Home > Consumer Reviews > AT&T 2256 2.4 GHz DSS Cordless Phone with Extra Handset and Answering Machine

I found the 2256 to be a rather decent phone, especially at the $100 price-point, however it's lacking some important features.

First, there is no speed-dial. Dialing a memory number requires a minimum of 3 keypresses (Directory, then the first letter of the person's name, then dial), and many more if the person isn't the first name in the list under that letter.

You might have full access to any messages even when you're in another city, but you don't have that access when you're upstairs or in another room! The answering machine functions are completely innaccessible from the handset. This is a major annoyance. Also you cannot leave memos from the handset. All these functions are in the base only.

Also, the base is operated completely by voice-prompt. This may be normal these days, but I find it extremely annoying. A simple LCD display--or even controlling the base from the handset LCD--would suit me much better. Voice prompts are slow and tedious.

There is no speakerphone on the base, only on the handsets, although the quality seems quite good.

Finally, and most importantly, there is a very distinctive hissing sound on the phone. The quality itself seems good, but this hissing sound is always present, and annoying. The hissing does not appear to be as strong when using handset-to-handset intercom, so it is possible this is an issue with my phone line, however none of the other cordless phones in my house (either very ancient or very cheap) exhibit this problem.

I am going to purchase a Panasonic KX-TG2382B and compare the quality of that phone, which is supposedly much better.

We tried placing the base in different parts of the house as the manual suggested, but we couldn't clear up the constant background hiss. Voices sound tinny - somewhat like a bad cell phone connection, and it was getting to be a joke how how often we'd ask people to repeat themselves.

The answering machine is also poor, to the point that we would have to replay messages to figure out what was said.

We solved the problem by plugging back in our old Panasonic 900MZ phone/answerer -- no more hiss and people sound like people again.

Sadly, we waited too long to return the AT&T system, so we turned off the answerer and use the phones mostly for the caller ID feature. And while it is convenient to have the AT&T phone in the basement, we typically answer it, then walk it upstairs where we can switch to a decent phone.

For the past year my husband and I have been fighting with this phone. The features of the product work fine: caller ID, answering machine, mute, etc. The problem is that it continuously beeps in the ear of the person to whom you are attempting to have a conversation with. The beeping has gotten so bad that a 5 minute long conversation can have over 10 two-second long beeps.

It is very frustrating, especially when I am attempting to take a conference call or trying to make a doctor's appointment and I find myself constantly apologizing for the poor quality of my phone. Please save yourself the disappointment.

This phone cuts out and clicks -- once every few minutes. Every conversation: the other person would be in the middle of talking, then they'd hear clicking noises and I'd hear them say "Hello? Hello? Are you still there?". I got used to saying "Sorry, it's my phone." My troubleshooting indicated that it was this phone model, not my phone line or any sort of interference. I borrowed a friend's 2.4 GHz phone and had no problems. Back to the AT&T 2256, and every call was the same mess. I finally gave the phone to my parrot to have fun picking off the buttons. Also poor quality on the answering machine. Sometimes you couldn't understand a word of their message. Once in a while it was just a fool who didn't enunciate... but usually it was clear to be the machine's fault. Right now my parrot is screaming "Sorry! It's my phone!" I wonder where he picked that up?

The handset buttons do not work. This is possibly the worst phone I've ever used. If there were a negative scoring system on Amazon, this phone would be a negative five stars.