Home > Consumer Reviews > GE 29869GE2 Digital Answering System with 4 Mailboxes

Overall we are pleased with this answerer.
Runs fine, audio quality is OK, love the four voice mailboxes which is why we bought this unit. We have DSL, not a problem at all. We also have distictive ring for a second line. Again, no problem. Two minor nits: black color, white would be nicer. And the synthesized voice is OK but not great. I have a much older AT&T machine (now broken) with better synthesis. Oh, and why doesn't anyone still make a corded phone with an integrated answering machine with voice mailboxes? On a tabletop in the kitchen we have this answerer, a phone, and a caller-id unit. What clutter!

I've had it for three years. Between kids and cats it has dropped too many times, yet it keeps on ticking.

Not having compared this model other answering machines in this price range, I found that while the greeting I recorded comes through loud and clear, the quality of the audio on the messages left are substandard compared to my old mini-cassette based answering machine.

I purchased this machine because it has the most recording time and most mailboxes of all the consumer systems out there--I need these features for my business. I also need the recording quality to be good, like your run-of-the-mill commercial voicemail system (or the old cassette-type machines) because I need to capture and edit these voice messages on my computer. On the recommendation of a couple of reviewers in this forum who stated that the voice quality was great, I decided to give this model a try.

Well, this system does deliver the capacity, but I'm sorry to say that the voice quality is one of the worst I've ever heard on a digital answering machine. It's the same problem that plagues all digital answerers: it sounds like you're hearing the message through water. I have a puny, 4-year-old digital Radio Shack answerer at home that blows this item away in terms of voice quality. (Unfortunately Radio Shack no longer makes answerers.) In terms of the outgoing message, I tried recording it remotely by calling in (which results in a much better sounding announcement than doing it in the same room), but even that sounds crummy.

Sorry to be a downer here. Don't get me wrong: this unit may suit you for home purposes, but the quality--which I find to be at or slightly below par for digital answerers--is not at all acceptable for a business.

I am really disappointed with the state of affairs in the digital answering machine world (and regular telephones for that matter, but that's a whole other story). Tape-based machines, which have far superior fidelity compared to these digital pieces of junk, are no longer made. I am truly perplexed why we can't get the quality of commercial voicemail servers in a small package. Are the makers of commercial servers are in cahoots with the folks who make consumer models to keep the quality down?

So, the bottom line is that I thought I could get away with not paying my local phone company $10/month for voicemail service, but alas, I have finally decided I cannot. Just what this world needs--someone giving more easy money to AT&T for voicemail service.

Having gone through two crappy digital answering machines (the last one's speaker grew so weak that I had to put my ear up to it when replaying my messages), I scoured the `net looking for just a basic, reliable machine that actually worked and didn't peter out in a year. This one was about the only one that got consistently good reviews. And the price ($31 delivered) on Amazon was, at the time, the best deal I could find (kudos on that free shipping deal, Amazon!). Anyway, I've had it a month and it works fine. I'd give it five stars but my "announcement voice" sounds a bit "digitally warped." I can live with that. But what with all the other technological progress made in other spheres (I've got Dolby 6.1 surround-sound in my upstairs movie theater, for example), I've have thought that this sector of the home electronics industry would at least be able to match the voice quality that I enjoyed for 13 years on my old tape-driven answering machine. Otherwise, this machine's been excellent thus far. I also give 5 stars to Amazon for price, for listing candid reviews about its products, and for its fast (and free!) delivery on most everything I buy from it. 2/14/08 Update: The machine's still performing flawlessly! Have never used many of its other features (alternate voice mailboxes, etc.), by the way, but am glad that they're there. Anyway, I'm now adding durability as a factor supporting my rating for this product.