Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful, intelligent long range phone, June 28, 2005
I love this phone!
I would give the EnGenius DuraFon 10 stars if I could. I have gone through about a dozen cordless phones in the last 3 years trying to find one that has enough power to make it 200 feet to my shop. I live on a hay ranch in Oregon and don't want to be limited to an 80 foot radius aroud the house. Every time I get a phone that makes it out to the shop, the darn thing wears out in a year and then i can never find that model again. Then I go through this process of buying, trying, rejecting and returning about 5 phones. I couldn't find an acceptable cordless phone this time, so I broke down an paid the $499.99 (shipping included) Look around because Amazon sure doesn't have the lowest price. I went with [...]and was VERY happy with the free 2nd day shipping and the price.
This phone is incredible! The handset has both a short and long antenna. With the short one I can go at least 3/4 of a mile and the longer (less convienient 7 inch wire vs 1.25 inch stub) I can go about a mile and a quarter. That is without the long range antenna for the base unit which is required for the 5 mile range. I will be ordering one of them soon and a spare battery.
Undocumented features are the ability to intercom from the base unit to any handset, the fact that you can have a spare battery and charge it at the same time as the handset and if your battery gets low, you can put someone on hold ans do a hotswap with a fresh battery without ending the call! Thankfully, this phone does NOT have 3 dozen confusing buttons, but a very intelligent and understandable menu that has wizard like prompts to tell you what to do. It doesn't have stupid games and irritating features or obnoxious helper modes that you get stuck in can't get out of.
I was spending at least 100 to 150 a year on cheap phones. This thing is so well built that I believe at 500 bucks I will save money. At least I won't be frustrated.
This is an industial phone, but I recommend it for anyone. It is not secure, so don't give your credit card over it as anyone could listen to your conversations with a 900 Mh scanner.
I repeat, I love this phone!
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Unreliable, October 7, 2009
I have used Engenius phones for eight years. Distance is excellent. I can go several hundred yards, inside another building, and still get a great signal. However, the reliability is terrible. Eight years ago, I bought 4 phones. One year later, only one was working. I replaced the phones, and one of the replacements went out after about 9 months. I moved to another system two years ago, after one more phone died.
About 4 months ago, I opened another small business and purchased two Engenius systems with a total of 6 phones. After 55 days, one of the 6 phones does not work. You can press any button on the phone and the display shows a 4, regardless of the button selected. You can't place or receive a call. Nothing can be done to reset the phone, even after leaving out the battery for a week. The only option is to return the phone, and that's the problem.
Engenius sells 95% of their phones through "unauthorized dealers" with no warranty. It's really funny how a business can sell most of its phones through companies (large retailers) who are not authorized to sell their products. (Humorously--I wonder how they get the products to sell, if they are "unauthorized"....?). This is a bogus practice that allows unreliable merchandise (I have proven it over 8 years) to be sold. And the only way to get the item fixed is to pay $200 on a phone less than 60 days old, which is just under what I paid for the phone. So, instead, I will either trash the whole system, or be forced to buy a new phone. The end result is that Engenius sells more phones to replace broken phones that have died due to poor quality in the first place. They have a unique, deceptive, business model. If you must have a long distance phone--Engenius makes a long distance phone. They run hot, and have poor battery life, because of the power needed to go the distance. They are definitely unreliable. They end up in the trash. You can pay another $100 per phone to buy from one of two authorized online dealers, but the extra $100 on 4 phones can almost buy two new phones. If you buy these, understand they are unreliable and Engenius refuses service for 95% of the phones they manufacture, because somehow, a major retailer obtained them and is "unauthorized". (I guess maybe these retailers broke in and stole them from Engenius???)
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Great range, but lacking features, June 19, 2009
We use this phone everday and the range is outstanding. I have actually gone over a mile from the base and still been able to receive a call. (Using the included long antenna on flat terrain). At about 3/4 of a mile the connection becomes a little choppy, but it's still usuable. Under 1/2 mile you can use the short antenna and you don't even know you are on a cordless. I can walk to any neighbors house with this clipped to my belt and make and receive calls. It's truely outstanding range.
Now, for the features... (or lack thereof):
It does not show date or time of day on the display when the phone is not being used. Every other cell phone and most every cordless phone I have used has this feature.
I use it with the headset all the time. So when it rings, if I don't have the headset on, I can't hear it. I think there should be a setting to use the internal and external ringers when the headset is used. Really very important I think to everyone who uses it with a headset.
It does not show anymore than 10 recent calls. Every other phone I've used shows 50 or more. I'd like to see 100.
And the ones it shows, does not show time or day when the call came in. That's a real killer for me. But then with it only holding the most recent 10.... I guess I know they all have to be from today. :-)
The location of charging cord and headphone jack needs to be someplace other than that bottom. I do not use the included stand/charging base because you have to unplug the headset to use it. So I just plug in the cord to the bottom of the phone. It works, but it could be better.
Battery indicator... if it's totally dead, it shows totally dead. I put it on the charger for 30 minutes and it shows "fully charged" but it's not. It'll die in a couple of hours or less. So it should not show fully charged until it's really fully charged. I can only get 1 full day per charge, so it has to be recharged every night.
Backlight time is settable to on, off or 8 seconds.
Answing calls can be a bit of a pain. Hit the button too hard and it doesn't answer. Hit it too lightly and it doesn't answer. Also from time to time it makes weird noises and beeps during the ring. Once the call is connected, it's great, although there is a bit of static that first 1 second it connects.
If you drop the phone or hit it on something (like running around a warehouse and bumping a rack) it turns off the phone. I have to bring it into the office and plug back in the charger and it's back to life. It seems like it has a shock sensor in it and turns off the phone to save it? Nice feature, but it'll scare the heck out of you the first time it happens... ("What happened to my $500 phone??!!!! ;-) )
900mhz, great, does not interfere with our network or bluetooth devices!
Overall, a GREAT performing phone, but lacking some standard features most all other cordless phones have.
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