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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Many features. Nice quality.
By Bruce Jordan
This phone has great sound quality, and a great many features. It supports landline, VoIP calling (for up to 5 or 6 different VoIP accounts), and up to 6 wireless handsets. VoIP calling can be configured via web-based interface to the phone.My only complaints are that some of the features were not _completely_ thought through. For example, the system can be set to automatically silence the ringer between hours you specify (eg., 10pm til 5am). The only problem is that this is a global setting (affects all wireless handsets), when what is probably desired is to have bedroom phones silent at night but a phone in the kitchen/office/den still ring if a call comes through. It does allow calls to ring through if the caller id matches a "VIP" entry in the phone's directory, which partially mitigates this drawback.Phone itself is made of cheap plastic. Handset is comfortable enough, but would have liked to see some nicer materials used (actual aluminum instead of silver colored plastic, for example). That is probably not a realistic wish (would increase an already high price), but I would prefer that.Info Services feature works, but is not worth bothering with (given limited size of display, and very limited info available: weather (temperature, really), news headlines, and some ebay thing that might appeal to some).Sound quality through the handset is great (haven't had much opportunity to test speakerphone).Manual is badly written, but serviceable.Packaging is pathetic. First one (from another supplier) arrived damaged because the items were simply in a box together (no dividers, no plastic wrap, no bubble wrap, nothing). Second one arrived in only slightly better packaging (some plastic wrap, some dividers to keep things from banging together, still no foam or bubble wrap.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Great Phone Plagued with Compromise
By S. Albert
I need a really good speakerphone and wireless DECT system. Unfortunately, this is an extremely expensive phone system considering it only includes the base station. Overpriced IMO. The biggest differentiator is this phone handles a hard landline, a cellular Bluetooth call, *and* SIP calls with ease. I am not using SIP currently, so this phone's base features really have to shine for me to love the phone at the overall price point. This phone is so close on so many areas, but falls short on many others...The cons list is growing. :(Pros:- Excellent call quality using the wired handset and a basic Jabra wired headset on landline calls.- Speakerphone is loud enough for a quiet office. After announcing to my coworkers I was on a new speakerphone, they actually all reported my voice quality was much improved than normal. It probably helps that the microphone placement is on top of the unit; for whatever ridiculous reason most other manufacturers put the speakerphone mic near the bottom front edge of the phone where it can get multipath reflections off of the desk.- Wonderful Link2Mobile quality when connected to my iPhone 4 via Bluetooth. I was amazed after my comparably horrible experience with the Uniden D3588. I was sure the sound quality issue was with the iPhone; it's not- the Uniden was the issue!- You can assign the two buttons under the screen and the six side buttons to perform system tasks *or* speed dial. Very versatile.- Phone automatically prompted to update the firmware once my Ethernet cable was attached. Quick two minute process.- I always use a rotating telephone cord detangler on my wired handsets- this was the first phone that there was enough clearance at the bottom of the handset that it actually fit on the handset and spins freely; I normally have to connect it on the base end of the spiral wire, which makes detangling not work as well.- Unlike the Panasonic system mentioned at the opening paragraph, this system will allow you to use a Bluetooth headset at the same time a cell phone is connected. I won't be using this feature much since I need to wander fairly far from the base station to fill up my coffee and raid the fridge so a Bluetooth headset's limited range is not feasible for me.- You can record calls in progress! While this is great, but you're limited to internal storage that is about 50 minutes max assuming you have no voicemails saved. I wish I could redirect the save location to a computer/NAS- I'm always interested in recording long teleconferences so I can take better minutes so an integrated recording solution would have been amazing.- You can sync the phone directory to your Google account's contact list using the QuickSync software. It only syncs to one Google account, however, so the multi-user capabilities are limited.- Good button feedback, i.e. when you press a button you get both a physical stopping feedback as well as a audible tone. While buttons have a light soft-touch finish, they aren't squishy.- Headset jack wiring supports headsets with flash buttons to answer calls from the headset.Cons:- No contact download from my iPhone 4 to the base. This is a big negative. A lot of my work contacts are only on my cell phone, which will make the entire system less usable since I can't sync them to the caller ID.- Initial Link2Mobile setup was a horrible experience. Took me forever to figure out the exact sequence that only allows the setup to be accepted. It was not described well in the manual. For an iPhone you have to: 1) set up phone to discover, 2) search and select cell phone from DX800, 3) create a four-digit BT PIN from DX800, 4) on phone select DX800 and enter PIN created using DX800. Then I connected my Droid X and it was backwards- I had to set the PIN on the cell phone and then enter it second on the base. Glad this only has to be done once! It shows my iPhone can be used as a phone device and a wireless headset; my Droid X can be used as a phone device or data device. It's very undefined why only some features work with each device. I would like to see a compatibility chart.- Ethernet cable jack should not be pointing down towards the desk; it forces such a sharp bend in the cable that it's probably out of specification. The two RJ-45 jacks should be facing the rear and not down. The RJ-11 cables bend radius was not so bad since telephone cables are flat, have a smaller diameter, and they rarely have a bulky connector jacket.- No RJ9 jack for the wired headset connector; it's a standard 2.5mm port. At the price of the DX800 there should have been both a 2.5mm and a RJ9 jack. Gigaset does not make a DECT wireless headset (PITA!) and so I would be fine if I was able to use my Plantronics CS55 but now I can't without a RJ9 port! I'll have to go DIY and attempt to wire up a RJ9 cable to a 2.5mm plug.- I wish the base station was metal. It's a disappointing plastic.- I'm disappointed the mute button does not light red when mute is activated. You have to read the screen to find out if you're muted. When I do a quick visual check I want to see a LED, not have to read text. When the mute statement is on the screen it hides all call contextual information. The speakerphone button turns green and the message waiting indicator turns red- there's not reason why the mute button couldn't be red. I'd reassign the message waiting indicator LED color to amber or blue for differentiation.- The DX800 is missing a dedicated headset button. I have to reassign one of the eight customizable buttons to the Headset function. For a full featured desk/office phone, you have to expect someone to utilize a Headset button a lot.- There is a Ethernet switch included in the DX800 that allows you to pass through a connection to a computer, unfortunately limited to 100BASE-T. I'm running a Gigabit Ethernet with all sorts of simultaneous video streaming and VPN connections so this feature is meaningless to me. At $230+ cost for the unit Siemens couldn't add a Gigabit chip?- While you can set up multiple cell phones to the base, it appears only the last phone to be connected can be set up with Link2Mobile. So, you connect two phones, but only the last phone will allow the base to ring when you get a call. Same with outgoing calls- you can only use the last phone connected to make a Link2Mobile call on the base.- Most text on the LCD screen is a very visible white color, which has great off axis clarity. Except for the time of day that is. The time is a reddish brown color that you can barely see. What a disappointment! When my computer is off I could have really used a convenient means of seeing what time it was. The phone's name, e.g. "Office", "Bedroom", etc., is what should have been the barely visible color! So close on so many features!- Also on the LCD, when you get a call the caller ID information is not displayed on the whole screen. There is a big red call alert block that takes up the left side of the screen, and then only half of the screen is available for caller ID info. Every call that came in was cut short after 10 or so characters. Very unuseful when there's a large screen available to show more text.- I wish there were three function keys under the LCD screen instead of two. I need to frequently use the Handset, Select Line, and Bluetooth (toggle) features so I must assign one to the side speed dial buttons. It would have been more convenient to have all three up top.- If you're on a landline call and you receive a cell phone call connected with Link2Mobile you will NOT see the caller ID on the LCD nor will you hear any call waiting tones. Huge failure here. I need the ability to switch to a more important call and it would be nice to conference in the cell phone with the landline to three way call. This phone cannot do it.- No way to transfer a cell phone call in progress to the base station. This means you can't use a dialing app like Google Voice thru the base.- You need to toggle Bluetooth off and on to reconnect your cell phone to the base. Very annoying there is no automatic connection when you get in range.- You can switch between handset and headset easily while on a call without hanging up- just press the headset button/pick up handset and it transfers. However, to switch between speakerphone and headset/handset, not so intuitive: you have to HOLD DOWN the speakerphone button while you hang up handset or press Headset function button.Others:- Cancelling the IP phone initial setup wizard requires two acknowledgments: 1) Do you want to cancel? 2) Are you sure you want to cancel? YES, I'M SURE!- The scrolling weather ticker initially showed the weather in Prague? What? Luckily, by going into "Setup -> Additional Features -> Info Center -> Weather", I was pleasantly surprised to actually able to search for and find my Virginia home city. The weather now shows Berlin and Montreal... huh? I turned the ticker off. The ticker should use the locations set within Info Center.- There is no dedicated button to make a Link2Mobile call. You have to hit the Select Line function button and then scroll & choose with what line you want to make a call. Even the crappy Uniden D3588 had a dedicated cell button that I really liked. Every less navigational button press is appreciated. I wouldn't mind if I could at least map a button to go to a Bluetooth phone call; alas you can only customize a button to select a line.- The Gigaset QuickSync software does not connect to my phone most times. It's a bit clunky. Running Windows 8 x64, with which QuickSync is compatible.- While more than one cell phone can connect to the base station, only one cell phone can be used for a call at one time using the Link2Mobile feature. Realize mobile phones connect to the base station and not to expandable handsets, so you can't wander far from the base.- The manual consistently talks about Link2Mobile supports GSM phones. Rest assured, it also works with Verizon CDMA phones.- The "Info Center" feature lets you get basic weather and website information. Accessing the menu system for this feature is tiring that it likely will never be used.- You're able to customize the the two function buttons under the screen: you press and hold to get a menu from which to select the button function. The six "speed dial" buttons are assigned the same way.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Expensive Phone, Low Quality Signal and USELESS Customer Support
By Blaine F. Hennig
I bought this phone 18 months ago, and 3 Gigaset SL78H wireless handsets. Since then, I had been told, by friends, that the voice quality was mediocre, at best. Sometimes it was hard for them to understand me at all, and that was from INSIDE my 4 room apartment. Then today (08/08/2013), I got an indication on EACH of the $130.00 handsets that there was "No Base" connection. I tried everything imaginable to restart, reboot, and reconnect these expensive headseats, as per the manual, but nothing. I called Gigaset "customer support". The rep has me do all the same things I had just done, but to no avail. He said it was a "software cliche". He also said if the phones were purchased more than a year ago, they are not covered under warranty, and the company HAS NO REPAIR CENTERS IN THE UNITED STATES. So I'm SCREWED for over $550.00. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND NO ONE BUYS ANYTHING FROM GIGASET, if you do, DO SO AT YOUR OWN PERIL. THIS COMPANY SUCKS!
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