Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony SPP-SS965 900 MHz DSS Cordless Phone

I've had this phone for just under 1 year and I think the performance of the phone with regards to interferance and typical cordless phone flaws is unparalleled. Also, I have never had any cross talk- the clarity is increadible and no different than a corded phone. The call-waiting ID works like a gem also. So you ask yourself- why is this guy giving this phone three stars? It's plain and simple, Sony cut corners on the features of this phone. My gripes are as follows: 1)The speaker phone only works when things are quiet on both ends of the line- don't use it in a room that doesn't have carpet, the speakerphone is not full-duplex meaning that only one person can talk at a time for the other person to hear- morse code would be better. Often times when I call my voice-mail, the sound of the voice message prompt throws the phone into silence with choppy bits of the voice mail I am trying to receive 2) The low battery warning is far from a warning- 4 beeps at 5 seconds tops and you better race to a wired phone if you want to continue your conversation. 3)You can't scroll the caller i.d. at the base station so if you come home and want to check who called, you have to go find the handset. 4) The handset screen and keypad are not illumated. 5)You can store 50 numbers in the handset but not in the base station- you only get 10 numbers to speed dial, however, the speed dialing keys do not work on my base station- I'll be taking my unit to the Sony repair center- I anticipate that they will fix it at no charge. By the way I have had great service from this center on another sony product that needed repair(due to pilot error and no fault of sony's). They were extremely quick and they do all of their repairs in-house, your product is not sent off to get fixed.

I bought my Spread Spectrum phone a little over a year ago and there were quite a few small things about the phone that just bothered me to the point that I finally bought another 900mhz cordless phone a few months ago. Overall the phone is a decent phone. Voice clarity is superb, the caller id (on both the base and handset) work just fine, and the jog dial is probably the best feature on a cordless phone since they started using those fixed rubber antennas. While you can easily dial numbers using just the jog dial with just a few rotations and presses of the thumb it's still nice to have 3 one touch dialing keys (on handset) as well. The speaker phone on the base unit is OK. It works best when there is no background noise on either end.

My biggest problem with this phone is the caller id display. The caller id display on the base unit stays lit constantly. I originally had the base unit in my bedroom, which was the equivalent of having a night light right by my bed. The caller id display on the handset doesn't light up at all, making the caller id totally useless in dimly lit areas/rooms. Sony should have made the phone so that both caller id displays light up when the phone rings for how ever many seconds. In my opinion the handset is a little bit bigger and bulkier than the average cordless phone handset. The battery doesn't last to long during what I consider average use. I had to make it a habit to put the handset on the base before I left home, so I could have uninterruptible use of the phone while I was at home.

Also, as I said my most recent phone purchase was a Sony 900mhz phone. I can not tell any difference (and neither can anyone I've talked to on the other end) between the Spread Spectrum phone and the regular 900mhz phone. Even though the Spread Spectrum phone is at a higher frequency where it's prone to less interference - voice clarity and range of distance from the base are the same for both phones. I really can't tell the difference between the Spread Spectrum phone and the 900mhz phone.

Nice features but I returned mine mainly because of the hollow, or tinny, way my voice sounded when I spoke, this was confirmed by other users. The handset display is not illuminated and cannot be read in dim light (this is the only way to review your Caller ID list, the base will not do it). Also I could not put more than 16 numbers into my speed dial making it unusable for accessing voice mail codes.

I liked the base keypad and dual display.

Excellent sound quality and features. However, the ergonomics, and useability of some features are poor compared with the Sony SPP-ID975. For example: the 975 is more comfortable to hold against my ear; this phone does not have a backlit LCD panel in the handset - the 975 does; this phone uses a plug in battery where the 975 uses a drop in battery; this phone does not accomodate a spare battery in a base unit charger - the 975 does; this phone's base unit uses a side mounted slide control for speakerphone volume where the 975 uses a keypad mounted digital volume control. Overall, it's a choice between form and function, I chose function. Now if Sony could take the technology from the this phone and put it in the ID975 package, they would have the best phone in class.

Phone has everything I have been looking for but I can't program 1010811 numbers. The phone accepts only 16 digits. I had this problem before with an old Panasonic which only took 16. I bought a new Panasonic this year and it takes 22 numbers. I believe the 16 numbers is old technology and an oversight by Sony. I am sure it would not be a problem to change this.

I look forward to hearing from SONY.

Again, I think it is a great product but I have to return it because I have too many phone numbers to enter and I can't be dialing them everytime I want to use them.

Thanks AMAZON for your courteous response and help with my return.