Buzz
Written: Jan 08 '01 (Updated Jan 08 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very cheap, can check messages through handset.
Cons: Has poor audio quality, and it's cheap because it's defective.
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| ruff's Full Review: General Electric GE 2-920SST |
This is the best telephone/answering machine money can buy for $17, which isn't saying much. I picked mine up refurbished at Fry's Electronics. That means it was returned to the factory, "fixed," and resold to me for cheap. Most cordless phone with answering machines cost more than $50. I paid less than half that, so I knew what I was getting into. Make sure you do, too.
Here are the two problems the phone has, right up front:
1. The phone lacks clarity. There's static.
2. The base unit's speaker makes an audible buzzing noise, always. Putting a piece of paper over it muffles the buzz.
Okay, so the phone's crummy. But it's useful. For one thing, it's cordless, running in the 900 mHz range. For the most part, it maintains a good connection, but it would have been helpful if the GE designers had included a "channel" button. That would have let me force it to move to a cleaner part of the spectrum.
The most important feature is the answering machine. It's digital. It answers. There's a little two character digital display that tells how many messages are left. I suppose there might be a time/date stamp, but it doesn't seem to be the default setting, and I went a whole semester without knowing when the messages had been left on the machine. The answerer isn't all mediocre, though. It has a feature that many $200 telephones don't: Although you can check messages through the speaker on the base unit, you can also check them through the handset. I didn't have to have my messages read aloud in front of my roommate. I'm a private person, and that alone made the purchase worthwhile.
College students and call-waiting customers will also enjoy the flash button on the handset. Even though it's pretty small. All of the other buttons are nice and big. The exterior design is very comfortable.
The only other feature that sets this phone apart from the others is the intercom feature, which allows two way conversations between the handset and the base unit. I can't imagine many uses for that, but there you go.
Overall, this is a miserable little phone. The sound quality is bad, and the buzzing noise is laughable. But it does the job, and it has a fairly decent answering machine. It works, just not very well.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ruff
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Reviews written: 69
Trusted by: 46 members
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