Voice quality is fine here, no oddities on voice or reception at all. Hands free works better than any other I have used. Press the answer button a second time activates it, another press deactivates it. I don't have caller-id on my Verizon phone line. Costs too much, what do I care who it is, gotta answer it or hear them anyhow. So I cant tell you if it gives full data.. but it does scroll easily. I need to look hard to read that screen. My near vision isnt good. But it works for my stored address book, or feature setting. Short on characters, neighbor is Hattagan. Think thats all that fits... so 8 character name. Pre dial a number, push the green button and it dials it... works for me. Push the button that looks like a book,,Scroll for stored neighbors name... press that green button and it dials... works for me too. My third handset is frequently in my shirt pocket when I'm outside... push and hold # button for a couple seconds and it beeps indicating locked keyboard. I pull it out and say hello,,, put it on hands free and back into my shirt pocket freqently. For those long winded calls from my sister who always calls while she has one of those irritating in/out cell phone connections while driving. Arm gets tired holding that dang thing to my ear for long calls. Ansering machine works adaquate. Nothing fancy, no date nor time of message though. Philip's 6.0 Dect Cordless Phone Answering Machine with 2 Handsets (Dect2252g/37) Here is a link that might be useful: Philips Dect / Amazon

As an add on to this conversation regarding emergencies. Make sure your cell has reverse 911 (if available) for city/county emergencies. We lost many in fires who did not have this and got caught in fire storms and mud slides/flash floods. In these situations the danger was known, news reports gave information that the location was far enough away to give them some time for getting out, albeit a very short time. Emergency personnel going to so many homes was burdening the ability to get to all and in some cases not possible to do so. You need to sign up for reverse 911, registration should be for each phone. The use is for more than just natural devastations. Once the call/message is answered it won't repeat the information. Our city just started this last year due to the floods and fires. Most land lines already had the option. Check to see if you have this available, many cities are still working on activation. Also, somewhere in the last few years I remember having mobile phones connected to a main unit inhouse. Nothing worked when electric went out, so yes to the battery backup or the wonderful phone you found. I also took out the kitchen unit for tiling and it shut down the other connections. So make sure you don't mess with the main line, perhaps just cover it up with something that matches the backsplash and can be removed. Landlines are not available in my neighborhood area either, connections are strictly for electronic use. I never considered this until mentioned here. And now remember when my kids told me it was time to just go cell and get rid of the landline. But I'm not good at knowing where the cell is most of the time and unless it rings couldn't tell you on a moments notice. Doesn't bear well for emergencies either way since I'm the only one here. Tethered is not going to happen, out of reach does me little good if there were an emergency. How do others handle this one?

I guess it all depends on how much you call from home versus away from home or on the road. We use pre-paid cellular. The new phones were free after rebate and my wife and I each spend about $5-$7/month for the STI Mobile/Sprint service. We only make quick 1-2 minute calls for necessary reasons and it works fine anywhere in the country that Sprint covers. Voice mail and text messaging are turned off on both cellular phones. Other cellular providers are now joining the pre-paid game with good deals. We are still stuck with the old telephone company for home and home office lines. I must have the reliability and quality of a landline for my business. I do pay too much for long distance, toll-free, and local service for my business compared to the low rates available today. Bills are typically $35-$50/month for relatively low volume usage. The last time I switched was from MCI to Ameritech(i.e. SBC/AT&T/who knows?) It was a pain to switch, but the new lower rates were good for a year before they went up again. Our home phone line just went up to $22/month for local phone service. It started at $18 several years ago. Pre-paid long distance service is $.025/minute using cards from companies like Cheap Phonecards. The latest cards don't require you to enter the pin every time from home and you can program the 800 access number into speed dial. The long distance cards are great from hotels too. We are seriously considering the switch to broadband phone service, but our local numbers are not yet portable for Vonage or the others. We are just outside of their large markets. Broadband cable internet is $30/month and speed is around 300K or 10 times faster than dial-up. It is fast enough for our needs. The total bill (excluding my business) is around $67/month for all phones and broadband for my wife and I. Here is a link that might be useful: Cheap Phone Cards

Excuse me for resurrecting this thread but I had an experience a few moments ago that reaffirms (for me) why I answer cell phone calls from unrecognized numbers. My phone rang showing an ID with an area code to the north of San Francisco. Not nearby. I don't know anyone up there and didn't recognize the number, but I always answer the phone. It was a UPS driver who had a delivery I was expecting. They're doing paving work on my street and he asked if he could leave the box at a neighbor's house a bit of a distance away. He gave me the name and address where he was, I don't know them. I told him that if he continued along the road he'd find it passable and he would reach my house. He thanked me and has made the delivery. That's why shipping labels usually have the recipient's phone number and that's why I answer my phone. I don't give it out indiscriminately. I can live with the few robo or sales solicitation, often obviously sequential number, calls I get. I simply end unwanted calls. Easy enough.