( 69 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 9 2009
There was a slight learning curve getting accustomed to this phone system; however, the problem went away once I realized not to touch the cell phone if its within range of the link-to-cell box. If you answer the cell phone and are near the link to cell box, you can hear the person calling you but they cannot hear you ... this results in a dropped call. To cure the problem, always use the wall phone or one of the phones that comes with the Panasonic Link-to-Cell Expandable Bluetooth-Enabled DECT 6.0 Phone System.
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( 3 of 3 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 4 2009
Due to the mixed reviews, I purchased this from Best Buy so returning it would not be a hassle. After several months, I have never had a dropped call or disconnected handset, so I've kept it and ordered 4 additional handsets. As far as I know, the only handsets that work are the ones that are exactly the same as it comes with -- the KX-TGA930T, and the splash/drop resistant KX-TGA935B. I got one of the 935's so my wife can take it outside/gardening/etc. It is noticeably bulkier and heavier and so I only ordered the one, and it lives on the kitchen counter when it isn't travelling outdoors. With the base unit on the ground floor and not really near any windows, in fact it's right next to the fridge, I can go about 2 to 3 houses away before it cuts out. There is a jogging track across the next street over, so through two yards and a street, in the direction that the fridge doesn't block, and it does go further in that direction. Place the base station with windows and desired distant coverage in mind and you should be pleased with the results. A big Pro for me is the batteries are rechargeable AAA's, 2 per handset. You'll never have to buy an expensive proprietary battery. And, when you do replace the AAA's it comes with, you can use your choice of higher mAh ones like Eneloop or Duracell. I like the shared phonebook, as opposed to having to program numbers on each handset. If you prefer the latter, then this system may not be for you. You can set Night Ring mode for different times on different handsets, but you can't name the handset. We just have to remember that the "Bedroom" phone is #1 and that's the one that doesn't ring after 10pm. It's a handy feature. I have a Blackberry Storm and my wife has an LG Chocolate 2. As soon as I turn OFF my Jawbone Prime, the base can connect to it. After I drive away from the house, I can turn on the Jawbone and it can find the Storm. The Storm seems to only talk to one BT device at once. I don't know if any of the negative reviewers are contributing some difficulties to concurrent BT headset use. The BlueTooth range is MUCH farther with the base than my headset. I was shocked that it works just fine without any BT static when I take my phone clear upstairs into the bedroom where my charging cradle lets the Storm double as a bedside clock. I have been so used BT headset range being limited even to where I keep my phone on the same side of my body as the earpiece. Occasionally, perhaps once a month, the base doesn't connect back up to one of our cell phones after a call. After unplugging the base station power for a couple seconds it comes back up just fine. We have NOT had any dropped calls using cell or landline (well, technically it's VOIP but same thing to the base). Being used to the ability to pass calls to and from the BT headset, I found that the Panasonic cannot do this exactly. Of course, I can "steal" a call-in-progress from the Panasonic to talk on the cell, but I can't send a call to the Panasonic the way I can by turning on my Jawbone and having the call-in-progress transfer to the headset from the cell. I tried everything, but the Panasonic only knows how to answer a ringing Cell call or dial out an outgoing Cell call. Fortunately, my wife's Chocolate is more user-friendly than the Storm, in that if she picks up the Chocolate and answers it, the Chocolate doesn't default to BT like the Storm does. If I have to answer my Storm, I have to hit Answer, then Menu, Activate Handset, while the caller is inevitably saying, "Hello? Hello???" Be aware of this, and be prepared to teach your wife/parents/whoever how to answer their own cell when it's paired to the Panasonic's BlueTooth, if needed. The biggest con I have with this system is that it can ONLY do ONE thing at a time, with the exception of a two-handset phone call. ONE phone can be using the phonebook at a time. I don't think you can even intercom two handsets at the same time as any phone call. You can talk on ONE line, either cell 1 or cell 2 or landline, but you can't use more than one line at once and certainly not conference them. However, the convenience of walking to any of the 6 handsets to answer a call rather than dash around the house trying to find where the cell phone got set down, or trip up or down the stairs because it's always sitting on the kitchen counter, far outweighs the occasional times we get two calls at once and someone has to use their cell phone. I wish you could change the backlight time, cradle-backlight settings, and have a large screensaver "clock" option, but you can't. Overall the system is a keeper for us. The only reason I might be disappointed is if the VTech LS6245 that finally seems to have come out recently, or another BlueTooth enabled system, turns out to be a killer system and overcome some of the limitations such as one line or intercom at once. My wife loves it and doesn't care that it only does one thing at once. 4 stars instead of 5 because I think that by supporting up to 6 headsets, it should allow at minimum one headset to be on one call while another headset is on another, and intercom from headset can only ring one other headset (by number since it doesn't "name" phones) -- if you want to "ring all" you have to go poke the "handset locator" button on the base.
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Posted: Aug 2 2009
I was VERY reluctant to purchase this phone after reading all the negative reviews here. But let me back up a little and explain my situation. I am a professional photographer, and just moved into a new photo studio space. My partner and I use our cell phones exclusively -- we don't have a regular phone line, and don't want one. Unfortunately, we share our building with several computer companies, and the RF noise is incredible. Combined with low cell phone signal levels, we weren't able to reliably use our cell phones in most of the studio space. The Panasonic phone system looked like the perfect solution. And over the years, I have owned many Panasonic phones, and always found them to be solid performers with a somewhat conservative and very Japanese design philosphy. It seemed inconceivable to me that Panasonic could make the horrible product described by reviews here. So even though many of the reviews were very negative, we decided to take a chance based on previous positive experience with the brand, and knowing we could just return the thing if they turned out to be true. Well, we've had it working for a week. Installation was completely simple -- I paired it to our two iPhone 3Gs phones in a couple of minutes, and then stuck the base station up in the drop ceiling so we wouldn't have to to look at it. The cell phones sit on a table about 8 feet away. So far, not one dropped call, not one issue. To steal Apple's phrase, it "just works." Audio quality is just fine -- certainly not hi fi, but well within the normal range for wireless phones. Like I said, we are in a very difficult RF environment. We have tons of computers and other stuff radiating in the space, and our neighbors add even more. But with the cell phones in a place where they get a good signal, all problems are over -- we can take the Panasonic handsets anywhere in our studio space, and there's never any dropouts, noise, or dropped calls. The caller ID works too. I can't speak to why other users have had so many difficulties, but I can report that our unit, combined with two Apple iPhone 3Gs phones, works exactly as promised. No drama, no hassle. In short, a great solution for people who need to interface several regular phones to a bluetooth equipped cell phone. Just a side note -- I drive a Ford Fusion, which is equipped with a bluetooth phone interface. I can go from walking down the street, to the car, to the studio, and the iPhone 3Gs switches seamlessly from no bluetooth to car bluetooth, to studio bluetooth. In other words, everything is working just at is supposed to, seamlessly. Highly recommended product.
