Customer Reviews

Southwestern FM147 64 Memory Caller ID (White)

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

 

 

This is an excellent product for the home office. I have bought other caller id machines at this price but they were difficult to read and did not have the features that this machine has. I exceptionally like the feature that allows you to redail the a callers number at the push of a button. If all you need is an extra caller id for the home office or another room this is the one to get.

After using the unit that was provided by the phone company when you sign up for the service I must say I should have purchased this from the beginning. The display lights up and a flashing red light alerts you to a new call or call waiting. Make sure you have 4 AAA batteries.

It "forgets" it has a call waiting function every so often...I have to power it down and reset it every couple of weeks...disappointing. That's why I'm on this site, searching for a replacement.

I bought this about 3 weeks ago, even after reading some of the negative reviews here and thinking "they don't apply to me." I should have paid attention. I don't have a computer hooked up to this line, so there were no issues with that. Just a plain old phone line with Call Waiting Caller ID from my phone company.

My box didn't forget it had call waiting, in fact, it created its own call waiting! Often it signalled there was another call coming in while I was on the phone, and there was none. I kept clicking over to answer it and hanging up on the person I was originally talking to. This happened constantly- at least every five minutes during every phone call. And when I actually had another call coming in, it didn't even recognize it. This created a lot of confusion and a lot of disconnects on my part. I finally had family, friends, and even clients requesting I turn the box off before talking to them. Another bad thing about this unit is that it mutes out the call waiting beep when you do have another call coming in, which creates a heck of a lot of confusion. The current box I have now does not do this.

While the display was nice and bright, and very easy to read and operate, it did not do what it was supposed to do. Unless you like being confused and annoyed, this is not the product for you.

When I originally signed up for Caller ID it was before Call Waiting ID was available in my area. The original box worked fine. I particularly liked the redialing button that allowed me to call back ALL numbers that come in from the box.

However, since I now have Call Waiting ID, I obviously wanted a box that would allow me to take full advantage of that feature. I also wanted one that can store more than 50 numbers. That's why I purchased this new box by Southwestern Bell.

On a positive note, the box does display waiting calls while you are on another call. It also has an easy to read display. The blinking red new call indicator is easy to spot from a distance. But...

The redial button only works for LOCAL CALLS. I don't mind the box letting me know that a call is out of my local calling area, but I want the option to dial toll and long distance calls from the box. This box does not. This is particularly annoying to me because sometimes I check my cell phone messages from my land line phone to save airtime charges (but it's a toll call, so the redial button doesn't work). It will however, let me dial certain calls in different area codes (automatically putting the "1" in front), as long as it's "local" (non-toll).

My old box was nice in this area, because if the call was out of my area code, all I had to do was press one button before pressing "dial" to insert a "1" before the area code that was already displayed. It also gave me three dialing options (7-digit, area code with 7-digit and "1" with area code with 7-digit). This is very important because certain area codes are requiring callers to dial even your local area code due to "overlapping" area codes.

Another annoying thing about this new box is that there is no audio indication that a call is waiting. The other day I was on the phone, I didn't realize someone was calling me until I looked at the box (and that red new call indicator was shining). However, by then the person had already hung up.

I would only recommend this box for people who rarely make toll calls. Just remember to keep your eye on the box while you're on a call.

This is a nifty little device. It works well and has a nice large display. It also has a voicemail indicator if you have phone company voicemail. The nice thing about this box is that it will pick up Caller-ID from Call Waiting no matter which phone you happen to be talking on. That way you will have a record of all your calls.

Drawbacks:

1. It is very easy to hit the redial button accidently which will either dial the currently displayed number or the latest call and there is no way to abort the dialing on the unit.

2. No backlight

3. Calls are counted individually rather then uniquely. The 64 call memory actually says 68 according to mine, but these are not the last 64-68 unique calls I have received but the actual last 64-68 calls I have received. Other devices I have will keep a count of unique calls and it takes much longer to overflow their memories. This is however a good purchase if you just want to have a display that will get Call Waiting calls and you don't want to spend a lot of money.

The features are great: the machine beeps when you have a call waiting alert (to replace the traditional "beep" tone that Call Waiting made that Caller ID takes away), it flashes a light when you have a new call so that when you get home you can see immediately if you have received any new calls, and the display is nice and large. The unit itself is very easy to use.

However, my unit always indicates that I have a "beep" (Call Waiting) but there isn't any! At least once every 15 minutes per call it does this. It is extremely annoying. It has gotten to the point where I don't even check for other calls anymore because I have a feeling it's just the machine malfunctioning.

I should have listened to the other two reviewers who gave negative reviews. However, they didn't apply to my situation. So please think about this purchase carefully. I am going to have to return this item and maybe try the ATT one amazon.com has listed. Be careful!