Review of the Uniden DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone (DECT 1580)

The Uniden DECT 6.0 Digital Answering System with handset speakerphone claims to have great quality and plenty of features. It is lead-free, and an Energy Star product. This Uniden cordless phone comes with all the goods such as an answering machine, speakerphone, phonebook, and personalized ringers that can be set for individual callers. Like practically every phone, the Uniden DECT 6.0 cordless phone has call waiting, call forwarding, and caller ID as long as these functions are set up with the phone company. Also, the phone can be expanded to up to six handsets on one phone jack. At only $30-$35, depending on where the cordless phone is purchased, these are excellent qualities for a cheap phone.

The Uniden DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone does have everything mentioned, and they all work. However, there are other promises from this cordless phone that do not work, making the Uniden DECT 6.0 unusable. Although this is not the case for every phone purchased, this is how the phone worked from personal experience.

Broken promise #1: Clearest Voice Reception. The Uniden DECT 6.0 promises clear conversations, the "clearest". Nowhere on the box or in the manual does it explain how it got that label. It was probably pitted against phones from Bell's day and age in order to win the title so they could tack it on the box. It is just not the case. This cordless phone had a loud and distracting echo unless the user held it farther from their mouth than normal. This would make the user have to speak louder for the listener to hear.

Broken promise #2: State-of-the-art digital technology provides brilliant sound. The last time this Uniden DECT 6.0 cordless phone was used, the user was told they sounded like an alien. Often the people on the other line could not hear the speaker, or understand them. The sound would fade in and out, over and over, although the user suspected nothing and could not tell there was anything wrong. Well, besides the echo.

Broken promise #3: Uniden's "listen before transmit" technology that avoids interference. This means that there will be no bugs when the Uniden DECT 6.0 phone is used with wireless Internet, baby monitors, or microwaves. Of course, there is no explanation of how this "listen before transmit" technology works. This phone acted up bad, often ringing when there was no one on the other line. All there would be was a dial tone. Or, there would be dead silence. Often, callers could not get through because the phone would never ring. Or it would take at least a minute before the phone would ring for them. Was that Uniden's technology "listening" before "transmitting"?

Broken promise #4: Quickly find answers through customer support. This actually means that you will be put on hold repeatedly and ignored when calling customer support. When sending an e-mail to customer support, it will never be answered. This does provide quick answers. Your answer that Uniden DECT 6.0 cordless phones should avoided in the future.

A cheaper phone from a different company has since been purchased. No problems now.