Home > Consumer Reviews > AT&T 5870 5.8 GHz DSS Cordless Phone with Answering System and Talking Caller ID

I love all the features that come with this phone so I hate to give it up. But it has always had muffled sound quality in the answering machine messages that are left by incoming callers. It has gradually gotten worse. It's impossible to understand what people are saying if you try to call in and pick up your calls from another location. I am hoping that by changing the battery this may improve. I have had this phone for 3 yrs.

Other reviews fairly reflected my feelings about the system. My complaint is the range from the base set to the handset. I live in a fairly large townhome. My baseset is at the front of the first floor and one of the handsets is at the rear of the second floor. The distance is only 80' plus 12' up. The handset can not communicate at that range. This is a normal house with regard to heating ducts, electrical wiring, etc.

AT&T cusomter service was great when I first brought this to their attention and even sent me a new base unit. I also tried different handsets, all to no avail.

My husband bought me this phone for Christmas to replace a V-tech model that had just wasn't working quite right for us.

I love this phone - the only reason that I'm not giving it 5 stars is because there is one feature that I'd really like that seems to be missing, which is that the memory and caller-ID still don't communicate quite as much as I'd like.

The talking caller-ID function is great - no running around the house trying to find the phone just to figure out if I even want to answer. You can program in the names for your most frequent callers (which are recognized via caller-ID, even if they're not programmed the exact same way as your memory), and it can also be set up to announce full numbers of those who aren't in your memory, so you might still recognize the number without having to get to the actual phone.

The 5.8 GHz works great in our house. The 2.4 that we replaced had major interference with the microwave, but this one is terrific - no static at all, ever.

The piece that's still missing is the actual caller ID/memory interface. Even though you can program the talking bit, the caller ID always comes up as the official listing and not "mom", for example. This isn't bad, except that so many of my calls come in from "wireless caller", so I have to actually recognize the number. Again, the voice announce caller ID works, but if you happen to miss that (you're not close enough to the base when the phone rings, for example) then you're stuck with going, "Hmmm, I think that's my mother-in-law's cell number..." Back a few years and two phones ago, we had an AT&T model that DID include this feature, as do most cell phones. Also, that old phone had a feature that would allow you to customize outgoing messages to 10 numbers in caller ID, so that you could tell your buddy "Hey, meet me at 4:00 at the bar," but not let the whole world know where you were. That was cool, and I wish it was still a feature.

The speaker phone options work well, both from the base and from the handset. The base speaker could use a few more ticks on the volume - or maybe my house is just loud - but it does work great if you stay close. It's also nice because you can answer the phone from the base if you can't immediately find a handset - a typical problem in my house!

The digital answering machine function is also typically fine. There are 3 mailboxes, though we only use one. There are several ring tone options, and you can even have the handset vibrate.

All in all, this is a great phone. If you've had some issues with interference on a 2.4, this is a great upgrade.

After a friend of mine purchased the 5830 several months ago, I've been debating between the 5830 and 5840. After finding that the 5870 was released, I thought I had found my perfect phone.

Positives are pretty much what everyone as said:
- Solid feel
- Nifty blue lighting
- The clock in the display
- Sound quality is excellent while listening to the other end
- Speakerphone on the handset works very well. Used it on a few calls so far without any complaints. Makes those long conference calls less painful.
- Even though the 5870 is 5.8GHz / 2.4GHz, it doesn't appear to be interfering with the wireless network (802.11b). My old Panasonic Gigarange Extreme is 2.4GHz/900MHz, and it will occasionally knock me offline.
- Registering a second handset was very easy; just punch in the code from the bottom of the base unit on the new handset.
- Battery life appears good. Was on a 3.5-4 hour conference call and the handset still showed at least a half charge.

Negatives:
- while the handsets will set their clock from caller id, the base unit / answering machine requires manual setting
- there is no time display on the base unit, so setting the time must be done audibly. Not a bad process, but tedious. You must hit the "Change" button to iterate through the options instead of just punching in the numbers. For example, to set the time as 7:25 pm, you have to press the set time button, then press it again to go into set mode. First up is the day; hit Change and it will announce Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. for every press. Get to the correct day, then hit the set time button to go into hours. Change button again, starting from 12 am. Every press of Change will increment one hour. Get the proper hour (make sure AM/PM is right), then set time again to get to minutes. The Change button is then used to increment minute by minute. On the plus side, you can hit the button rapidly instead of listening to the voice announce every minute.
- Handsets will display the time in the idle screen, but not the date. The caller ID log does display the date.
- While on a call, you have no access to the clock on that handset. You just get options of Hold, Xfer, and Mute. If you place the call on hold and wait a few seconds, you'll get the time display though.
- There seems to be a very faint echo when I speak. Not obnoxious, but it's on both handsets and noticeable when compared to my other phones (Panasonic Gigarange Extreme and an old Nortel Meridian) which don't echo.
- No button available to change the channel. My Panasonic has it, and it's how I get the network functional again when the phone collides with the network.
-There is no call timer.
- Remote access code is only 2 digits. Yes, 2 digits. Seems rather poor security in my opinion.

Mixed feelings:
- A saved name / number in the phone's memory doesn't override the incoming caller id info. In other words, if you save a name, when the call comes in, only the caller id name shows, not the saved name. I think this has been touched on before.
- Each handset's memory (caller id log and stored phone book) is fully independent. That means no sharing of phone books between handsets, and clearing the log on one handset does nothing to the others.
- As said by others, caller id announce is only from base.
- If you screen calls, you have to be near the base to hear the caller leaving the message. There is no way to screen calls using only the handset.
- Caller id display seems somewhat slow to appear on the handset when a call comes in. It shows up line by line (name, number, time), unlike my other phones where all the information appears immediately.
- For some reason, if you have a headset plugged in, the handset will not allow you to switch to speaker phone. You have to unplug the headset, then hit the speaker phone button.
- You can only pickup messages on the answering machine from the base unit.

Overall, a good, solid phone, but it isn't quite perfect. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to keep it or return it and continue waiting for the perfect phone.

Pro's Many features easy to program nice style and comfortable to use. Better than average reception almost no hiss and I have lots of electrical equipment set up in the house.

Con's Call waiting ID feature did not work (might be isolated case I don't know)
Conversation volume fades in and out during use. went to support web site says this is normal for this type of phone (5.8 GHz).

Sorry I had to return it.