Please advise me on the best answering machine/cordless phone combo for our home

October 30, 2008 8:02 AM

Please advise me on the best answering machine/cordless phone combo for our home. The cost is not the top concern except inasmuch as I want to buy value for money.

I would like to buy a combined phone/answering machine that ideally has the following characteristics:

1. It's still being made and sold -- it's not currently obsolete.
2. It has a cordless phone and is expandable so as to include additional cordless phones, particularly so that one can press a button on the base unit and find the other phones by their ringing.
3. It has multiple (ideally 3 or 4) voicemail boxes (e.g., press 1 for Kids, 2 for Wife, 3 for Husband) that are individually accessible.
4. The unit is easily findable and purchasable online, including expansion parts.

Any recommendations?

posted by Mr. Justice to technology (6 comments total)

I have always enjoyed my Panasonic phone sets. I can't recommend a specific model anymore, but after a bit of research a few years ago I ended up with a set that meets your requirements. It has been a tank, taken drops down the stairs, etc and still keeps on going. I was pleasantly surprised when I had to replace the battery 2 years later that I could pick them up on ebay for $10/ea and now my phones are working great.

I have never been impressed with Uniden sets.
posted by SirStan at 8:09 AM on October 30, 2008

Google Products - Panasonic Phone Sets
posted by SirStan at 8:10 AM on October 30, 2008

Seconding Panasonic.

I would also recommend paying attention to the frequency the phones use. I recommend DECT 6.0 over 5.8GHz or 2.4GHz. It is specifically designed to not experience interference from your or your neighbor's wireless home network.
posted by FastGorilla at 8:52 AM on October 30, 2008

Do you really want an answering machine? I ask only because I've been living without one for the past few years. After our old machine died and my wife and I had my cell phones around us at most hours, we realized most people who want to talk to me call my cell phone. If we give out my home phone to someone we really want to talk to, we also give out my cell phone number, and warn them the home phone doesn't have an answering machine. You can then get a cheaper cordless phone and not worry about the quality of the answering machine. Just a thought.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:03 AM on October 30, 2008

Regrettably, Panasonic does not make requirement #3, which is actually my chief requirement.
posted by Mr. Justice at 10:00 AM on October 30, 2008

I don't know if Uniden make a model with your rqt #3 but just to say that unlike SirStan I've had excellent experiences with our Uniden phones and would get them again. We've had Uniden systems twice (three phones on the system, bought at Costco) and they've been reliable and easy to use. We also had a Motorola set and it sucked.
posted by anadem at 12:50 PM on October 30, 2008