Review on 📞 AT&T CL83143 Dect 6.0 Cordless Phone: Digital Answering System, Caller ID (Expandable up to 12 Handsets, Black) by Toni Miller

This is the AT&T CL82143 Wireless Answering Machine with Caller ID/Call Waiting, a complete phone system that comes with a handset. I am very happy with this phone. It replaced an old phone that didn't have caller ID. I can also compare it to an earlier 2010 AT&T/Vtech TL86109 dual line phone that is still in use. The build quality is good. It has a plastic body and is physically light. It seems well suited for this application. This is a full-featured single-line phone and I think the $60 price tag is reasonable. Key features and benefits at a glance: Base station: * Very clear, easy-to-read LCD display. * Clear menu system for setting parameters. * Handsfree with very good sound quality. * Caller ID history (50 calls), directory (store 50 names/numbers), 10 speed dials (voicemail and 9 others selected from directory)* Automatic answer, although I don't use it - I use it for voicemail. Handset:* Clear LCD display.* Adjustable tone control of the received tone – bass, natural, treble 1, treble 2. You can easily adjust the sound if, for example, your conversation partner speaks muffled or shrill. The sound quality (in both directions) seems to be very good.* The handset also has a speakerphone. Do this if they are not next to each other. For example, if both are in the same room, there will be feedback noise when each picks up the other's audio.* New unviewed call logs in the caller ID log can be marked as old simply by pressing and holding the cancel button. This is a big improvement over how the old 2010 phone worked. No need to go into the menu.* SILENT mode is great! Press and hold this button to switch to sleep mode. Choose the number of hours from 1 to 12. While active, nothing rings and the answering machine is on. Press the silent button again to turn off silent mode. A NOTICE. If you use voicemail and don't want this phone to answer calls after you activate silent mode, simply turn off the answering machine. A few quibbles: the phone should remember the number of hours selected for silent mode, but it doesn't. If the answering machine wasn't activated, I'd prefer it not to turn on when silent mode is activated. But it can easily be switched off with the push of a button. I wish my old two line phone had this feature!* Expands to 12 handsets but doesn't complicate phone menus or operation when only one handset is in use if the handset is well hidden. Overall: I found the controls and menus intuitive and didn't need to read the manual. A condensed user guide and a quick start guide come with the phone, while a full user guide is available in PDF format. Setup was pretty easy. So far I've only found one bug. First, I left a few voicemail messages on the attached phone line. These new messages were displayed correctly on the base and handset. After listening to messages, the new message indicator was not reset. I checked the manual and saw a recommendation to use 'Reset Voicemail Indicators'. I did it once and now everything works fine. In summary, I think it's a good choice if you're looking for a full-featured, single-line phone.