Home > Consumer Reviews > AT&T 5840 5.8 GHz DSS Expandable Cordless Speakerphone with Digital Answering System

BOTTOM LINE: You've probably already discovered the lack of full-featured consumer-level cordless phones out there, especially in the 5.8 GHz category and that you really have to move into the SOHO dual-line systems and spend a good deal more to get a full-featured phone. But the bottom line is if you are looking for a full featured, single line, consumer level cordless phone w/ an answering machine built in, this is it - it's not perfect, but you don't have many other options in this price range.

THE ALSO-RANS: Panasonic KX-TG2593 - feature-packed, but 2.4 GHz and bad quality reviews (just releasing 5.8 GHz line - probably will have same quality issues). Siemens 4215 - great form factor and feature-packed, but 2.4 GHz, no headphone jack, no base functionality and lukewarm quality reviews (pricier SL3501 and 8800 lines have headphone jack but are 2.4 GHz). CIDCO's 2.4 GHz D271's - almost perfect feature set but no answering machine and not in same price range (only marketed through your local Bell company so you're not going to find a deal).

AT&T phones are not made by AT&T - they are designed and marketed by the VTech (maker of VTech phones like the 5831) subsidiary Advanced American Telephones under a licensing agreement with AT&T. My guess is AAT was a Ma Bell spin-off years back that VTech acquired so you are probably still getting some of the quality you associate w/ AT&T. Enough trivia...on to the phone:

PROS:
- Call quality/construction - can't overemphasize this (base sits right by my computer setup and still have great call quality)
- Full-duplex speakerphone: you can hear and be heard at same time (an uncommon feature on consumer speakerphones)
- LCD/Phone Book on base
- 3 different mailboxes for different family members
CONS:
- No Speed dial: No one number/one touch speed dial from either base or handset - they really dropped the ball on this one. However, dialing from phone book takes as few as 3 button pushes.
- 15 minutes answering machine record time seems pretty low (all of Siemens' lines have 30-45 minutes)
OTHER ISSUES:
- Message waiting indicator flashes neon blue on both base and handset - a little much for me but some may like it
- Inability to share phone books between handsets is a neutral: small business may want the same phonebook on all handsets; family may want parents/kids to have separate phonebook
- Wi-Fi: phone transmits at 5.8 GHz base to handset but 2.4 GHz the other way. If you have Wi-Fi this may be an issue as 802.11(b) transmits at 2.4 GHz. Possible future migration of Wi-Fi standard to 802.11(g) at 5.8 GHz is less of an issue because that frequency apparently is less congested than 2.4 GHz.

Note: I actually purchased the 5830 (but tested 5840 also). If you need the digital answering machine (b/c you don't have local phone company voicemail) go with the 5840 but you won't get the talking caller ID or a keypad on the base that you get with the 5830 (see my review on the 5830).

The top contenders in this category each have something (different) missing. In this price range, go with the AT&T 5840 (or the 5830) and be done with it before you drive yourself crazy as I did.

My wife and I finally decided to retire our 8 year old Nortel (sold by Sprint in those days) answering machine and corded home phone. What made us want to finally give up the old reliable beast was we had assembled a 'hodge-podge' of phones through the years, having: The Nortel (which is both our phone and answering machine), two corded GE phones, a 900 mhz GE and a 2.4 Ghz Panasonic. If you have a teenager and a six year old, plus a working home office, you can probably relate. We were wanting to buy something that offered a nice base unit with answering machine and something that would allow additional 'satellite' phones to be connected, ease of use and all follow one common design theme. We actually put this on the back-burner and looked over the past six months at offerings from Panasonic, V-tech and Siemens, never really finding one that really excited us enough to replace what we had. While shopping this past weekend, we saw the new AT&T 5.8 Ghz phone and decided we had put it off long enough. We also purchased an additional handset to replace the Panasonic and have plans to purchase two more to replace the General Electrics. Here's what we found:

--The design itself (base and handset) can be labeled either 'high tech' or 'European'. It's definitely a 'pretty' phone; the base unit is equally as nice. Controls are VERY intuitive and well laid-out. Build quality is very good to excellent; the handsets feel robust in your hand and the materials used appear to be of high quality.

--The answering machine itself is actually extremely easy to use. It offers 3 mailboxes so you can customize your greeting to allow a caller to plop their message into one of the three mailboxes. One gripe here: You cannot further record individual mailbox greetings; i.e. If you tell a caller to hit '2' to send to our daugher's voice mailbox, they are greeted with a 'BEEP' and no message; our old Nortel allowed six mailboxes and customized greetings within EACH mailbox. However, this isn't as bad as it sounds. We found that everyone that called us always complained our answering system to be too complicated and, in over 8 years I don't think 2 people ever used the feature. Quite honestly, I'll bet the phone vendors did a little market research and found nobody uses it, cause it sure isn't a cost factor (maybe .01 cents each) to allow a chip to do it. I think it truly was left out on purpose. Also, prior reviewers state that the sound quality is HIGH on the announcements and LOW on the playbacks. I haven't experienced any problems with it AT ALL. However, it is slightly louder than I would have expected; maybe I've just got good hearing, but even at volume level 1 (the lowest setting), I can hear everything just fine.

--Neat feature worth it's weight in gold: There's a button, right on the front of the answering machine to turn off the anwering machine. Phones still work fine; you just don't have an answering machine. Several times my wife needed to turn off our old Nortel and it had to be accomplished via a series of menu options. VERY sweet of AT&T to put it right on the top and easily accessed. It even talks to you, saying "Machine OFF". Nice touch.

--There's a big NEON blue indicator that flashes whenever someone else is on the phone or using a dial-up Internet connection. Our old Nortel had this too, and once you get used to seeing that light, you'll wonder how you lived without it.

--Neon BLUE. Let me say right here, you'll love or hate the NEON blue color of the: menus, ring around the earpiece, IN USE indicator and several other places. One thing is for certain: Someone at AT&T didn't want you to miss these indicators. Personally, I think they are cool personified; but your individual tastes may vary.

--Intercom. Very handy feature. You can literally use the phones as an internal phone set or intercom. It allows paging between any number of handsets and the base, plus a global page option. This feature alone is worth the price of the phone, to us, as it eliminated the need for a separate intercom system, which we were considering for our teenager who suffers from 'selective hearing'.

--Range and sound quality. Even though this isn't technically a true 5.8 Ghz phone (base to handset is 5.8, but handset to base is 2.4 Ghz) the range is OUTSTANDING. I can go all over our yard (1/3 acre) and down the street two houses and only when I get to the third house, do I start to get static. Also, how's this for neat? You can select a menu option that will have the phone TELL you when you're starting to get out of range! And sound quality is SUPERB. I can't think of any other way to describe it; it's awesome. About 10 notches above our old Panasonic 2.4 Ghz and the GEs, well they're not even in the same universe. Also, each handset is a full-duplex speakerphone and everyone I have spoken with on them say, 'You're on a speakerphone? Gee, doesn't sound like it'. You will be impressed with the sound quality.

--Pros: Extremely good sound quality, ease of use and setup. Great speakerphones, good answering machine, digital recording. Cool looking if you like 'high tech'. Robust.

--Cons: I miss my Panasonic's call timer; the AT&T doesn't time calls for you. I wish it were a true 5.8 Ghz; while it probably doesn't matter, I feel AT&T should have at least put a disclaimer on the box or something. I only found it out when I read the specifications and then when I came to Amazon and read some reviews.

That said, I can absolutely recommend the AT&T 5840 without any reservations. I'd have given it 5 stars, but felt one thing preventing me from doing so. It will have to prove itself a LONG, LONG time to beat our old Nortel. So, I'm withholding a star for it's unproven track record. But as it stands, I love it, it works superbly and I have no issues with it at all.

For an all around workhorse system that offers thoughtless ease of use, powerful built in functionallity and expandability you will be hard pressed to find a phone of this caliber offered from a competitor. After looking at dozens of other systems I found every single one had caveats. The 5840 however was the closest match to my needs. The only feature I believe that should have been included but wasn't was the base dialing. But this is quickly remedied through the purchase of an additional handset. Simply leave the included handset cradeled after each use and the problem is solved. Even should the handset go missing you can still answer incoming calls on the speaker phone.

As for no speed dial this is somewhat of a misnomer. If your speed dial is a frequently used number then 99% of the time it will appear in your redial menu. Simply select it and it works just like speed dial. Granted it isn't true 1 button calling, but it is still very handy. Range is fantastic. I can't get any squelch anywhere within my house (Upstairs or in the basement). Appearance is very clean and professional and beats the heck out of a lot of the plasticy play-school-esque phones currently available. Sound is above average with customizable tone control. For anyone going from a less than perfect phone to this system you may have some adjustment. There is absolutly no hissy feedback in the line. Often if both parties are silent you may feel as though you have lost your connection. The sound of near perfection is something most phones have difficulty with.

As for nice touches and features. Call transfer is quite handy. Phone to phone intercom is also very nice. As is the built in battery backup. Handset use and drain is well above par. Days off a cradle doesn't hardly phase the charge.

As for an all around household system, the Joneses will be hard pressed to find a superior feature laden solution. So don't lament the (Bigger, Better Badder) scenario, because frankly it doesn't currently exist. As for the die hard home office user there may be a need to look elsewhere for wireless networking, but for the typical family with typical utilization this will take you to a level that will make your old phone feel like 2 tin cans and a piece of string.

The main reason my husband and I got this phone was to replace our Panasonic 2.4 GhZ phone, which seemed to drain battery life very quickly. The store I bought this from had a few different 5.8 options to choose from, and this seemed like we would get the most bang for our buck.
Unfortunately the day after we bought this, the handset died, and we could not fix it. We took it back to the store, and we were able to exchange it with no problems. This one has been working ever since- about 3 weeks.
I'm not sure why some reviewers are complaining about no speed dial. I programmed 43 different numbers in the phone, and have room to spare for new ones! Actually, the memory is very similar to a cell phone's memory- you search for the number by name rather than dialing *2 or such. And the capability of holding in memory so many recently dialed and recently received numbers is very helpful as well. My only complaint in this department is if the number is from a different area code, the caller ID does not show the 1 first, so rather than just hitting redial you have to write down the number, then dial the 1 plus the number. But I'm not sure if this is a problem with the phone or our phone company's caller ID system.
I do find that the battery life on this phone isn't exactly the greatest, but the handset always shows the time with a cute little clock on the screen, which I suppose drains the battery. I have also found that using the speaker function on the handset, while a VERY helpful feature (especially when changing my daughter's diaper!), drains the battery extremely quickly, so this should only be used occasionally. But this phone also supports additional handsets (up to 5) so you can purchase extra handsets to avoid having to wait around for it to charge.

Major plus points:
- The phone includes a handsfree earset, and a clip, so you can use this while walking around the house, and your neck doesn't get that annoying phone cramp.
- The speaker function on both the base and the handset
- The ability to transfer the call from phone to phone or from phone to base.
- The sound quality is excellent on the handset
- The high memory capability (I remember the days of only being able to store 10 numbers in a phone. I don't know very many people, but I certainly need more than 10 numbers in the speed dial!), both to record numbers in the phone book, and to redial previously dialed or previously received calls
- The blue light that lights up on the base when the phone is in use- I have accidentally left my previous handsets on, and drained the battery before I realized this. This light helps prevent that
- The extra battery storage, so you can have an extra battery charged at all times, either to put in the handset, or to still be able to use the phone during a power outage. Very cool!
- The answering system includes 3 mail boxes, for different members of the family, which I imagine would be highly helpful for those families with teenagers in the house, so you don't have to listen to their messages to get to yours and vice versa. I personally don't need this feature yet, but it's a great addition.

Complaints:
- The phone does not include a second handset in the package. Most of the new phones I've seen that support extra handsets include at least two handsets in the package!
- Extra handsets are still quite expensive- about half the cost of the entire phone and base.
- There seems to be a problem with the volume on the answering machine: the volume of the announcer (ie "you have two new messages") is very loud, while the actual message records very quietly; so the announcer blasts, while you have to strain to hear the message.
- Battery life could be improved- I find myself having to charge the phone about every 2-3 days
- The volume adjustment on the handset is placed in a position where it is very easy to change the volume several times during a conversation.
- Although it is neat to have different ring tones on the phone, the different ringers seem to be from circa 1998 cell phones- I'm sure they could have gotten more creative than this! They all pretty much sound the same to me.

As you can see the pros far outweigh the cons on this phone. If you really need several handsets, I don't necessarily recommend buying this system because of the high cost of the extra handsets. If anyone at AT&T of influence is reading this, please, PLEASE try to find a way to lower the cost of the additional handsets! Otherwise this is a great phone with great sound quality, and I've found it to be a great improvement over the 2.4 GhZ models.

The AT&T 5840 5.8 Ghz phone is beautiful - a work of art. The silver and black motif, plus the blue light-up accents, serve as eye candy for any geek.

Basic functionality is also good - nice sound, clear reception. Add to this such niceties as the speakerphone in the handset and the ability to have handsets around the house that don't need their own phone jacks, and you end up with a fairly useful system.

The major failings of this phone lie in the area of usability. First, there is no speed dial capability. Yes, you heard me correctly - no one or two button dialing. (I even read the manual to look for it). There is a phone book, but in order to dial a number in the book you have to go through the menu, either scrolling or finding an entry by pressing buttons. Nice for those numbers you don't dial often of course - but then, if you don't dial them often this feature doesn't help that much.

The controls for the answering machine portion were also non-intuitive. For example, after pressing "record" to record your greeting, you don't press that button again to stop recording, you press the mailbox key. And setting the time was an odd process - it actually told you the time audibly, and you had to listen to it as you pressed the button to change. Kind of a pain to change the minutes. There may have been a way to change it from the top menu portion as well, but I did not see it. (Setting the time on the handsets was easier, with visual feedback.)

If you use your phone mostly to answer calls, or you never bothered setting up speed dial on your existing phones, this is a good system. If you are used to one-touch dialing, pick something else.