Customer Reviews

Panasonic KX-TMC98B 2-Line Corded Phone with Answering System and Jog Dial

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

 

 

A very nice piece of telephone gear, integrating the phone, answering machine, and caller ID functions. I only have two complaints: 1. For some reason, there is no MUTE button! A mute button is the greatest, particularly for tele-conference calls. 2. There are no one-button speed-dial buttons. It can remember 100 names and numbers, which is great, but to access the list you must: a. turn the jog dial, b. press a letter key, perhaps a couple of times, to get to the desired first letter, c. turn the jog dial some more to get to your desired entry. That's a lot of activity to call someone you call all the time!

Overall, a good machine; speakerphone and caller ID memory are wonderful. But lots of steps to follow to access basic functions, even remotely. A couple of times, I know for certain that this machine has failed to record messages from callers...NOT good! Also, the recording quality leaves a bit to be desired, too; this is particularly true of the outgoing message quality; for some reason the callers' messages come through more clearly. (Hint: record your outgoing message remotely, from a quiet location--seriously!)

I bought this a year ago to replace an almost-new AT&T model when I discovered that the AT&T model had a nasty habit of hanging up on people in mid-message, or sometimes failing to answer at all. In other words, the AT&T machine was garbage.

This Panasonic is sooooo much nicer! And for several months, it performed perfectly. But lately, it's developed some problems:

- even though I recorded my outgoing messages clearly and they sound fine when I review them, callers complain that they can barely hear them.

- if someone calls and doesn't speak sufficiently loudly when they leave their message, this machine will hang up on them in mid-message.

I dunno.. it's such a nice phone, with great buttons & all the features, but I'm back to square one. Somebody please tell me: WHO MAKES AN ANSWERING MACHINE THAT ACTUALLY TAKES MESSAGES, the WHOLE message, EVERY TIME? Certainly not AT&T. And I guess not Panasonic. I'm running out of models to try.

This is a great answering machine for the person who is looking for an extended time that the incoming caller can record (100 min.) and allows the caller to leave as long of a message as they want. You just can't find this on any of the phones available at this time 12/27/2003. I have been using this phone since it first came out, approx 4yrs ago. At the time I thought it was pricy ($249.00) not including shipping, but I'd pay it again, the phone is that worth it. It is durable, I've dropped it several times on hardwood floors, and keeps on delivering those messages. Easy to use, many features that I don't use, because I never took the time to investigate them all. I would like one thing it doesn't have and that is a removable hand set, but it works well in sync with the other two line panasonics I have plugged into other jacks, so it's ok. I wish panasonic still made a machine with these features, multi line and decent speaker phone....I know others who would like this phone, but can't find it.