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

I bought this phone for all the great features it listed: caller ID, two handsets, speaker phone, etc. It didn't take long after I lost the receipt to figure out that it was a huge waste of money. We experience the static and beeps that everyone keeps talking about. The beeps are the most annoying. I don't hear them on my end (the line just goes silent on my end), but the person I'm talking to hears them. I just explain to everyone that I have a cruddy phone and haven't found a suitable replacement yet. I have never had the reported problems with the answering machine--that actually seems to be the best part about the phone, but I have started to notice decreased battery life. DON'T buy this phone, and if you already have, find the receipt before it's too late to return it!

I have had problems with this phone too. One headset has died and the beeps that everyone mentions are a very big problem. I bought this because I work from home and the speaker phone option on the headset was a must have, but everyone on the phone hears random beeping! I spent hours on the phone with ATT customer support and they had no idea how to fix it.

The buttons on this phone are very hard to use. Sometimes you have to push them down really hard and press squarely in the middle. With other buttons if you do this you will dial the same number twice. This thing can be very frustrating. Does anyone have a key pad that works well?

Paul

I agree, 1 star is too generous. I have the same problem with the beeping and the hard to press keypad. DONT BUY THIS PHONE. However, if you already have it I have discovered that it only beeps or mutes, on our system, when you say a word with an 'ssss' sound. So, you simply dont say this sound, sorry 'ound' (remember, no ssss). Oh I did it again. orry, no ound. So if you decide to read this review to someone on this phone, remember to remove the s's. I realize this makes no sense. There must be a 'no s's allowed' circuit in there somewhere.
Now, even stranger. I have been able to cure the hard to press keypad. But, you have to take the phone apart. When you do you will discover that there is an oily film on the back of the rubber keypad and front of circuit board thus preventing the push buttons to close contacts on the printed circuit board. Now all you have to do is get some rubbing alcohol, (if you can use the 90+% isopropyl alcohol, the less water the better), and a cotton swab/cotton ball and wipe the oil away. Clean the rubber keypad and the circuit board. Put the phone back together and the buttons will work just fine. For a while.
This seems to work for about a month and the oil film amazingly appears again. The oil film accumulates on the middle of both of our handset keypads. Can anyone explain where this oil comes from?
So remember, check the oil in your car. Add as needed. AND check the oil in your phone. Remove as needed.

Remember when AT&T made excellent phones? Not anymore.

I bought this phone because it seemed to have the features I was looking for: an answering machine, 2 speakerphone-capable handsets, and it was from AT&T. Unfortunately, the 2-way rocker buttons on the phone don't work properly, the handsets have poor voice quality, insufficient volume, and cut out randomly. Now the answering machine garbles incoming messages so much that they are completely unintelligible.