Customer Reviews

Panasonic Dect 6.0 Expandable Digital Cordless Answering System - 4 Handset System (KX-TG9334T)

5 star:		(106)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

The battle between WiFi and wireless telephones.

We had a mixture of 2.4 gigahertz phones for years that coexisted peacefully with our old wireless G router. Well, the router died and we needed a new one. The newest technology for wireless is "N" with Mimo Technology, which supports both N and G wireless networks. So, of course we buy. After all, now is the future, right?

Mimo WiFi uses several different radio frequency channels (in the 2.4 gigahertz range for G networks) at the same time to assure an optimal radio signal to your WiFi laptops (in our case, G). This works great for the WiFi network, BUT......every time our telephones rang...Poof, the WiFi Signal got scrambled and we lost the network. We tried setting different channels on the phones and the router, nothing worked.

So being in the market for a major upgrade with our now antiquated phone system, we bought this Dect. 6.0 system that uses the 1.9 gigahertz frequency.

First of all..no interference in the WiFi network....NONE!

There are also a few features that I like.

We can now communicate and transfer calls with each other over 5 acres of land with complete security.

Talking Caller ID enables me to save a few steps and decide if I want to answer the call.

Since Vonage (my phone service) does not have specific call block, this phone can block certain pesky incoming calls and give the abusive callers a busy signal to listen to. This is a great feature and the only way Panasonic could improve on it, is to give us a choice between the busy signal or tones that indicate that the phone has been disconnected.

I can't say anything about the voice mail except that you can turn it off quite easily. We use the Vonage voice mail and are quite happy with it.

We are easily adding to the phone book as calls are coming in. I think it is a bit of a hassle to add them in manually.

Different ring tones are nice, and sound pretty. All of us have set up different ring tones and it is quite a symphony in the house when all the phones play their distinct melodies.

Each phone has a speaker phone and my friends can't tell I am using it.

Only the main base need to be plugged into a backup power supply if you want to do that.

All in all, I am very satisfied and am going to add 2 more phones to my 4 phone system.

12/16/2010 Edited to say that phones are still working, but I did have to replace the rechargeable batteries on one of them. The plus side to this is that they are easily replaceable; two Triple A (AAA), Nickle Metal Hydrides!

I have owned GE, Uniden, Panasonic, AT&T, Vtech and a number of other models from the outdated 49Mhz to the 5.8GHz range and now DECT 6.0. I had a set of Uniden TRU8860 5.8GHz which were some of the best I had owned, except they did have range drops and often failed around my Wi-Fi office technology. I thought the reviews on this Panasonic KX-TG9334T set was persuasive enough to give them a try. I concluded I have a newer Panasonic KY-FPG391 5.8GHz that has performed well and there would be little risk. However, after setup, I knew I had made a poor choice. If you have never owned recent Uniden technology, I suppose these Panasonics would be pie in the sky perfect as some of the other reviews on here indicate. However, for me as an aficionado of phone technology, I was left sorely frustrated.

1) The sound is at least half the quality compared to Uniden earpiece. I inserted my top-of-the-line Plantronic 2.5mm headset and was startled at the loss of decibels, as if a resistor had been installed.
2) The Caller ID feature is extremely slow. A call would come in and by the third ring, still nothing was displayed. The answering machine picks up on the 4th ring rendering this feature null and void. On the Uniden, the Caller ID was displayed first ring.
3) The CID in memory has a two line display. You see the listing name first, and then the phone number second... as you wait for it to show. Very poor design. On the Uniden, you see everything at once, no delays.
4) The CallerID announce is slurred and robotic, which equates to useless in my way of thinking. Some people like the audible announcement. This is the only feature that might be preferred over the Uniden.
5) The Panasonic only allows numerical displays for handset locations whereas one review said they had to tape on paper labels. The Uniden allowed for specific labels like "Bedroom" and "Office". I tell you, this does make a difference. When you page another handset, you don't have to try and recall the station number, but can scroll to the name entered on any handset. Panasonic falls short on this feature.
6) The Panasonic does not allow privacy calling. On the Uniden, you could press a key, and all the other handsets were denied conversation access. The Panasonic allows access from any handset without prejudice.

I packed it back in the box after these observations and returned to Amazon. I proceeded to purchase the back-ordered Uniden 3080-3 DECT 6.0 which from what I read is an immense upgrade over the TRU8860 series. Few retailers can keep them in stock because there is such a high demand. Certainly a visual feast. I can't go wrong twice... I hope. It is my desire that this review will save other buyers from my erroneous presumptions.

May 27th, 2008 update: Took delivery and setup the Uniden 3080-3 DECT 6.0 today. WOW is all I can say. Nothing on the market compares! Perfect in every way. Sleek design, features, graphics, and sound. Have vision problems? No issue with this phone, BIG easy to read display. Colorful wallpapers and fanciful tunes for rings. I do have a some loss of hearing, again no problem, these units have great volume in handset and especially through the 2.5mm headset out jack. The Panasonics had almost no volume at all with a headset. Take it from a phone perfectionist, carefully consider the Uniden 3080 and its immense offerings. Yes, they cost a bit more, but you will be very happy and your visitors will marvel at the mere ergonomic sight of them.

EDITED REVIEW
I Give this Phone System 2 Stars and would NOT recommend you buy this phone system!


******EDITED MAY 22 2008*****
Added one ding in the "bad" category (read below)

******EDITED JULY 13 2008****
I am going to bump this review down now as time goes on, annoyances creep up. Amazon doesnt let us change the star rating


With this latest revision of cordless phones from Panasonic, it seems they listened (for the most part) to all the complaints of prior generations.

All in all this is a decent phone system with a lot of features I have wished for, and some annoyances. It can still be improved, but this system does everything I liked about my 5.8Ghz Uniden, and improves on the things I hated.
Its a long winded review, but I tried to be as complete as possible and touch on all the points I wish I got from other reviews.

Overall I am still satisfied with this system, but not as impressed as I was in the beginning.


The good:
Batteries-Gone are the proprietary batteries. YAY!!! These babies use NiMH AAA batteries. You can go buy off the shelf rechargables when these die, so thats a major improvement. The system also will not overcharge the batteries if you leave the handset in the base. This will hopefully help with the battery life and memory effect. Time will tell on this one. Its a very good thing to see.

Call blocking-You can block specific numbers that call you so they get a busy signal.

Night/DND mode-You can set a specific time block that the phones will not ring. (it would be nice to have an exception list, so that in the event of an emergency, your phone system will ring)

Call screening-You can now opt to be able to listen to who is leaving you a message, or you can shut it off. This is essential if you dont want to hear your aunt complaining about her cellulitis while your are trying to focus on the Ace of Cakes marathon.

Message retrieval-You can listen to your messages from any handset. (Prior generation panasonics could not do this from what I have read. My uniden did it, and I felt it was a must have)

Message waiting indicator-If you subscribe to your provider's voicemail, it will display on the phone that you have messages, negating the need to pick up the phone and listen for the dialtone pattern.

Global handset locator-When locating the handsets, picking up one will turn off the locating signal. (from what I have read, prior panasonics required you to go to each handset to shut off the paging)
Global address book-Programming a number on one handset, will add it to all the handsets. (which is great)

Distinctive ring-You can program per handset a ringtone for your address book callers.

Backlighting-All the number keys are backlit, and are individual keys which is great.

Answering machine-Doesnt record hang ups which has been a common complaint in the past on Panasonics

Wireless networking conflicts-Doesnt conflict, although this isnt new technology. 5.8's dont conflict and I have a vtech 2.4 that doesnt conflict either. Wireless networks (in general) communicate on the 2.4ghz spectrum so this hasnt been an issue for me in a very long time.

The Bad:
***Addedd May 22 2008** -After using this phone for over a month, a MAJOR complaint on this phone system is a very ANNOYING delay from when you hit TALK to when the microphone on the phones get turned on. There's a good .5 second delay, or let me say, enough time between when you hit talk and when the phone goes to your ear. I find in 9/10 situations where I have to say "hello?....hello?" before the caller can hear me. For this reason I would knock a full star off this phone system as its very annoying. I have now come to live with it but I am not happy about it.

***ADDED JULY 13 2008****
Paging feature is all but useless. There is no way to page from one handset to all the others. For instance. If I am downstairs and I want to page my wife to pick up the phone upstairs, I have to know which handset she has near her. This is impossible. I cant page all like in my uniden. This is real idiotic on Panasonic's part, and equally idiotic, the lcd of the handset doesnt indicate which handset it is. I have resorted to writing numbers on stickers and sticking it to the phone.

Also annoying after 2 months of usage, the handsets will die for no reason, even though the battery indicator will indicate full charge. If I pull 1 battery and reinsert, only then does the phone indicate 1 bar and the "charge for 7hours" indication

Ergonomics-The talk keys, speaker phone keys are not backlit and are small. My uniden had a huge TALK button smack dab in the upper middle of the phone which was helpful. With this phone I have to look at the phone to pick up and hang up.

Menu system-Very convoluted and not intuitive at all

Ringers-The number and types of ringers are terrible. Not enough of them and the ones that there are arent very good. Would be nice to be able to upload your own to the system. You also have to set the individual ringer volume on each handset. Would be nice to have a global change ability. The increments of ringer volume adjust arent small enough.

Sound Quality-While the quality is good enough, its not nearly as clear as my 5.8 Uniden. Sounds very hissy to me. Also sometimes when I talk on the phone, I cant hear my own voice in my ear. This is a problem cell phones had 5-8 years ago.

Answering machine display (or lackthereof)-I hate the fact that I cannot see how many new messages I have unless I start listening to them. All I get is a blinking button? C'mon!!!! My old uniden tells me this info.
Speakerphone at base-I guess I should have bought the more expensive model to get a keypad and speakerphone at the base. But, I am going to ding it nonetheless. Keypad and speakerphone shouldn't require a $20-40 premium.

System is busy error-The phones will display system is busy if you are modifying settings on one handset. I cant even turn the ringer down on one handset if my wife is listening to messages or doing anything other than talking on any other handset.

I bought this system to replace 2 other cordless systems in my house. Price was reasonable and Panasonic makes great phones with good reception and volume. I've had other cordless phone brands and I keep coming back to Panasonic. The options that sold me were the lighted keypads, speakerphone, and the ability to check and delete messages using the handsets. The bonus feature of Night Mode only adds to the pleasure of owning this phone system. I have set the handsets not to ring between 11:00 pm and 8:00 am. I am a very grumpy person when I am awakened by a telephone ringing, especially the 1:00 am wrong numbers. One more great feature is the shared phonebook. Input your phone numbers in one handset and they are accessible to all handsets so you don't have to program every handset. When talking to someone, the sound is crisp and clear with no static or echo. I would recommend this phone system to anyone who wants a good quality multi-phone system at a reasonable price.

4/16/08 Update - Another great feature. You don't have to subscribe to call block. The phone system allows you to block up to 20 numbers as long as you have caller ID. Everyday I get a call from Credit Card Services showing up on my caller ID. I just followed the instructions in the manual on how to block that call and the next time they call they should get a busy signal. Did I say that I love this phone system? Well....I love this phone system.

I have had a VTech cordless phone for 7 years but needed a phone with more than 2 handsets. After much research, I found this Panasonic KX TG9334T that has good feedback and an excellent Amazon price. No regrets on this purchase! The range of the handsets is a lot further than I expected. Being able to play a voice message from any handset is a definite plus. One of the best features is the fact that the phone book, CallerID, and messages are shared by all four phones; delete or add from one phone does the same for all phones. I've set up my phone book with all the people who normally call me; hearing the talking CallerID announce their "phone book" name alerts me to who is calling before I have to answer the phone. The sound quality on both regular and speaker phone is very good. I'm really glad I purchased this particular system! And my neighbor was impressed by the phone system and ordered one for her and her husband.

This phone has decent (but not great) range and sound quality in my house, both of which are problems with my three year old Uniden 2.4GHz phone when our microwave oven is in use. I like the talking caller ID feature, but it could be better (see below). I also like the fact that it uses standard battery sizes since I know I will need to replace them down the road. The handsets are attractive and the number buttons have a good size and feel (especially compared to the Uniden).

Here are my gripes with this phone from most serious to least:

** SERIOUS FLAWS **
1) When scrolling through the caller-ID old call list, only the name identifier shows up, not the phone number. My Uniden showed both the name and the number, which is important since often the number is meaningful while the name is just a generic descriptor such as "Wireless Call", "Tucson, AZ", "Long Distance", "Unavailable", etc.

If one pauses while scrolling through the caller ID list, after a couple seconds the name disappears and the number appears, but this is inadequate. We often scroll through the list quickly to see who has called or to look up a number, but this takes far too long when we have to pause a couple of seconds at many entries to wait for the number to show up! We are going to see if we can live with this flaw, but we may return the phone and get a new DECT Uniden that doesn't have this problem instead.

2) Caller ID is a bit slow to show up on the screen. When a new call rings and I proceed to the handset, I sometimes have to wait for the caller ID name and number to show up on the screen. I compared this delay to my old Uniden phone and discovered the Panasonic takes about a half-second longer to show who is calling.

3) Sound quality needs to be better. I would say the sound quality is OK, but my old 2.4 GHz Uniden was much clearer (that is, when the microwave oven wasn't running and creating static).

** MINOR FLAWS **
4) The talking caller ID is a little slow in announcing who is calling. It says "call from Joe", but it would have been better to say "Joe calling" so the name is the first thing heard without futher delay. At our house, the phone forwards automatically after 4 rings so this extra delay means we can't sit back and wait for the phone to tell us who is calling before we proceed to a handset. However, the talking caller ID is still great when we can't get to the phone at the moment (middle of changing the baby, cooking dinner, talking with guests, etc.), but still want to know who is calling.

5) Intercom doesn't allow for calling all handsets. When using a phone to make an intercom call across the house, it requires a specific handset to be selected. However, often we don't know where the person we are trying to intercom with is located within in the house. Our old Uniden phone offers an intercom call to ring ALL phones, which is what we almost always want since we don't know which phone is near the person were are trying to contact!

6) The "talk" and "off" buttons are too small. These are the most commonly used buttons and need to be bigger! It would also be better if they were the standard green and red (and lit up like the number buttons). Already some guests are asking me how to use this phone because they don't see a familiar button layout.

** VERY MINOR FLAWS **
7) When the phone dials automatically, it is a bit slow getting all the tones out. It may seem crazy that an extra second to dial a number matters, but it does to me. Once again, our Uniden was better.

8) Phonebook doesn't allow mulitple numbers to be entered for a listing. These days many people have a mobile, home, and office number, and most cell phones allow them all to be placed in one entry which is very useful. The new Uniden phones also appear to offer this.

9) Handsets can't be assigned names. With our Uniden phones, we could name each handset (eg. "Kitchen", "Master Bdrm", etc.) which helped to keep the phones organized. For example, if a handset is laying on the kitchen counter, but we can see the kitchen handset is on its base, we could simply look at the Uniden phone name and conclude "Oh, my wife forgot to put this back in the bedroom." The Panasonic handsets are numbered, but it's asking too much for a busy house to keep track of which number is assigned to which room, so we need to stick ugly labels on these otherwise nice handsets.

UPDATE (after another week of use): Another flaw discovered is the Caller ID list is inaccessible on the handsets during a call! However, it looks like I will be keeping these Panasonic phones because I have read (here) that buttons on Uniden phones have been failing at a high rate, and I even though the Panasonic talking caller ID feature is flawed (see above), sometimes it saves me from hunting down my wife to announce her girlfriend is on the phone.

These phones are very good for their price. You can't go wrong with 4 headsets in the same package. They have pretty cool features such as night mode and conference calling. It runs on a different frequency then most electronics so you won't have as much interference such intercepting phone call or microwaves. All in all you are getting what you paid for and with the option to expand you can't go wrong. I would definitely recommend it.

This is a great product that is loaded with features and easy to use open the box plug it in set the time and answering machine and let it go, the talking caller id is great when you don't want to get up to see who is calling, my favorite feature is the call blocking feature annoying telemarketers keep calling just add them to the blocked list and they will never bother you again. Great product highly recommend it

I used the older panasonic similar phone set that had a phone book sent between handsets, and no Do NOT DISTURB feature. This newer KX-TG9334T set is far better with some unusual features I did not expect.
First, under features it list "Transferable phonebook = No". And the DO NOT DISTURB looked to simply be a feature to turn off the ringing phone-set by phone-set. Not controlled from the base unit.
However, actually the features they add are far superior.
The DO NOT DISTURB (or NIGHT MODE) has the ability to enter a time span for NIGHT MODE to engage. So you can enter 11pm to 6am (for example) and turn on NIGHT MODE on one, two or all handsets.
What happens is on the set time the ringer will not ring for that time span every day as long as NIGHT MODE is kept turned on.
This is a great feature, MUCH better than a DO NOT DISTURB button on the base unit (some other brand phones), that silence all phones. The problem there is you MUST remember to dis-engage the do not disturb button to allow the phones to ring. A task often forgotten.
With the Panasonic NIGHT MODE, the "timer" takes care of that for you.
FANTASTIC!!!!
Another great feature is the phonebook. No, you can not send a list between handsets, because you DONT NEED TO!
The Panasonic KX-TG9334T keeps one phonebook list on the base units memory, that all attached handsets can access and add to or edit.
That means, you can add a called to the book from ANY handset, then ALL phones can see the same list. No more updating the list on one handset, then having to transfer that list to all other handsets on the system.
The "shared" phonebook system is sooooo much nicer. Again... FANTASTIC!!!
And the BLOCK CALLER feature is nice too. Do you have someone/place that tried to bug you selling stuff? Add their number to the BLOCKED LIST and when they try to call, the phone rings only once, then they get a busy signal. TAKE THAT UNWANTED CALLER!!!
There are a few quirks I have to mention with the KX-TG9334T system.
1. The lighted display is very bright. Too bright. And they should have added a brightness control.
2. The message alert light should be more visible. It wraps from the back of the top to the top of the handset. If the handset is at eye level, like on a nightstand facing you, you can not see the flashing message waiting light hardly at all. You almost need to turn the handset backwards so you will see if a message comes in.
My old panasonics had the same message light, but it wrapped around over the top to front of the handset, easily viewable.
3. The lighted screen needs a timer control. As is, the screen only lights for .5 seconds. So it blanks off while you're still trying to read to make a menu adjustment. Kind of annoying. Like a cell phone, the screen display needs a timer control to allow it to remain lighted to your needs, say up to 5 seconds.
But the fantastic features cancels out the quirks, with these KX-TG9334T phones.
I was paying $7 a month thru Qwest for their DO NOT DISTURB feature that allowed a timer on-off setting.
Now, for $zero$ I have the same feature built into these phones.
Pretty nice saving $84 a year on my Qwest bill... FANTASTIC!!!

I recently had to purchase a new cordless phone system, as I lost 2 handsets from my prior UNIDEN system when I moved. After my own research, I chose this Panasonic system

Overall, I am extremely satisfied with this product. Some of the excellent features are:

1. Night Mode: Allows you to select a time frame when the phone will NOT ring without having to manually shut off the ringer each time. Great feature, since one of the phones is near my child's bedroom. (NOT AVAIL ON MY PRIOR UNIDEN)

2. Voicemail Alert (from VoIP service). I do NOT use this phone as an answering machine. I have Optimum Voice & use their voicemail feature. Normally (as on my prior UNIDEN), to see if I have voice mail, I would have to pick up the phone & listen for a special dial tone. With this Panasonic, It senses the signal from Optimum Voice & visually alerts me to a new message by showing "new VM message" on EACH handset. It also allowed me to store the VM access #, & prompts me to call it every time there is a new message. THIS IS A GREAT FEATURE, if you use VoIP voice mail service

3. Shared Phonebook: ALL the handsets share a single phonebook. I find this extremely helpful. The prior UNIDEN had a separate phonebook for each handset, & even though you could copy it to another handset, you would have to do so after any change was made

4. Clarity: I have none of the problems other reviewers have mentioned. This sound is clear & is without interference.

5. Talking Caller ID: Great feature. I also am NOT experiencing another problem mentioned about delay is displaying or announcing the caller ID. Maybe this has to do with the service provider. ALSO, if you have a number in the phonebook, & receive a call from that number, it announces your phonebook entry name. (ie. will announce "Call from DAD, or Grandpa"), as opposed to the name on their phone bill.

There are some minor issues that could be improved, & therefore the 4 star review:

1. Phone design: MY prior UNIDEN had a huge TALK button smack in the top center. This phone has a small, odd placed talk button. Took some getting used to, but a large obvious button is always better.

2. Handset naming: Prior UNIDEN allowed you to name each handset (ie. den, bedroom). This Panasonic only numbers them 1-4. I don't think this is a major problem, as one reviewer mentioned. It is not too difficult to remember which handset is where, but naming them is obviously better.

Overall, an excellent phone with great features at an amazing price!