AT&T SL82318 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone, Silver/Gray, 3 Handsets
by Vtech
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of AT&T SL82318 DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone, Silver/Gray, 3 Handsets
Customer Review: Generally very good product
Summary: 4 Stars
I had been using a Uniden digital 5.8 Ghz phone for a number of years. While that phone provided reasonable service, it was lacking in range. We have a large lot (over 5 acres) and the 5.8 Technology just did not have the reach we needed especially outside. Things got worse when we added a wireless network for our computers. When the batteries started to fail in the handsets, we knew it was time to upgrade.
After looking at a lot of phone specs, it was clear that the new DECT technology might solve some of the problems we had. The offerings are not very extensive in this area yet so the choices really came down to personal preferences. There were very few if any owner reviews to go on (that is why I am writing this one) for any of the products available. What was available about other brands was not generally positive.
So we settled on going with a known brand name. AT&T is a brand name product despite being made outside the US by a third party manufacturer.
So far we are pleased with the phone. It has a lot more range than our old phone (though still not really enough). We have a lot of electrical items, and any signal must go through the 8" think oak log walls of the house to work outside. Even with all of that, the phone works out to about 200 feet from the base unit outside. The old phone would barely reach the front porch, and the driveway was out of range. The driveway is only 75 feet from the base unit. This new phone would probable go further than the 200 to 300 feet we have tested it to, if I was willing to put the base on the upper floor of the house. All of the handsets work anywhere inside the house, no problem. The base in located near the cent of the middle floor of the house, so basically it is in the Middle of the building and the interior walls are all of standard drywall construction.
The sound quality is pretty good, and there is absolutely no background noise or interference of any kind. The handset buttons are larger than most and this helps my large fingers hit the buttons better. Also the numbers are protected UNDER the plastic so they will not wear off. The buttons are lighted with an effective lighting system. The volume is adjustable and is adequate, but for my taste it could be made a little louder. Still the volume is ok. Ring and caller volume can be adjusted separately, and the ring volume is plenty loud, especially with four handsets ringing at once.
For my tastes the handsets are a little too slim and light in weight, but this is just my personal taste, my wife likes them the way they are and I would think others would too.
We also bought two add on hand sets for a total of six. I tested the phone inside our barn, and it works fine so we plan to add one out there. The barn is 75 feet from the house, but this adds another set of walls to penetrate when using the phone. I think for most people the range will be fine, and if the older technologies worked for you or were marginal, the newer DECT 6.0 will be just fine.
The battery life seems to be very good. While we do put these back in the cradle at night, we have not had them go dead yet. Even with a very active day of calls the handset does not seem to require topping off to keep going. I would rate the stand by and talk time to be very good. I would prefer if the charge LED went off when the handset is charged, but no companies have got this idea yet.
All in all I would rate this phone highly. I would have preferred the ability to dial from a hardwired phone located on the base, and maybe more message storage space.
Customer Review: Effective, economical and expandable - great product!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is just the best cordless telephone system I have ever had - better range, easier to use and program, excellent call quality. (As a onetime worldwide troubleshooter and installer of air traffic control and communications systems, I am very much a stickler and "picky" about electronics and comm systems; my wife says I am very hard to please on these issues.)
After a full charge, they were fully ready to use, truly plug 'n' play - and no interference at all with / from my WiFi network, and perfect for my digital telephone service from SureWest (shared with high speed internet access and digital TV on their excellent fiber optic system.) The base can be wall-mounted or merely placed on a horizontal, flat surface. I've not experienced any dropouts or signal attenuation in and in the immediate vicinity of my house, and voice clarity is superb, with no spurious noise.
The controls and commands are logical and easy to execute (and you can choose English, Spanish or French,) and in my case the ringer and voice volumes are quite sufficient. I like the ability to add to the directory from any handset, though only the base unit itself needs to be connected to the actual telephone line. Other highlights are great battery times and lightness - consumer tests show many prefer heavy-feeling equipment because we associate "solidity" with quality, but that resulted in some manufacturers adding useless dead weight for "touch and feel" - none of that here, the handsets are light, lighted and readable, and the illuminated buttons are easy to use even with my large hands. I have used a headset plugged into a handset for conference calls, and again, it works flawlessly. The "record" feature is handy to record product specifications or details from a client or caller.
The easy path to expandability to an amazing 12 handsets means this set can be used in a very large house, and the system also works as an intercom. If there is any downside at all, the system does not have a privacy feature - you can not block all other handsets from listening in to a call, so if eavesdropping is a problem in your house, wait for a system with privacy features from AT&T Inc. (remember, SBC Communications purchased several "baby Bells," Ameritech, AT&T Corporation and the name, so technically it is not really the old AT&T Corp. we think of when we see the initials,) or spend for one of the few systems that allow handset blocking.
What I would like on the next iteration of this phone: more than 50 allowable directory entries, and longer than the available fourteen minutes for voicemail recording - perhaps an expansion memory possibility using a Micro-SD memory card or the like. As others have said, I would like to program in a handset name, not merely see a default number, e.g "office," "bedroom" and etc. (Of course this all brings it to the realm of a professional, not home, system, but I can dream.)
Yes, I am picky - nonetheless, after a month's use, I love this phone system, and as stated, it is the best performing home cordless system I have had, and the most expandable as well. I have rated five stars because the system is heads above the others (and I have had several cordless systems from different manufacturers, including Panasonic and Siemens over the years.)
Customer Review: Big bang for the money
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay, we are not spending hundreds of dollars here on this phone. Given that, the phone is almost perfect. I read up consumer reports, read review did all the research for over a week before settling on this one. The Panasonic KX-TG1033S was my other choice, but this had more negative reviews.
The two most negative comments I read about the AT&T phone was that the voice was very low and that the battery went dead suddenly for at least one customer.
I found the voice loudness to be fine. Agreed, at the loudest setting you want to hear something that hurts the ear, but not for me. The battery, of course, I can't comment. It is a replaceable battery and buying one shouldn't be a big deal if the inevitable happens.
Some things I like very much about the phone is the keypad back-lighted. I have used some phone that miss this simple feature. The number buttons and fairly big for a small phone. I love the fact that the directory is common to all the handsets. My earlier V-tech was a pain in this regard as I had separate directory listings to maintain. I found the menu prompts fairly easy to follow. Again, my V-Tech was a pain when it came to setting up the clock time. Dect 6.0 has advantages over the regular 5.8 GHz range in that it has no interfernce from home wireless networks or microwave waves. Each handset has a speakerphone. You can combine directory listings - i.e., you can dial a number from the directory, and to enter the next number - a pin for example, you scroll through the directory and select the second number. Some phones have a pause that you can store with the numbers, which makes it a bit more convenient and frees up a address space. Setup was easy - it took all of 2 minutes to put in the battery and setup the time.
What is missing is a battery charge indicator. No wonder, some people found out that there was no battery in the middle of a call. This is not a big deal as I usually replace the phone in the charger. The phone is energy star compliant, if that matters. So far, I find the range is adequate for our fairly big home. The materials used in the construction are plasticy, the result when every manufacturer wants to makes a 30% profit but still provide many features at a price the consumer can afford - I am not hung up by this drawback. Also wish there was a audible beep for voice mails, need to walk up to the base to check it out.
The handsets look great - there are slim and light. I would have liked it to be a bit heavier, but that's just me. The directory can hold only 50 names, a bit small for today's connected individual. The handset's seat in the charger isn't deep enough, you can easily knock the handset off the charger, but if you are not clumsy :) you won't. It has only one mailbox - today's teenagers prefer their own, but each one has their own cell phone, don't they?
If you plan to return it for any reason that doesn't satisfy you, keep note of the way the individual items are packed. There is a lot of repackaging for a phone.
For the price I paid, I am not complaining. I plan to buy another handset though I would have saved some money buying a four handset phone.
Customer Review: Excellent Choice
Summary: 5 Stars
First and foremost, this line of AT&T DECT 6.0 cordless phones works extremely well, no background noise even with a home wireless system, great range, and very good sound quality both with the handset to your ear and on speaker phone. It does all that one should expect from a cordless phone system. Entering names and numbers into your directory is very intuitive, as is using the caller ID and changing the ringer tone and volume. You hardly need the manual. We use the "phone company" voice mail, so I haven't evaluated the "usability" of the answering machine, but it "talks you through" the setup steps, setting the clock, etc., and seems very user friendly to operate. Another nice feature is that directory and CID entries are maintained in the base station, so if, for example, you enter a name/number on handset #1, it is immediately available on all other handsets on your system.
The handset is quite lightweight and compact compared to our previous cordless phone, which took a little getting used to, but my wife and I adapted to it after one or two days. The handsets come with belt clips, which I use, not to clip them on my belt but because they raise the back of the handsets slightly if you lay them down, which I find improves the the speaker phone sound (the speaker is on the back of the handsets).
One minor drawback, compared to my prior cordless phone, which permitted each handset to be identified by location, e.g., "kitchen," "bedroom," etc., is that each AT&T handset has a number (and added handsets are given consecutive numbers as they are registered to the base up to the maximum of 12), so you have to remember the location numbers to call another handset on the intercom or to transfer incoming calls. Not a big deal, but being able to name each handset is a nice feature.
Be aware that the SL82(X)18 models are all the same, with the (X) indicating the number of handsets with that bundle. For example, SL82318 comes with three handsets, SL82418 with four, etc. I mention this because the various bundles appear to be different products, but they are all essentially the same, so keep this in mind when shopping for the best deal. The only exception seems to be that models SL82518 and SL82558 both have five handsets, but I haven't been able to find what the difference between them is, even on the AT&T site. Since my review applies to all bundles of this system, (if they let me) I will post this review under the several different model numbers.
All in all, I am extremely pleased with these purchases, first a four handset bundle, then three additional handsets for a total of seven. Hope this review is helpful in making up your mind about selecting a new cordless phone.
Customer Review: Unbelievably ancient interface, features; low batt life
Summary: 1 Stars
This is incredible. I bought this phone to replace a AT&T 2440 2.4GHz phone I have had for 10+ years. Great phone, just getting old and no-one makes batteries for it anymore. And it interferes with my wireless router, and the microwave interferes with it :). You can still find the phone listed on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/AT-2440-Cordless-Telephone-Metallic/dp/B00005094F .
I bought a new AT&T SL82318 phone set (3 handsets) with the expectation that AT&T's technology had progressed in the cordless telephone market in the 10+ years between the model I have and this one. I was completely wrong. Opening the manual for the SL82318 was a shocking trip down memory lane. Except for the addition of an answering machine and the DECT 6.0 (1.9GHz) frequency use, this phone has the *exact* same internal digital interface features as my old 2440 I have sitting right next to it - although they are couched under a *slightly* different menu system (and I mean slightly), and a much more confusing button layout to access them.
Oh, wait, it does display the (exact same) information on a 4 and 1/2 line b&w LCD screen instead of a 2 1/2 line one - even if the newer one only uses the first 2 lines 90% of the time. And the back light is now 'cool blue' vs. the older 'cool green'. Wow. I would have thought that the geniuses at AT&T could come up with some better features and interface given the time between the two, and a slight expectation that during that same time span their entry/competition in the mobile phone market might have had *some* technology bleed-over, but it seems that the boys with the death-star logo only like designing things once - and darn it that's going to be good enough for anyone.
The manual states 5 hours of talk time on a fully charged battery (16 hours of charge recommended). I have yet to test the full measure of that, but the Panasonics, Unidens, and V-Techs sitting next to it at the store all advertised their battery life on the packaging, AT&T did not - probably because all the others had advertised battery life of 8 hours or better talk time, including the V-Tech's impressive claim of 17 hours(!). Good to keep you in the dark about these things. And - get this - my old 2440's claimed talk time *in the manual* is 6 to 8 hours on a full charge (which BTW charging takes only 8 hours on the older phone). 10 years and you lost 3 hours use time? Even with all the advancing technology in electronics low power usage and battery breakthroughs?
Is this phone something you cooked up 9 1/2 years ago and are just now getting around to selling?
I knew I should have bought the Panasonic. Knew it.