AT&T Corded/Dual Cordless DECT 6.0 Phone Digital Answering System - AT&T CL84209

 (19 customer reviews)

The phone is easy to set up, and as another reviewer notes the directory is automatically sent to the handsets.

Cons:

1. The lack of a message light is NOT compensated for by optional 10 second apart beeps. I often decide if I will answer from another room at night, and therefore do not want the base beeping if I decide not to answer. The only indication is a rather dim LCD flashing number (small) on the extreme left of the display.
2. The display is horribly used on the base. The word BASE takes up the entire first line, the second line is blank, and the third line has the message counter, time, and date....and they are small. You cannot change contrast settings for the display (it is too dark when the backlight is off.
3. The speakerphone appears to me to be a problem. The ClearSpeak technology (an automatic gain function)often cuts off the first part of speech after a pause. This is annoying...they needed to set the delay to cut off twice as...Read more

Well, I got this phone today after returning a Uniden which sounded too muffled for my liking. I found the buttons solid and easy to read, and the setup seemed fairly intuitive to me. I actually had most of the basic features setup through my own playing around before I even cracked open the manual.

Now, I should mention that my phone needs are simple: I don't have call waiting, caller ID, or a special voicemail service so I can't speak to the merits of those features, but for someone who simply uses the phone for basic calls and basic answering machine features, I already like how it sounds and programs out of the box.

Pro's so far for my simple tastes:
- Buttons easy to press and see
- Can do most of the same setup on the satellite phones as you can on the base which is nice if you're sitting down and need to make some feature changes without the base in front of you.
- Directory info logged into one place transfers to the other phones in the...Read more

I purchased the CL81209 which came with two cordless units but no answering unit. We upgraded from an AT&T 5.8 ghz. Range and voice quality are much better. We have 8" concrete walls covered with 2.5" of foam on either side. With the 5.8 ghz I would frequently lose the static filled signal in the Garage - about 50 ft from the base unit. With the new AT&T the voice quality is much better And I can walk more than two hundred feet away from the unit and still get a good signal. We live on a 35 acre lot in the mountains and I frequently take calls outside while working in the garage or in my backhoe. I still need greater range but given the power requirements and the FCC regulations, I think, AT&T has given us maximum range and voice quality (without using a range extender which I am not sure is available with this technology.)
...Read more