A Customer Review
"Excellent feature-set"
As others have noted, this phone system has an amazingly useful set of features. I'm replacing a very expensive Siemens system that has served me well for nearly 10 years, and it's taken that long to find a suitable replacement (which had to be 5.8MHz to avoid interference with LANs and other 2.4GHz devices I need to use).
One correction of a criticism in prior reviews -- One user noted that the numbers saved in Caller ID can't be dialed as saved. In fact, the phone will insert or remove the leading 1- for long-distance dialing just by pressing the "*/Tone/<" key, and it will insert or remove the area code by pressing the "#/>" key. This is handy, and it's too bad the annoyed reviewer didn't notice it in the manual (p. 53).
Transferring ALL numbers in the phone directory from one unit to another (base or remote) is absolutely essential if you're using it as a home phone, and I was relieved to confirm that it does this.
Unlike my excellent Siemens, the Uniden lets any remote perform call screening, so you can listen to incoming messages and pick up the call without sprinting (no pun intended) for the base unit.
I have not yet tested the transmission range. Hopefully it's at least a few hundred feet... The higher radio frequency (5.8GHz) means it's a bit more directional (line of sight) than the older phones. In any case, it works very well within my house, with no evidence of powerline or other interference. The sound quality is much better than average.
Having each handset operate as a small speakerphone is also a big plus, especially when reviewing voicemail.
I'm delighted to have a small red LED on each handset to indicate when there are unread messages. With 5 handsets in my house, it's very useful to NOT have to connect to the base to check if there are new messages. You can disable this LED, or go a step further and have the handsets/base beep every 15 seconds as well. Another thoughtful voicemail feature -- if you try to delete all messages, it won't do so if any of them are still unread.
The phone fully supports the new Call Waiting Deluxe features offered by some phone companies -- you get to choose what happens to an incoming call while you're on another call.
Room monitoring is better than on the Siemans -- you can choose which handset (or base) does the monitoring, and which does the receiving. Monitoring and answer machine call screening can both be turned off if you don't want these features to be used.
The ring tones include a very subdued "Soft Alert" tone, which is perfect for the bedroom. A good collection of tones and tunes is also provided.
You can assign any ring tone to any number in the directory; this will be used as a distinctive ring whenever an assigned phone number (with caller ID) calls you.
The display is bright
