Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good phone for VOIP, January 1, 2006
I have a largish house, and have wanted to use VOIP (Vonage) for my phone service, but at the same time make sure I have robust communications that will survive a power outage or internet connection failure. This phone handles that problem quite nicely.
I have my VOIP line in Line 1, and the cheapest Verizon POTS service in Line 2. Vonage will automatically forward calls for you if the internet connection goes down, so now my phone service is seamless, even when the internet connection goes down. The battery backup on the base means that the phone can tolerate a blackout as well.
My wireless network coexists nicely with the phone, as do the usual range of household appliances (microwave, TV (which is right next to the phone), radio, etc.). The extensions sound quality is fine, and the base is very good. The speakerphone is a godsend. And it's nice to have the added security of a corded base when transmitting sensitive info over the phone, not that digital wireless is likely to be intercepted anyway.
A couple of design flaws (in my estimation) keep me from giving it 5 stars. One is that while it is nice to be able to just plug the extensions in to electricity without other cables, it would be nice to have the option to plug in a phone line as well. My extension is sitting next to a phone jack, but must still rely on cordless transmission from the base unit. The other is that the base and extensions do not talk to each other when deleting caller ID info - you have to delete it from each extension individually, which is a nuisance.
Otherwise, it's a solid phone system.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Happy With Purchase, January 19, 2006
I read some of the other reviews and was disappointed to see the troubles others had. My experience has been very positive.
I was looking for a 2-line phone, with speakerphones, an expandable system and a corded handset as my wife doesn't like the cordless.
First, this is the only 5.8ghz phone I could find that had the features I needed. My 2.4ghz phone gets garbled when the microwave runs and this phone does not do this. The speakerphones work well and have become the primary way that I use the phone. The cordless handset looks a little large but is actually very comfortable cradled on your shoulder. The corded handset feels familiar and comfortable.
I found the design a little odd at first, but have come to enjoy the futuristic orange back-lighting and general design. It looks better turned on than it does on the box. Functionally, the phone works very well and does exactly what it supposed to do, make and receive calls. We use it for a standard landline plus a Vonage account.
As with any product, there are a few things that could be improved (this is for the Motorola engineers). The cordless should really be shipping with a NiMH battery, not a NiCAD. The handset does fall off the base a little too easily, you need to use the wall setting hook and even then, it needs improvement. Volume controls on the speakerphone are too coarse, there are only 4 levels where there should be 10. The answering machine should pause after playing back each message and ask you what to do (i.e. delete, save, skip). The keypad on the base is a little too small. It would also be nice to have a few hard quick dial keys.
There are also plenty of things done right. Toll saver for the answering machine. Separate answering functionality for both lines. Message call forwarding. Shared directories. Room monitoring capabilities. Good speakerphone. Good overall sound quality.
Anyway, I can't give it 5 stars, it doesn't quite make it. But to me, it's a solid 4 and a good selection if you have similar needs.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Buyer Beware, May 31, 2006
One wonders if anyone at Motorola did any real world testing with this phone it's that bad. My wife and I work at home and we were looking for a good quality 2-line phone. Nothing fancy, we didn't really need an answering machine but just something that was easy to use and would not cause our blood pressure to rise when doing simple things like putting someone on hold and then retrieving the call. Unfortunately, it's neither easy to use nor a quality product one would expect from Motorola. The battery life for the cordless handset is terrible. It allows for 1.5 hours talk time, if that. We've also had other people tell us the call quality is not that great. All in all, a terrible phone and a waste of money as it's been such a hassle, we're now looking for a replacement only 8 months after buying it.
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