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

As my wife is fond of saying, "thatstinks dot com!" After about four years with this craptacular phone system, we were on the brink of seeking professional counseling. Instead, we read the other customer reviews -- it has been incredibly cathartic. We laughed, we cried. Literally. Everything you can say about the AT&T 2256 has been covered here: the beeps, the "die waiting for 911" keypad, YELLING ROBOT answering machine.... We were going to sell the phone on ebay or give it away, but can't with good conscience, so we will box it up and keep it so that we NEVER FORGET.

AT&T 2256 cordless phone and answering machine.

Good Points
* Phone and answering machine work if you do everything correctly.

Bad Points
* When the phone rings (incoming call) the handset stay silent while the base station rings. Why not the other way around? When's the last time you misplaced your hard-wired phone jack?!

* Speakerphone button. Does it hang up or toggle between handset/speakerphone mode? See how you feel after spending half an hour on hold and guessing wrong because you didn't read the designer's mind. Giving the user the right cues (even without the manual!) is an important part of good design.

* When listening to messages, the answering machine's voice (the mechanized narrator) is REALLY loud in comparison to your friend's voices. Why? Good design gives the user a good cue. What's up with this phone?

* No backup power source. Every time our power grid blinks off even for a few seconds, I have to reset the machine's time/date. Help me remember why god gave us capacitors.!.

* The buttons are preposterously hard to push. Other reviewers have articulated this one effectively. I repeat it here only to express my bewilderment at the monumentally poor design. For how many years now has our civilization beein interacting with keypads and rudimentary IO? Sheesh!

The buttons on this phone are extremely hard to use. It is very frustrating to try and punch in a callback number to a pager only to be thwarted by a phone that interprets your finger on "6" as "66" or refuses to accept your finger pushing on the "5" button. I was worried this was a feature I would have to live with on all cordless phones. Now that I have read other reviews it appears to be a problem fairly unique to this AT & T phone. Don't buy it!

This is one of the worst phones I've ever bought. I don't save receipts on purchases under $100.00, but if I had I would have returned this. In under 4 months, and we don't dial out on the landline very often, the buttons on both phones became impossible to use. First when you push, nothing happens, then it overdials, or you have to push the button several times. By this time, you get the phone error message. Never buy this phone!!

I was VERY surprised that consumer report ranked this phone as high as it did. It was a 4+ star. After having the phone for 4 months the quality and sound have died and the phones are near useless. I was VERY DISAPPOINTED in this product and will never buy an AT&T phone again. I should have learned my lesson after giving up their wireless plan. That is an entirely different story.

I would NOT recommend this phone to anyone. I now am forced to buy another phone.