AT&T CL4940 Corded Standard Phone with Answering System and Backlit Display, White

Yes, I do have a cell phone, but in my house I am still a committed landline user, and I own four of these phones, one for each phone jack! For my landlines, I wanted a touchtone phone with a large, illuminated, easy to read caller ID screen that operated on electricity, not battery, and these phones fit the bill. Over the years, I have owned cheaper landline phones from RadioShack or various big box stores, but they all eventually stopped working. These AT&T phones are extremely sturdy and trustworthy. They have got every feature you need, including a built-in answering machine (which you don’t have to use if your phone plan includes voicemail), and they are easy to set up—you can figure out most of the features without even reading the brochure. The phone can be used on a flat surface or on a wall (think kitchen wall phone!). Since the curly phone cord that comes with the set doesn’t stretch too far, you might want to order a longer white cord to substitute. (There are plenty of choices on Amazon—12 or even 24 feet cords!) In short, if you’re a bit old-fashioned and have never made the switch to cordless landlines, then this is the phone for you.

I wanted a corded answering machine to avoid EMF from cordless phones and cell phones, and after buying several different stand-alone answering machines that had crappy sound quality and features, I bought this corded phone answering machine. I have been very pleased with the quality and features. The large display is easy to read, the function buttons operate and are laid out logically, sound quality of call recordings, the greeting, and on the handset is excellent, and plenty loud, even for those who are hard of hearing. There is a large easy to use volume control button on the phone face, so it’s easy to adjust the ringer, recording, handset, or speaker phone volume on the fly.Initial setup is intuitive enough that I didn’t need the manual to set it up. The screen has amber colored backlighting when a call comes in or when you press any button on the phone. It’s easy to read even from a few feet away, but not sure if color blind people may have a problem with the amber backlighting. The power button is a large red lighted button when on, and the message indicator is a large red flashing button that is easy to see from a distance.The phone does NOT require batteries, and since I have it connected to a hard-wired landline, it uses the land line’s phantom power to keep settings when we have frequent power outages/blips, so I don’t have to reset anything after a power outage. I don’t know if it will do this on a VOIP line. You can make calls during a power outage, at least with a hard land line, but the display won’t work, unless you have the phone’s power supply connected to a UPS.You can record your own custom greeting or use an auto announcement.One caveat, if you pick up a call from an extension, the phone shows it as a missed call on its screen, which I couldn’t care less about since I only care about messages, but you can easily scroll through the call log on screen to see any missed calls.Also annoying, if a call comes in and the answering machine picks up and then you pick up on the phone or an extension, the recorder will not shut off, and broadcast your call through the speaker. The only way to stop this is to unplug the power supply.You can wall mount the phone. I see in other reviews references to the instructions being only in Spanish, this was not the case with my phone.

I purchased this set after trying a few other answering machine + phone models, from simplest to very advanced. I like this one because it offers all features important to me. Most desired one for me is ability to easily turn it ON in given room. I work from home, have a few important spots in different rooms. I miss calls sometimes. I worked in one room and ringing in another room would go unnoticed. So I put 3 identical units to work. Main unit in the kitchen is set to 4 rings and stays ON all the time. Other unit set to min rings is turned ON only when I am within sight. It works magic for me, I never miss a call now, no matter where I work at home. Recently I noticed I can not turn Answering Machine ON when I hear ringing. Must do that in advance, before a call arrives. Otherwise I really enjoy using this model.PROS.Large buttons, easy intuitive settings are a big plus.Loud voice that says: Calls will be answered – or – Calls will NOT be answered.Very rare feature lately – printed word MIC on front panel shows actual location of microphone hole.Very comfortable handset, not too light, not too heavy, no feel of metal bar inside like some handsets had in the past.Voice quality is rather Good than Fair. Other models I had were similar or worse.Includes attachment for standing on a desk, as opposed to hang on the wall plate.CONS.Lit buttons would be a plus. Such wonderful keypad begs for lit buttons! I would pay extra for this.When power is disconnected, time & day settings are erased.Can not turn ON answering machine once the phone is ringing.I am at a loss why large characters on lit display show that: CL4940 – why would I need it? Instead of, display my phone number! So my guests picking the phone will see what that number is. Or let me write a short message here.UPDATE 3-2021.After extensive travel and coming back home I noticed messages had time stamp but only day/time. How do I know Monday a month ago or last Monday? Such time stamp with a date like Nov 14, 2020 in ideal phone would be spoken or be displayed on the screen.Display is dim and difficult to read. I practically do not use the screen, as it is non-usable to me, at maximum contrast setting 4. Display is dim and impossible to read on all 3 units, under all light conditions. After using all 3 units for a long time I realized I really ignore the screen. With AC Adapter being used it is no power supply issue but poor design decision I think. So all three phones I have are no defects but poor design. I have other phones at home that read perfect under all light conditions.Overall I think this product at such price point is good. I am OK with all 3 units I have. They work for my scenario well.

This is our second unit We are so happy that this unit is still in production. The old unit still works but the power supply died on the old unit.

We live out in the woods. Weak cell signal or power off after a storm this phone still works. Of course you need to keep land line service.