The cordless multi-handset phone that could!

Background

I had been using a Nortel Venture system which had many positive features, but suffered from interference on intercom calls, and an increasing inability for one station to see another one on the virtual phone network running over the home's existing wiring.

So, I looked into wireless models that would greatly reduce the dependency on my home's dubious wiring. The Panasonic KX-TG4000B was the second one that I tried (the other being the Siemens Gigaset which has already been much discussed).

Base Station

Setup was simple. The base station plugged into both electrical and phone outlets and worked immediately. The included handset needed to be charged for a few hours, so I started exploring the base station.

The base station includes an integrated speakerphone, so what it lacks in portability it does gain in usability in an office or other hands free environment. We placed ours in our kitchen where we're often running around with who-knows-what food preparation item in or on our hands.

The base station display will show the current date and time (either set manually or retrieved from the caller ID information) along with an indicator of whether there have been any calls since you last checked (think of this as the replacement for the red light on many caller ID boxes). When calls come in, caller ID information is shown (if you subscribe to the service from your phone company). While you're on the phone, a elapsed time clock is shown. Also, small indicators on the LCD panel show which cordless handsets are in use.

Each of the four lines has two buttons. One to select that line and another to enable the voice mail/auto attendant for that line. Each of these buttons also has a red light to show when the button has been activated (i.e., the line has been picked up or otherwise voice mail is enabled for that line).

There are also buttons for each of the eight cordless handsets, plus another button to ring all of the handsets and be automatically connected to whichever one answers first.

There is a voice mail button that blinks bright red when there are new messages. More about the voice mail later.

Speaking of lights, there's another red light in the center of the phone indicating that it is charging the internal NiCad battery. With the voice mail enabled plus this other red light on, I find that there are too many red lights lit up which draw away from real alert conditions, such as new voice mail messages.

The handset of the base station is a bit thinner than most phones and doesn't rest as comfortably against one's shoulder. Fortunately, the speakerphone eliminates the need to cradle the handset in this fashion. The sound quality of both the handset and the speakerphone is fine, although the Nortel Venture station's speakerphone was superior.

Cordless Handsets

The handsets are smaller than full-size handsets on corded phones, but are large enough to use relatively comfortably. They have a fixed antenna that looks to be sturdy enough to protect from the accidental bump.

The included handset is already pre-registered with the base station as extension #1, but can be deregistered and re-registered if needed. Subsequent handsets are registered to the system by activating the "HS Registration" mode on the base station, then doing the same on the unregistered handset. The two find each other and the handset gets registered as the next available extension number.

The system enforces a sequential numbering scheme for the stations in that you cannot choose which extension number to give to the handset. I had wanted to start numbering at the high end (#8) for the handsets upstairs, but I soon realized that I'd need to change my numbering scheme.

The sound quality of the cordless handsets is very good, almost rivaling corded phones. The only cordless phone I've used with superior sound is the Sanyo CLT-937. The flattened shape is perhaps more modern in design, but not quite as comfortable as the "cupped" design of larger handsets. It may take one a few tries to find the best spot where one should hold the cordless handset to their ear.

The handsets use the 2.4 GHz range for communication with the base station and I had no problem going from one corner of my two story house to the other with no reduction in sound quality. The range was good enough even to extend to our neighbors' houses, although quality did start to diminish after being about 150-200' from the base station.

When the microwave was on, I only noticed a slight, occasional crackling if I was standing near the microwave. I also have a IEEE 802.11b wireless network running in my home that also uses the 2.4 GHz range and I've noticed no conflicts or quality problems as a result of having both.

Each handset has access to all four lines at the touch of a button and also has access to the system's features such as conference calling, transfer, and voice mail. It is very nice that each handset does have full access to voice mail, both its own mailbox in the voice mail system, and also to the "general delivery" mailbox (for the base station).

The display on the handsets displays the caller ID information when the phone rings and shows the elapsed time when you're on the phone. Also, if the particular handset has a new message in its voice mail mailbox, the display will read "Voice Mail", but there is no blinking light or any other more significant alert mechanism.

The handsets normally rest in their charging bases. If the phone is ringing, when you remove it from the base, it can automatically answer the ringing line. This is a great convenience, but the problem is that the caller ID information disappears when you answer the call. This means that you need to read the caller ID information while the phone is still in its base. Fortunately, the phone can be configured to require you to press the [Talk] button to pick up the call instead, so you can pick up the phone, read what's on the display, and then take the call.

Dialing on the phones work in both on- and off-hook modes. You can either pick up the line that you want and then dial, or else dial the number and then press [Talk] much like a cell phone.

Voice Mail

The voice mail system is pretty impressive for a home user setup. It will hold up to 50 minutes of messages and greetings in its standard capacity, but you can reduce the quality and double the capacity to 100 minutes. I did not try the lower quality, so I cannot comment as to how it sounds.

The system also has a setting that will automatically delete messages older than 30 days to prevent clutter from filling up the mailboxes. While this setting can be enabled or disabled, you cannot adjust the message lifetime nor apply it selectively to different mailboxes. Also, there appears to be no way to find out how much space you've used in voice mail to know whether you're running into problems until it's full.

When accessing voice mail, you get both audible prompts plus an on-display menu shown on the phone's LCD panel. This is a very nice feature, especially since while you need to take the cordless handset away from your ear in order to press a button, you can read the screen to confirm which button you need to press.

Each extension does get its own mailbox (and its own password for remote access) and extension #0 (the base station) is used as the "general delivery" mailbox. Callers can select a mailbox (by pressing the extension number followed by "#") if they so choose or they can leave a message in the "general delivery" mailbox by default.

The cordless handsets can access their own mailboxes and can also access the "general delivery" mailbox. The base station, however, cannot access any mailbox other than the one for extension #0.

The voice mail system's messages and greetings are stored in flash memory so they will not be lost in the event of a power outage. (The battery backup in the base station is just to keep the cordless network up and running for those handsets that might still be using the phone.)

General Features

Both the base station and the cordless handset have pretty much the same set of features.

The base station does include a few extra features, mostly used for configuring the system as a whole. It does also have a button to ring all the handsets.

You can use a headset with both the base station and the cordless handsets (standard 2.5mm headset jacks are provided).

The base station and the cordless handsets can control things like ringer type (including different selections for the four different lines), ringer volume (the cordless handsets only have "low" and "high" settings), and the volume while you're on a call. Changing the volume while you're on a call from a handset does require you to take the handset away from your ear since the volume control is right in the middle of the face of the phone, not on the side where it would be more convenient.

Hold, call transfer (both announced and blind), and 3-way conference calls are all available. When you place a call on hold, after 30 seconds, your phone will start beeping annoyingly. If you do not retrieve the call within about two minutes, it will automatically be transferred to the "attendant" (voice mail).

You can transfer a call from your extension to voice mail, but you cannot transfer the call to a specific mailbox in the voice mail system.

Missing Features

You cannot turn the ringer off for the handsets. What you can do is, from the base station, configure the "group" of phones at which a particular line will ring and then turn that particular extension off. This also means that the particular extension will not receive caller ID information and will not automatically pick up that ringing line when removed from the base or [Talk] is pressed. The handset can pick up the line by pressing the particular line button.

Another feature missing is something akin to "do not disturb". You can go into voice mail and tell the system that you are not accepting calls, but that only applies to the auto attendant; direct calls from other extensions cannot be turned off.

There was a feature that our Nortel Venture system had that we do miss. They could use their intercom system as a paging system where, if configured, the extensions being called would automatically engage speakerphone and you've got a quick and easy to use intercom system. Plus, you could page all the extensions and instead of ringing, all the extensions would go into speakerphone (but the microphone would be muted) and you've got a public address system, too. Panasonic didn't implement anything like this in the cordless handsets, so you have to ring them and wait for the other end to answer.

One downside to a completely handset-only model for the system (no desk stations other than the base station) is that you lose the ability to have a speakerphone in other rooms. Panasonic is promising to improve their cordless system by offering a desk station this September that acts as a cordless unit, but offers desk phone functionality including speakerphone.

Final Comments

The largest downside to this system is its price. At $500 or more for the base station and the first handset, and $125 for each extra handset, the cost can grow very quickly.

After using the system for three weeks, I have great confidence in it continuing to do what I want. The convenience of a cordless system combined with the extension-to-extension calling provides what we need. The individual mailboxes in voice mail are an added bonus that we're using so far to keep our son's messages from cluttering up the general mailbox.