Vtech VT 5831 5.8 GHz 1-Line Cordless Phone
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- Digital Technology: DSS
- Expandability: Up to 6 cordless handsets (1 included)
- Multi-Line Operation: Single Line Operation
- Transmission Band: 5.8 GHz
- Type: Cordless Phone
- Features: Caller ID Call Waiting Speakerphone Handset Locator Interphone Voice Mail LCD Display
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
No more WiFi interference hassles
Pros
Uncrowded 5.8 GHz Band. Styling, ease of set-up, speaker-phone in handset.
Cons
No answering machine included. Two separate units takes more space. Long-term quality.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I recommend the 5831 if you're having WiFi troubles and want an office phone set-up with speaker-phone. Watch out if you need an answering machine. Definite long-term quality issues.
See 2004 follow-up addition below
I recently set up an 802.11b wireless network in my home office. The biggest problem with WiFi is that it uses the same 2.4GHz band that many cordless phones use. So on a fairly random basis one would pick up the phone to make or answer a call and the WiFi connection would get dropped. Pretty annoying. Enter the new 5.8GHz band phones. So I was ready and willing to replace my older Panasonic 2.4GHz unit. However, there were a few other features that drove me crazy about the Panasonic that I wanted to get dealt with.
1) I've always wanted to be able to dial directly from the base unit of any cordless phone like an office phone. Well score one to the VT5831 for having this feature.
2) When on the base unit speaker-phone with the Panasonic there was no way to mute from the base unit. Annoying when you're using that feature and your two year old comes screaming into the office. Score another one for the VT5831.
3) I've always wandered why the handsets didn't have speaker-phones in them as well. Well the VT5831 does and it's a really nice feature. Score another one for VTech.
So the VTech nails the three problems above. I also tested the phone with the WiFi connection and could not break the WiFi connection for a whole hour of testing. Very nice.
Several other nice features:
1) The set-up is very easy. The soft navigation keys on the handset are completely logical.
2) The blue led light on the handset is very cool indeed.
3) The set-up and use modes of the handset and the base station is identical so once you've figured one, you've figured the other.
4) The little analog picture of a clock on the handset. Nice touch.
OK, there have to be some drawbacks and unfortunately there are a couple are biggies.
1) No answering machine functionality. What were these folks thinking? Fortunately we have another 2.4GHz set-up that has the answering capability. What is really misleading here is that the VT5831 box has a picture of the unit with a display that says "34 New Messages". Turns out this is a "virtual" message list from a voice-mail service from the telephone company. This is very misleading and I've already complained to VTech.
2) Two base units can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage. If you want to have the handset in a completely different location (and you can have up to 6 of them) then this set-up is great, especially as the additional headsets don't need a phone jack - just power. However for the office set-up, it takes up more space, takes two power outlets, two of those annoying power bricks etc.
3) No speed-dial functionality. You have to use the directory. Again, this would have cost them nothing more than a few lines of software to implement. Seems crazy.
And a few minor points:
1) You have to program the handsets and base units separately. Imagine if you have 50 names and numbers (the maximum) and 6 handsets. You've got to enter all of the data 6 times plus again for the base unit. That's pretty annoying.
2) There's a software bug on the base unit. When you're entering the names for the directory the keys don't scroll the letters in order. Often the first capital letter is skipped and you have to cycle around again. Minor but they should have caught that.
Overall, a pretty nice unit. We're getting closer to nirvana when someone puts this all together. AT&T and Uniden also offer 5.8GHz units but none of them yet combine all of the features/functions together. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy my uninterrupted WiFi connections.
2004 update:
Well, the quality of this unit has proven marginal at best. We're on the third unit now in less than a year. On the plus side their customer support/service has been very good and each time they've sent a new phone before expecting the old one back. There have been two problems. Firstly the microphone in the handset went funny so that callers would say they couldn't hear what we were saying. Sent it back and got a new phone. This one lasted 6 months before the handset stopped communicating with the base unit and we had to send that back as well. So much for solid state reliability!
I recently set up an 802.11b wireless network in my home office. The biggest problem with WiFi is that it uses the same 2.4GHz band that many cordless phones use. So on a fairly random basis one would pick up the phone to make or answer a call and the WiFi connection would get dropped. Pretty annoying. Enter the new 5.8GHz band phones. So I was ready and willing to replace my older Panasonic 2.4GHz unit. However, there were a few other features that drove me crazy about the Panasonic that I wanted to get dealt with.
1) I've always wanted to be able to dial directly from the base unit of any cordless phone like an office phone. Well score one to the VT5831 for having this feature.
2) When on the base unit speaker-phone with the Panasonic there was no way to mute from the base unit. Annoying when you're using that feature and your two year old comes screaming into the office. Score another one for the VT5831.
3) I've always wandered why the handsets didn't have speaker-phones in them as well. Well the VT5831 does and it's a really nice feature. Score another one for VTech.
So the VTech nails the three problems above. I also tested the phone with the WiFi connection and could not break the WiFi connection for a whole hour of testing. Very nice.
Several other nice features:
1) The set-up is very easy. The soft navigation keys on the handset are completely logical.
2) The blue led light on the handset is very cool indeed.
3) The set-up and use modes of the handset and the base station is identical so once you've figured one, you've figured the other.
4) The little analog picture of a clock on the handset. Nice touch.
OK, there have to be some drawbacks and unfortunately there are a couple are biggies.
1) No answering machine functionality. What were these folks thinking? Fortunately we have another 2.4GHz set-up that has the answering capability. What is really misleading here is that the VT5831 box has a picture of the unit with a display that says "34 New Messages". Turns out this is a "virtual" message list from a voice-mail service from the telephone company. This is very misleading and I've already complained to VTech.
2) Two base units can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage. If you want to have the handset in a completely different location (and you can have up to 6 of them) then this set-up is great, especially as the additional headsets don't need a phone jack - just power. However for the office set-up, it takes up more space, takes two power outlets, two of those annoying power bricks etc.
3) No speed-dial functionality. You have to use the directory. Again, this would have cost them nothing more than a few lines of software to implement. Seems crazy.
And a few minor points:
1) You have to program the handsets and base units separately. Imagine if you have 50 names and numbers (the maximum) and 6 handsets. You've got to enter all of the data 6 times plus again for the base unit. That's pretty annoying.
2) There's a software bug on the base unit. When you're entering the names for the directory the keys don't scroll the letters in order. Often the first capital letter is skipped and you have to cycle around again. Minor but they should have caught that.
Overall, a pretty nice unit. We're getting closer to nirvana when someone puts this all together. AT&T and Uniden also offer 5.8GHz units but none of them yet combine all of the features/functions together. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy my uninterrupted WiFi connections.
2004 update:
Well, the quality of this unit has proven marginal at best. We're on the third unit now in less than a year. On the plus side their customer support/service has been very good and each time they've sent a new phone before expecting the old one back. There have been two problems. Firstly the microphone in the handset went funny so that callers would say they couldn't hear what we were saying. Sent it back and got a new phone. This one lasted 6 months before the handset stopped communicating with the base unit and we had to send that back as well. So much for solid state reliability!
