AT&T 265 - Trimline Telephone with Caller ID & Call Waiting
by AT&T
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Our Price: $15.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of AT&T 265 - Trimline Telephone with Caller ID & Call Waiting
Customer Review: Excellent land-line wall phone
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this phone as a standard direct land-line phone, wall-mounted, that I could count on 24/7 regardless of any possible power failure that would knock out the more common base-dependent satellite phones that require electricity to work. Standard "Bell System" style phones like these operate with current supplied from the local Telco central office battery power and will give you a dial tone even in a local area power blackout. (Did you know that? I'm a Telco retiree (:>)).
Anyway, this is a great standard phone. The caller id display is contrast-only, and sometimes is hard to read without proper lighting. In other words, you can't see the display in the dark. Also, the phone utilizes two AA batteries for certain functions such as the blinking light to indicate a call that has come in. You need to press the review button to go through the caller id list to stop the blinking light else the batteries will drain. Very minor issue.
This is a perfect replacement / stand-in for the old Bell System phone you remember from before the breakup of Ma Bell. I recommend adding a 25 foot cord, available on Amazon as well as at your local Home Depot. I have used it for a couple of months now and have found that the handset is not susceptible to falling out of the wall-mounted cradle, although it does require paying attention to placing it in the cradle properly (as opposed to the usual teen offspring style of tossing it towards the cradle and expecting it to "magnetically hold"). Earpiece volume is no problem (and adjustable), and people on the other end hear me fine as well. My wife likes it, that should be the final straw. Like I say, this will work even when the power goes out. You should have at least one of these in your house, don't depend solely on the electricity-based phone units with satellite locations, all of which have to be plugged into an outlet. Even the base unit will be useless if your power is out. Landline phones like this will work from phone company-provided power.
Customer Review: Caller ID, no adapter block, great near a computer!
Summary: 5 Stars
This phone is great. Someone wrote that they could not see the screen display. Possibly because they did not read the manual to see that you have to install 4 AA batteries in the base? I did not see the display and read. Problem gone. The placement of the buttons are a small problem IF you are not careful about holding the phone, but they are low profile to make it less likely you hit them. The display for caller ID had to be on the top of a Trimline phone or it would not be trim, would it? Why? So you can see it before you pick up the ear piece, ergo, the programming buttons for the display are there also. It's a trade off. Maybe it could have been designed better, maybe not, but the phone has the 2 advantages I wanted: no adaptor block, so I can keep it by computer equipment that is loaded with blocks, and caller ID. Added advantages include phone number dialing. 3 one touch, 10 two touch.
Some advice to shoppers. Shopping online is not the easy game it once was. Amazon is usually good on prices with free delivery for items over $25. But prices online are for many sellers are not always great and shipping is getting to be a profit center for some, like ink cartridges for printer sellers. I balked at the $30 plus cost of the 3rd party sellers for this phone on Amazon, and googled. There were several vendors, most lower, some higher, but this phone was not in stock at any of them. I went to an online store not included in the roundup from Google: the much maligned W_ _-M_ _ _ chain, and got the phone via their internet store (not available in-store) and they delivered it to a local store I designated for pickup within days. No shipping charge to the store, only if delivered to your front door. Slight inconvenience, but the price was $20 plus change including tax.
I note, the image and my search refers to ATT 265, but the box actually says TR1909 - an updated product? And Amazon is selling a black version for $14.95 from Amazon.
Customer Review: Badly designed
Summary: 1 Stars
I've always had AT&T phones and have always been really happy with them. Until now. I needed a replacement for my corded kitchen wall phone (AT&T trimline without caller ID or anything else) and wanted one that had caller ID. Good luck finding anything decent that isn't huge and looking like an CEO's desk phone! Found this, thrilled it was AT&T, and bought it. Mistake.
The sound quality is horrendous - constant static. (And no, it's not my phone line - none of the other phones in the house have a static sound.) But worse, and what made me take it off the wall after just about a month, is that I'm sick of hanging up on people every time I move my hand on the thing. The buttons on the outside of the receiver are SO badly placed that you are forever hitting one or more of them either cutting you off your call, or it acting like "Flash" does. Infuriating. Maybe it's just where I hold my hand or something, but I'm quite sure I'm not the only one this is happening to, and I've no intention of relearning where and how I hold a phone to accommodate a static-y, cheap, badly designed phone.
Bleh. I'm so disappointed in AT&T for this one.
Customer Review: BEWARE - The Caller ID might not work
Summary: 2 Stars
Inexpensive phone with good sound quality. Base is oddly high (almost three inches).
*** The caller ID just doesn't work. *** I have other phones with caller ID on the same line which work fine. Then I see in the manual:
"This product meets the applicable Industry Canada technical specifications" (a hint this might not be best for a US customer) and then:
"You may need to change your telephone service plan to enjoy this [the caller ID] feature. Contact your telephone service provider if:
-- You have both caller ID and call waiting, but as separate services (you may need combined service)
OR -- You have only caller ID service, or only call waiting service, but not both."
I have both caller ID and call waiting and have no idea whether they're "separate" - it's a standard AT&T residential phone plan. It's hard to believe trying to talk to AT&T about this nonsense would be fruitful, and I sure bet it would be time consuming.
Would have been a great deal if the caller ID had worked out of the box.
Customer Review: Less than expected
Summary: 3 Stars
I can only reiterate what others have said here, though the thick profile doesn't particularly bother me, and I've had no problem with the on-hook mount, etc. For me, the major disappointment is the unlit Caller ID screen (given my kitchen wall-mount position, I cannot read it without the help of a flashlight). The unlit kepad is also disappointing, as even my 20-year-old corded phones had lighted keypads (and with no need for battery support). I ordered this phone in conjuction with the AT&T SL82318 DECT 6.0 cordless system only because I preferred to locate the cordless base unit in my study and wanted a corded caller ID-enabled phone for the kitchen wall-plate. And while I'm disappointed in some ways, I really can't complain for the price. The problem is that corded phones have become passé, and none of the manufacturers are developing new, feature-rich corded phones.