MOTOROLA MD491 2.4GHz Cordless Phone Answering System

I thought the Motorola name meant quality products--but after using this phone I now know better. The following are a few of the problems I had with this phone:

1. What's the point of having a Caller ID phone if the caller ID information DISAPPEARS after the SECOND ring...and just says "Ïncoming Call"?

2. Sometimes the phone just does NOT ring on the cordless handset when a call is coming in...it just lights up. I can't tell you how many times I'd hear the corded base phone located in another part of my home ringing--and the handset next to me doesn't.

3. You cannot turn OFF or LOWER the volume on the ringing cordless handset or corded base if you don't want to answer a call. This is extremely annoying...and definetly NOT a phone for a home with sleeping babies or those who do not want to be disturbed.

4. You cannot listen to messages from the corded base phone PRIVATELY. It only works with the speaker phone.

5. If...Read more

I have this phone system for about 1 month now. I have to say this phone is crystal clear. It is loud and I can really hear the call clearly. There is no comparsion to my previous Uniden and Panasonic. They are simply bad. No one can hear nothing from either the Uniden or the Panasonic in my house.

Some of the things I like about this Motorola is that I can set the ring volumn for different time of the day. So, it won't ring too loud at night. The speaker phone on the cordless handset is awesome! It is easy to use than any of my Uniden or my Panasonic.

One thing I don't like is the corded handset. It keeps falling off the base. The cord is just too close to the table making the handset hard to seat on the base.

I usually make call with my cell phone. So, I haven't had a chance to try out the answering machine or the phone book. But I don't use the phone for these much anyway.

I like this phone very much. I am planning to add a...Read more

The phone system was easy to install and setup. It also provides you with a corded phone that has a battery backup (4 AAs)in case of a power outage, which was my main objective. It also gives the flexiblility of additinal extenstions which have many features, i.e. message indicators on the extentions, so you don't have to be at the base to receive or be alerted to a new message. The orange backlighted panel is good in all lighting conditions.