Home > Consumer Reviews > Uniden CEZA1998 5.8 GHz Cordless Phone with Corded Base, Speaker Phone and Digital Answering System

I bought these phones for my 70 year old mother. She has a difficult time with most of the newer, smaller phones; both in setting them up and using them. Although the 62-page user manual intimidated her a bit, she was able to set this phone system up herself. She loves it--the big buttons, the speaker phone, and the special emergency 911 button! The telephone companies need to know there's a whole market of older folks out there who need items like this.

I needed a phone that had at least three features: Corded so that I had a phone during electrical failures, a digital answering machine, and a loud ring capability, as I am hard of hearing. This phone has all these features, plus it's attractive, and there is an extra handset that I can use in another room. The set up was easy....with a clearly written manual combined with voice prompts from the phone base. The base handset is a very comfortable weight and has a very natural "hand fit". Also, the sound quality is excellent. I've only used the remote handset once, but it worked as well as the base handset. I would recommend this phone for anyone, not just "older" folks who need the larger keypad or the louder ring!

This phone was purchased for my aunt & uncle, both in their 90's and living in a two-story house. Some of this phone's features are well thought-out and work perfectly, such as the one-touch speed dial buttons and paging from the corded base unit. This phone has several shortcomings, however, that would prevent me from choosing it again (except that one one else seems to offer a better alternative):

* No battery backup--after every power failure, I have to go over and reset the answering machine clock
* Emergency call button poorly located on the cordless handset--easy to press by mistake
* Pager button is also hard to find on the cordless and it doesn't have any one-touch speed dial buttons
* Answering machine buttons are small and difficult to read with poor eyesight--especially for elderly users who aren't familiar with the symbols used on button labels
* Handset audio is mediocre, although speakerphone clarity & mic sensitivity are very good (no speakerphone on cordless handset)

My biggest complaint about this system is that it is non-expandable. There is no way to affiliate an additional cordless handset to use with this system. I guess they assume all seniors & hearing/vision-impaired persons are living in 2-room apartments.

When I was considering the purchase, I liked everything about this phone except the fact that nowhere was a speakerphone capability mentioned. I even went to the Uniden site to see if that feature was mentioned ... no luck. But even with that omission, I liked everything else enough to order the phone. But once it arrived, to my delight it actually DOES have a speakerphone as well. And a wonderful one at that! GREAT!! This phone is, of course designed for the hard of hearing, but don't make the mistake of assuming that it is only for that purpose. My wife and I are not hard of hearing, but our old 2.4GHZ phone interfered with our wireless network, and this one at 5.8GHZ and a very reasonable price offered a great value. It sounds crisp and clear. And the visual ringer and extra amplification can all be turned off very easily. The answering system is easy to use and very clear, and although the phones are no larger than our old phones, the buttons are MUCH bigger and easier to see. How did they do that without increasing the size of the phone? All phones should have such large lighted buttons. No gotchas here, just great, straightforward, and simple to use design. Buy it! At $90 for a great corded phone, an excellent cordless one, a fine speakerphone, and a fine answering system, you can't lose.

Bought it for my elderly mother, who is getting hard of hearing. The volume control on each handset has helped her a lot. She also says that the clarity from the handset is better than anything phone she's had before. The extra large size base unit dial buttons are also very helpful for her.