I bought this phone (and 4 additional handsets) about 1 month ago to replace a 2.4ghz siemans 2400 phone that was experiencing interference from a neighbors wireless lan. See below for info on wireless lan interference with cordless phones.

My overall recommendation is: if you must have a 5.8ghz 2-line phone now this is a good phone to get. If you don't have to have it right now, wait a bit and see if the competition comes up with something better.

First the stuff that needs improvement.

1. Too much feedback from your own voice. All telephones feedback a small amount of your own voice from the microphone to the speaker in your ear. This is why you know the phone is working. This phone however produced noticeably more feedback than any other phone I've used, especially at high volume levels. This might be a big problem for you if you spend long periods of time on the phone.

2. Handset headphones don't work well. When a use a headset with the handset, I get complaints that I'm not loud enough. While this could be caused by the headsets I've used, I did try 3 different headsets and got the same results each time. I may trying a higher quality headset to see if this fixes the problem.

3. Handset speakerphone is weak. I've gotten some complains from people when I use the handset speakerphone, namely clipping (parts of words are cut off) and reduced volume. While I don't think this negates the usefulness of the feature, I do find myself not using the speakerphone sometimes when I'd like too. This is not an uncommon problem with speakerphones in general.

4. Expansion handsets (tcx860) are not wall mountable. My kitchen has a standard wall mounting plate but the expansion handsets can't use it.

5. Base unit wall mount for tall people only. The base unit can mount to the wall but when using the bracket they give you on a standard height wallplate people under about 5'10" have a very hard time seeing the keypad.

6. Handset graphics design. This one comes from my wife. I'm a function kind of guy. The design of the handset is very technical looking. It may keep technophobes from using some of the features and it doesn't blend in well with more traditional furniture.

7. Intercom ringing. When you dial an intercom extension, you hear ringing out of the earpiece and its too loud. I always hold it back from my each until I hear voice-like noises at a distance. Then I ask them what they said. Maybe I'm using this wrong. Seems like a really stupid design to me.

8. Batteries. Handsets do not use standard sized batteries. I love the way proprietary batteries are so expensive and make my phone obsolete because they are no longer in stock.

While after all that you probably think this is a horrible phone. Actually I like the phone better than the siemans phone it replaced. This phone has more features that are easy to use and work together better than on the siemans phone and I actually liked the siemans phone. Well here's the good stuff.

1. LAN Interference. This phone lives happily with my neighbors wireless LAN (which is an 802.11b). LAN BACKGROUND: both 802.11b and 802.11g LANs use the same frequency as 2.4ghz phones. If you have both within range, the phone becomes unusable and the LAN slows down. This phone uses 5.8ghz and should have no problem with 802.11b & g. However this does not mean you are home free. It is possible to have an 802.11a LAN which does (I believe though have not tested) overlap with 5.8ghz phone, though less so than the 2.4ghz versions. The good part is that most people (it was mostly bought by businesses) do not have 802.11a LANs (even though they are technically superior to b & g). If you are currently experiencing LAN interference on a 2.4ghz phone you won't get the same interference on a 5.8ghz phone. It is possible however that all three types (a, b & g) are in your area. Then you may be screwed.

2. Range. I read some of the other reviews who experienced range problems but my works just fine. My base unit is on the 3rd floor of my house and I frequently use the phone in the basement, no problems. I do notice a slightly shorter range than my 2.4ghz phone. With the 2.4ghz phone I could go about 100' from my house before completely losing the call. With this phone I can go about 75'.

3. Voice quality. I would rate this at about 7 out of 10. It might actually be higher but its hard to tell because of the feedback problem mentioned above.

4. Display. Very nice displays. Easy to read and seem to always have the information that I want.

5. Handset Speakerphone. I know I said this needs improvement, but its still a great feature. When someone puts you on hold, you put it on speaker and sit it down while you wait, where ever you are. Its wonderful!

6. Configuration. For any phone with a lot of features, you have to do some configuration. I had no problem (though I am a technical guy) configuring the phone. I rarely found myself finding configurations I wanted but couldn't do.

7. Ringers. The ringers are quite loud (volume is adjustable). You can always hear it. Also there are 20 ring tones available (none downloadable however). On my old phone, I couldn't tell the difference between ring tones. This is definitely not a problem on this phone.

8. Room monitor. It much easier to set up room monitoring than on other phones I've had. I haven't used it much, but it seems to work well.

9. Features. It would take too much time to go over all the features. Lets just say that there are lots of them, they all work well, and they work well together. The phonebook and caller ID features work especially well. The intercom is nice.

Features that look cool but I haven't used yet.

1. Base speaker phone.

2. Handset-to-handset intercom away from home. You can take 2 or more handsets anywhere you go and talk to each other. I'll probably never use this function since we have cellphones and GRS radios. It might be useful to keep your spouse from getting lost a home depot.

Recommended: Yes