The Greatest Telephone I Have Ever Owned!!!

Let’s just start by saying that I absolutely love telephones! I always try to purchase the best telephones within my budget. I recently had the Panasonic KX-TG2217S cordless 2.4GHz phone. I did not even have it for a month before it gave me problems. It constantly cut out; the battery would last 30 minutes sometimes on a FULL CHARGE!!! Sometimes I would charge it for 24 hours and it still would only be on the 2nd bar out of 3 bars. My parents and 2 of my friends also had this phone and they had the same problems. I recently started looking for an expandable phone system. After doing much research, I concluded that it was well worth it to spend a little bit more than I intended to for a telephone that has the best qualities out on the market. This model just came out May 2004. I have always liked and trusted AT&T products. I will never purchase another Panasonic telephone again! (I don't think I will need one for a long time with this new AT&T phone.)

There are certain features that I would like to have in a phone and most of the time I cannot have all of them. Usually I have to choose which features are the most important when I purchase phones. This phone truly has it ALL! I am not kidding! Mute, speaker on handset and base, talking caller id, call transfer to a specific handset, lighted buttons, are just some of the many features it has. The most convenient for me is that you can check your answering machine and have total access to it from each handset. When you pick the phone up, it will say the number of new calls from caller id and the number of new messages. You just hit one button, and you can check your messages. Then hit the right or left arrows to forward or rewind, or hit a button to delete the message. I haven't actually ever used the answering machine on the base because I always check my messages from the handsets. If the phone is off the charger, a screensaver that has the time will scroll up and down the screen until you press a button or the volume button. If there are new calls or new messages, it will scroll under the time and list the number of new calls and messages. As a bonus, the display is in full color, you can personalize each handset to your preference...everything from the picture display, the ring tone (16 tones or vibrate), colors, etc.

You can assign each person in the directory (50 names and numbers) a picture and a different ring tone, if desired. This way when someone calls, it will say the name you assigned that person and the picture you assigned that person will be on the display screen. It would also ring the assigned tone for that person. This all happens only if the person does not have a blocked number (private caller id listing). When someone calls that is not in the directory, it will appear as it would on a regular phone with caller id. This phone is like a cell phone! You can clear the directory with one button in the Calls Log screen. If someone calls you and you would like to store his or her number in the directory, you just hit save. If you would like to call someone back that is on your caller id, but want to leave out the area code, just hit the middle circle button, scroll down to the format you would like to use, then press talk. I'm probably making it sound more complicated than it is, but it is so easy-every option is listed, you just press the buttons.

I live with one other person, but this telephone system would especially be great for a larger family. Each person could have their own handset and personalize each one to their liking. In addition, each phone has different telephone number directories, so the parents could have their friend's and family's numbers in their phones and the kids could have their friend's numbers in their phones. If someone (example - handset 1) wants to transfer a call to someone in another room (example -handset 3), you just press Transfer Call and scroll down to the handset number you would like to. Every feature is so easy to use because each command is labeled. I have had this phone for almost 3 months, and I absolutely love it. I know I will have this phone system for a long time because of its quality and because I can add up to 8 additional handsets to this expandable system, (I have 2 now).

The sound is so sharp and crisp. It has a 3-preset equalizer you can choose from. I prefer "Natural Audio".

Okay, now for the cons...It has a 50-name directory, which is great, but it would be better if you could add more entries than that. I like to put every number I know in my cell phone, it’s like a phonebook for me. Another thing that I wish were different is that it only stores the last 10 numbers dialed. It could have been 20. However, it does store the last 50 calls received in the caller id log.

After doing much research and comparison-shopping, I definitely would recommend this telephone to everyone! I also compared prices and found the cheapest phone at the time I purchased it (June 2004) at www.sellcom.com The base that came with its handset was $169, and each additional extension handset was $86.95. Free shipping and it came with a free hands free headset as a special offer from them. They also beat any price that is lower than their price and they offer a 90-day no questions asked exchange guarantee, where they will send you a new phone and pick up the old one at no cost to you.

Oh, one more thing...you can hang the phone up on the charger even if it has a full charge. I had a problem with doing this to a previous phone I had, but I looked into this and it is okay to do with this phone.

I think this is the longest review out there :-)
I wanted to give a detailed review because I like to see detailed reviews prior to making purchases for myself, so I hope this can be helpful.