CD1553 DECT 6.0 Digital Answering System

 (5 customer reviews)

When compared with other sophisticated phones available in the market, this phone is probably the worst.

Pros:
- Decent sound quality
- I can still talk when the microwave is on

Cons:
- With my old phone I was used to do a conf. call just by picking up two handsets. In this over-engineered piece of crap, I have to put the call on hold, transfer it and then hit conference. I will never remember how to do that.
- The phone book is not shared between the handsets. I will have to enter the same phone number on all handsets.
- The "Talk" button doubles as the "flash" button. Very confusing, especially when switching between speaker phone and handset mode.
- Just 30 numbers of storage? Please!
- There are not good ring tones. Most of the available ringtones are just a differ take on my grandfather's "rrrrrring rrrrrring" sound

Please do yourself a favor and stay away from this phone. Unless you like naming your...Read more

Phones look good, and have very good voice quality.

They have a very strange feature: If one of the handsets is in use, you can't join the call by picking up another handset (like a wired phone.) The person with the first handset must use the intercom button to TRANSFER the call or CONFERENCE you in.

We have voicemail through Verizon landline service. The handset icon for voicemail never turns on. We have to listen for the stuttering dial tone.

I cannot recommend this phone.

I bought this phone(s) when previous set of 2.4GHz Uniden phones died after 5 years. The DECT spectrum works well and does not interfere with my WiFi and range seems good. However these units have several quirks that make them annoying at best.
(a) you must add phonebook entries individually to each phone, instead of an entry automatically getting sent to each phone (I have 4 handsets).
(b) base station does not display how many messages are in machine, only blinking light if there are any new messages
(c) once you answer the phone on one handset, you cannot simply pick up the call on another handset (like every phone since Bell) - the call must be "transferred" to the other phone - huh?? who is the rocket scientist at Philips who thought this was a good idea?
(d) the instruction manual is about the worst I have ever read - I thought some of the Asian translations were pretty awful, but I have to hand it to Philips for finding a new low in user friendliness...Read more