cord, needs Caller ID, needs Message ID, a Mute button and so forth. On paper this one looked good, has nice big buttons, and seemed like just what we needed. However, it mostly needs for these features to acutally WORK!!

Well I wish I'd read these reviews before I wasted two days trying to get CID to work, including returning and getting another phone. That one is going back for a full refund. Whether it works on one line or not is not material, as we NEED the two lines; it is the whole point of a two line phone (DUH!)... My wife will just have to use her old phone with the separate CID box for awhile longer and do without the broken speakerphone (why we are replacing it)...

AT&T should do a FULL PRODUCT RECALL for this piece of ... stuff ...

Given the list of requirements and some of the other things I'm reading, the Panasonic ones won't do either (no mute or visible message id).

Sheesh! Is this REALLY THAT HARD?


I wouldn't have even bothered to write a review, except that I want to reinforce what was already written, and see what I could do to lower the average stars from 1.5 to 1. I am a bit curious why the rating isn't visible on the top of the page. This is one case where customers should be warned away sooner than later.

DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE. Caller ID only works on line 1. I bought this phone with high hopes as it had all the features I wanted at the right price. But caller Id would not work on line 2. So I took the unit back and exchanged it for onther one which did exactly the same thing. I am retuning it to Staples tommorrow.

AT&T is one of the few manufacturers offering a reliable two-line desk telephone at a reasonable price. This phone is ideal for a small or home-based business or a home with two lines.

Set-up has been improved over previous models such as the 972. The LCD display is easier to read and now has a selectable LED backlight. The angle of the display is a huge improvement over the impossible-to-see 972.

Configuration is accomplished by following menus. Following the printed guide is the best way to step through all of the steps (and there are quite a few.) The 992 allows the user to select a priority line, so each time it is picked up, it will go to that particular line, unless it is in use, in which case it will automatically switch to the second line.

The only difficulties are in programming the preset buttons. Because of the ability to assign multiple numbers to each button, setup is a bit tricky and requires help from the manual to get it right. This is the only annoying feature I found in set-up. Once set, however, this process becomes a memory. Menus become intuitive after a short leaning curve.

The 992 offers mute, hold, conference calling and two-line caller ID. It is possible to dial from caller ID numbers and to store them in memory locations. One button "call history" allows the user to being up caller ID logs for one line or the other or both, combined. This is very convenient because the user does not have to walk through the two logs separately.

Sound quality is a vast improvement over the 992 on both speakerphone and handset. It's really good. It's not tinny and there are no rattling sounds. They got it right.

After reading other comments about problems with the backlight, I was prepared for flakiness in this area but have not experienced any. The backlight makes the display easy to read at all times.

There are separate volume controls for the handset and speakerphone, using the same up and down buttons. The nicest feature I have found is variable settings for the ringer for each line. While line ringers are a bit too similar unless one listens closely, the volume can be set in steps rather than just hi/lo. This allows the ringer volume to be adjusted so that a business line rings louder than the residential line.

A provision was made for a headset and the phone has an RJ12 jack for passing through one line or the other to a "data" port, answering machine, modem, etc.

The phone is attractive, has an acceptable desktop footprint and soft rubber feet which keep it from "walking" around on the desk. A 9-volt battery (not included) backs up the memory, time settings, etc.

The manual makes sense, is easy to follow and serves as a great setup guide for getting the phone configured easily and quickly. Overall quality is very good and when price point is considered, it is an excellent value. It looks and acts like a much more expensive phone and is a good business or two-line residential solution.