Customer Reviews

GE 5.8 GHz Cordless Phone (25830GE3) Digital Call Waiting/Caller ID

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is the worst phone I have ever owned (and unfortunately I bought three of them to replace my aging 900mhz...and Best Buy won't take them back because I threw the boxes away).

The phone aesthetics are great...but walk a mere 12-15 away from the base and the voices cut out and static is terrible. I also have no electrical outlets competing with the phones and with three of them place at different points in the house...it isn't like it is just one of the three that is the culprit.

What an expensive mistake this was.

I recently decided to update our home phones to make them all Caller ID capable. The GE 5.8 GHz cordless phone seemed like a good mix of latest technology and reasonable price, and I liked the digital spread spectrum feature, associating it with both privacy and clarity. Was I in for a big disappointment.

Initially, I was not able to identify any problems while making short calls. Later, I made a longer call and started noticing serious problems with sound quality. Reception frequently cut out briefly or seemed to be masked by static, even outside the presence of sources of interference (I eventually moved next to the base in my bedroom, which is isolated from other electrical appliances). During the same call, I switched to another phone of the same type and had continuing problems with it, so I can't blame the problems on the quality of a single phone. After I completed my call, I could hear the cutting out plainly while listening to the dial tone (yeah, not very exciting, but it proved the point).

I'll admit that the phones are stylish. In fact, my kids didn't want me to return them, because they thought they were cool. However, looks and features don't count for much if the phones sound like crap, which they do.

I presently own a 900DSS and a 2.4DSS which allow me to walk to my mailbox and around the garden (several hundred yards). I figured the 5.8DSS would give me even more range. Not so! I can go about 80ft, from my workshop to my back door, before losing the signal. I located and returned the unit to the manufacturer and received a replacement - which performed no better. It's an attractive phone, has good features and clarity - but not range, which is important to me.

This phone has a much better range than my crappy old 900MHz phone, and I can walk all through the house, and around it and still get good reception.

However, the sound quality is poor, with lots of quiet but disturbing background static. I have also experienced this in the only other "digital" phone I've owned, so I suspect a problem in the conversion from analog to digital and back.

I also noticed some of the fade-in/fade-out effect while listening to some nice hold music, and some pops and clicks.

The phone has a headset jack, but my standard 2.5mm headset doesn't work with it. My headset works with my two other cordless phones, so either there's a problem with this particular phone, or it takes a special proprietary plug.

I bought this phone to replace my old RadioShack 900MHz phone (i will never buy another phone from radioshack again! all three different models that I have owned broke with in 1 year). It looks cool and has caller id, but I really got it because it sues the 5.8GHz range because I have read that 900MHz can receive a lot of interference and I already know that my wireless router and microwave would interfere with anything I had in the 2.4GHz range. (That microwave cuts out my internet all the time!) Here I will get to the point(s).

Pros:
-Looks cool
-Good range, despite other reviews, I have been able to talk on the phone while I get my mail at the bottom of my dirveway which is about 400ft from the house, none of my other phones can do that.
-Easy to connect headset jack
-Caller ID

Cons:
-The battery isn't the best.

The only thing that prevents me from giving this phone a 5 star rating is the battery. Received the phone for Christmas and charged it for 24 hrs. The manuel said 16 hrs. I had to charge it again today (28th). The headset feature is great. Any standard 2.5mm headset will work. The functions are easy to use. Overall a great phone.

This has to be the worst phone ever made. After using it for about several months, it stopped working with the word "Searching" now constantly showing on the display. What it may be searching for, one may never know. Thinking that maybe the battery was bad, I bought a new battery. This made absolutely no difference. Occassionally it will "find" itself, but will invariably drop the signal midway thru a converssation, or have such very poor reception you can't hear the person on the other end - or they can't hear you and hang up. DO NOT BUY this phone - unless you like wasting your money.

This is a horrible phone and does not last. Do not buy!

I am was very disaapointed with this phone. It has several serious flaws that make the phone pretty useless. 1) Battery lasts for about 20 mins talk time. 2) loss of signal (SEARCHING...) even thought the phone is less than 10 feet from the base. 3) Really annoyingly loud ringer, and YOU CAN NOT CHANGE THE RINGER or the volume! Needless to say I'm looking for a new phone :)

For two weeks I tried to really like this phone! It's handsome, but that's about it.
I have a Sony 900 mhz. and love it as it has NO interference problems whatsoever, but wanted a phone with caller id capabilites. So I thought I would try the latest technology.
Tried a 2.3 ghz and took that back as it had terrible interference. I read that 5.8 was a lot better, NO....
First, the volume would fade in and out and there is an annoying background sound between a person pausing on the other end.
I do not see any improvement with phone clarity with either the 2.3 or 5.8.
I will stick with my Sony 900mhz!! (Of course, Sony doesn't make phones anymore!)