Home > Consumer Reviews > Motorola MA361 2.4 GHz Cordless Phone with Caller ID and Digital Answering System

Answering system RANDOMLY answers phone calls. Motorola won't fix it, horrible customer service. Now phone ringer is barely audible. I'm ready to throw this system into the garbage!

I bought this phone 1 year ago because it was from Motorola and looked nice. However, even though I used the phone only 1-2 hours a week and charged it appropriately (every few days when the battery ran low and didn't leave it in the cradle for days), the battery is completely dead now.

Also, the caller ID displays phone numbers randomly so there is no way to ascertain exactly when/who called you at what time or in what order! (When someone who's called before calls again, their number doesn't show up as a new call, instead the caller ID "remembers" it from the first time as a repeat, and there's no new listing for the most recent time that number called you.)

Finally, if you listen to a message but don't erase it, the next time you listen to messages, the answering machine makes you listen to ALL of the messages because you can't just listen to the new ones. No way to fast forward or rewind either!

The reason I gave this phone 2 stars is because I still think the phone looks good, is sturdy (doesn't show any wear and tear) and I have never had problems with its sound quality like some other reviewers have had, but I did notice the ring tone was soft and had a significant delay, which made me miss calls occasionally.

Please, save yourself a lot of trouble and ignore the 4- and 5-star reviews this phone has gotten. When I first bought it, I would have given it four stars, but now, I wish I could give it zero. There have been some things that have annoyed me about this phone since the beginning, so I'll start with that:

* There's no ringer on the base. This may not seem like a big deal, but since it takes time for the base to locate the handset and then send the ring signal, sometimes you completely miss the first ring.

* When the power goes out, you lose the time on the answering machine, and resetting it takes forever because you have to listen to the voice say, "12 AM, 1 AM, 2 AM, ..." The unnecessary AM just bothers me.

* IT KEEPS THE CALLER ID LOG IN RANDOM ORDER. If someone just called, and you missed the call, you'd expect to be able to pick up the phone, hit down, and see who it was, right? Nope. I called them about this problem when I first got the phone, and they said that it doesn't re-order duplicate calls, so if the same person calls, their spot in the caller ID menu stays where it was before. In my experience, however, it honestly just seems to be random.

Okay, now the things that are disfunctional after 18 months:

* The rubber on the sides of the phone is stretched and about to fall off.

* It skips numbers a lot, so you have to listen very carefully to what it's actually dialing. The worst part is that it still shows that it dialed the number, e.g. if you're dialing 867-5306, the phone might show 866-753-3009 since you have to hit some numbers twice.

* I get a lot of static and have to skip channels very often. I have a Wi-Fi router, but I've had it for a while, and it just started being staticky lately, so I'm not sure if that's the problem or not.

* Sometimes, instead of a dial tone, you get solid static. Sometimes, when you hit talk, it beeps and does nothing. If you try again, it may work, it may not.

* I had to change the battery a few months ago, which I'm not upset about, but even after changing it, it doesn't seem to always charge. Sometimes, it can be off the charger for a few days and be fine, but others, it's on all night, then dies after two or three phone calls.

* Sometimes, it just doesn't ring. We hear the machine pick up and scramble to the phone to call the person back. When coupled with the random caller ID listings, this is a major problem.

I bought a 2-handset Uniden as a replacement.

If you need a phone that doesn't beep at you while you're talking, this is the one. Its got the longest battery life! I hate to use the other cordless phones around the house now after I got this one. I always forget to recharge my phones so when I use them the batteries go dead in the middle of an important conversation. But I have never run out on this one. And when I remember to recharge, it loads it up for another tireless round of talking. I've had this phone for almost 6 months now, and the batteries are still in good shape. Other phones I've had would have good batteries in the beginning, but start diminishing in capacity within 6 months despite leaving it on the charger for days at a time.

In addition the to batteries, its great to have a nice, sleek, modern design that looks good when there is company. A real plus is the lighted keypad for finding the phone in the dark.
Its just a great phone with all the works - caller id, and answering machine - at this price!

The only bad thing I noticed is that the volume is kinda low, even on the highest setting. Its not so great if you are talking with the TV on or have other noise in the background.

I bought this phone about a year ago as it was the right price for what I wanted. The sound has never been good (lots of static) and has got worse over the year. It is now totally broken, I cannot dial out and there is no ring when calling in. Very dissapointing, I thought Motorola would be a safe bet, but I won't be buying this brand again.