Home > Consumer Reviews > AT&T E5865 5.8 GHz DSS Expandable Cordless Phone with Answering System and Dual Keypads

I bought this phone (plus an additional handset) to replace my old Sony 2.4GHz phone. The old phone interfered with my home WiFi network. This new phone, although it is a dual-mode phone, claims not to interfere and so far that has been the case for me.

There are a number of nice features on this phone. Both the handsets and the base station have built-in speaker phones. The answering machine is easy to program. The handsets are easy to set up with the base station (a near impossibility with my old Sonys). The phones are reasonably stylish in a utilitarian sort of way and have enough heft that you won't mind using them.

The phones and base station have LCD displays for programming. The phone has a color display and you can choose "wallpaper" for it (right...). The spare handset I bought was only black and white (I could have chosen another color handset). By default it shows a smiley face. The ringers are a bit cloying (you can set them to play music or choose from several obnoxious ring styles). Here's the digital revolution turning something simple into a needlessly complex toy.

If you ignore all the stupid bells and whistles, though, the phone does everything I ask of it. It was very easy to setup and it works well. Other brands aren't that much better in terms of "silly quotient" and don't offer the range of useful features. I would give this phone 3 1/2 stars if I could, but it's pretty good.

I had a Panasonic Expandable Phone System before, and I wanted to replace it when the extra cordless phone finally wouldn't hold any charge. Consumer Reports rated this one as one of its top picks so I switched to AT & T. To say the least, I love it. The only downside I have seen thus far (only owned it for 2 months) is that when you listen to messages and you have it automatically dial back the message leaver by picking up the phone, it doesn't automatically dial 1, so it ends up calling locally only. Good pick for all the gratuitous bells and whistles.

I have had this phone now about 3 months and I am VERY HAPPY with it. IT has all the things and want and many more, The hand sets are very clear and I love the fact I can check voice mail on any hand set that goes with it I do not have to run to the main answering machine to check the voice mail. The range of the hand sets is great had no problem at all with this. So far I love everything with this phone, It is much better than either of the last two phone I have had. I have walked over a 1/2 block from the house and it still works clearly, I have never had a phone that worked so far away from home.

This is a good choice for someone who wants several linked cordless handsets, and it's priced competitively. You plug the base unit (which has a separate cordless handset) into a phone outlet and an power outlet, and then you can a place up to 7 handsets anywhere there's a nearby power outlet. In contrast to a Siemens expandable cordless system that we replaced, the AT&T handsets are weighted well and balanced nicely and the buttons are prominent, and the various features are easy to find. The range is good but not outstanding -- it covers about 2200 square feet with no problems, but when we tried to stretch reception by taking a handset outside the house into a brick out-building it didn't connect, in contrast to a 3-year-old Panasonic 900 MHz cordless. Two minor design annoyances: you have to enter your speed dial numbers into each handset individually - they should be stored in the base unit but they're not. And unlike the Siemens, you can't give names like "Kitchen" or "Den" to the handsets -- just numbers. So when you scroll thru a menu to make an intercom call to another handset, you have to remember its extension number. Other those two annoyances, it's quite a good system, though not perfect.

There are two different versions of this system. One is terrific and one is the worst telephone system I have ever owned. The terrific system is model E5655, purchased from Hammacher Schlemmer, and the dreadful system is model E5965C, which is the model sold here on Amazon.

The model sold by Hammacher Schlemmer is about half the size and bulk of the model sold here. As others have written, the model sold here, even a well-charged phone, repeatedly goes dead in the middle of conversations. I own both the system and the accessory phone, and both are dreadful. In the Hammacher Schlmmer version, the phone is perfect.