PanasonicKX-TS880B Integrated Corded Telephone,Black

This phone, corded desk phone, single line, fills all the needs that I have on my home office desk. It has all the features, and more, that I need or will ever use for a home office. It is a good-looking phone, the speaker sounds well, the liquid crystal readout gives all the information needed for caller ID, call waiting, and programming the phone. Programming is simple and quick. I had this phone connected, programmed, and in use in less than 20 minutes. One thing I did change though, the length of the cord from the receiver to the unit is too short, especially when sitting at the center of a standard-sized office desk and the phone is on the left side. I replaced the supplied cord with a longer one that I had saved, and all is well, there is no snagging or dragging the phone when leaning back in my chair or moving about the front of the desk. I would recommend this phone to anyone who needs a simple, standard desk phone for a home office.No, it does not have answering machine built in, but I have that in another room.And the dect-6 statement in the title is a bit ambiguous, there is not a single word about that capability in the manual, there is no mention of dect-6 on the box, nor could I find anything relative to dect-6 on the phone (I do have dect-6 capability on other portable phones in the house, so it was not necessary on this phone). But for the person who thinks that he is buying dect-6 capability for portability and connectivity of this phone to another dect-6 base, I could not find it, I assume that it is not here.For those who are wondering what dect-6 is, it is the common electronic platform that is used in portable phones for comminication with each other and the base unit, using a specific frequency, today most often in the USA at 2.4 GHz, to pass the voice and phone features signals from the receiver to the base unit or from one receiver to another receiver.I BELIEVE AMAZON HAS LISTED THE TITLE, WHERE IT STATES DECT-6 INTEGRATED (whatever dect-6 integrated means?), INCORRECTLY FOR THIS PHONE AS THIS PHONE IS NOT DECT-6. AGAIN, NO MENTION OF DECT-6 ON THE BOX, IN THE MANUAL, IN THE PHONE PROGRAMMING, NOPLACE.None-the-less, I give the phone 5 stars for what it is, a good simple office corded phone.

This is a great telephone set, as long as you read the instructions first (you can read them online) as setting the clock is not immediately clear when batteries are inserted.The Good:-The base has good weight, it isn't going to slip around if the handset cord is pulled near or to the limit.-Excellent feature set including using the name programmed to match incoming caller ID.-Extensive name and number memory. 10 One Touch, 10 two touch, 10 Speed dial, and 50 phone book.-Dual volume ringer-Great speakerphone.-Music on Hold!-Caller ID runs on batteries and not AC PowerThe Okay:-Clock setting is not easy if you don't read the instructions (pressing OK does not enter clock setting or dismiss the prompt). Clock setting requires Pressing Program, UP, UP, then OK.-The handset is a little light for my taste, but it is usable.-Voice Mail indication is stutter dial tone detection only. In my tests, I actually had to manually lift the handset and hang back up before "Voice Mail" displayed on the screen. Since this phone has Caller ID FSK voice mail indication should not be difficult to implement for Panasonic.The Bad:-Headset operation is so confusing that I didn't bother trying it. Luckily I didn't buy this for the headset connection and really don't need it. The only headset jack installed on this telephone set is a 2.5mm type and I would prefer either a 2.5mm and Modular type or a modular type headset jack be installed.The meat and potatoes:I've owned this telephone for a week now and I've put it through more paces than I thought I would. I use an answering machine so the voice mail shortcomings are not a big deal and even if they were, I have a voice mail indicator on my Analog Telephone Adapter (Basictalk VoIP Service), and know where to get a bright FSK operated Voice Mail indicator. One touch dialing is nice and has a place for you to write the names! You don't realize how important that is until you don't have it. One of the one touch dialing positions is pre-labeled Emergency. If you don't want one touch emergency access as you may be afraid of accidental 911 hang ups, you can program any number into this position, but remember it bypasses the call restriction function so you may want to set this to either another phone where you can be reached, or even your own number (which will give you a busy tone).Every entry in the memory can have a name and a number, not just the phone book. That way if you don't write in the one or two touch names or want them to show your name for them on caller ID, you can enter the name. Speed dial is accessed the same way as the lower numbers on the one-touch buttons (auto/lower key), since I don't use the speed dial I use those as a place to put infrequently called numbers where I want a custom caller ID. Now I did say that EVERY memory location has the option of placing a name. This is even true for the Redial memory, if you dial from memory the name assigned and number assigned when initially dialed is also stored in the redial memory. This makes it easier to understand what calls you made in the redial memory.In-call features are also numerous. A call timer is presented that starts when you go off hook and ends when you go on hook, it resets when you hookflash either with the hookswitch or the flash key. Hold operates as it should. If music on hold is enabled, a monophonic (one note at a time) tune is played when the phone is on hold. If you still have the handset lifted, the tune will play in the receiver, if you place the handset down, the tune will play in the speaker to remind you that you have a call on hold, this is in addition to being reminded on the display. If you pick up on an extension telephone this set will detect the drop that and will remove the hold on the line allowing you to pick up on an extension, to go back, that extension must have a similar hold feature.The speakerphone is a pleasure to use and works as expected. To go off hook with the speakerphone simply press the SP-Phone button, go go on hook (with the handset down) simply press the SP-Phone Button. To switch from handset to speakerphone press the SP-Phone button and place the handset down, to switch from speakerphone to handset, simply lift handset.Caller ID works the way it should and the clock can also be set to display 12 or 24 hour time as desired and time adjustments after the initial setting can be made automatically by the incoming caller ID info.On hook dialing, is something that you may be familiar with on cordless and office phones where you can enter the number and then go off hook. This phone has it as well, you can select your memory (one-touch, two-touch, speed dial, phonebook, Caller ID, or Redial) or enter a number then either lift the handset or activate the speakerphone, the phone waits a bit to ensure you have a dial tone (and to allow you to hang up if someone is talking on an extension) and then dials the number. Remember pauses (with the pause key) and hookflashes, can also be defined prior to going off hook, just like programming a memory. Of course, unlike other products, this can only be programmed ON HOOK instead of off hook.I recommend buying this telephone and only removed a star due to the combination of potential user confusion on "Set Clock" and the headset confusion. Panasonic also makes other telephone products.Update March 26, 2018: I really wish it was easier to replace the index card for the one touch and two-touch dial keys, currently you have to order it off of a parts supplier and cannot order it as an accessory. As I have mentioned before, the voice mail indicator as described in the manual is Stutter Dial Tone detection only. If you have FSK or CLASS type Message waiting available, an external light will provide a better indication. What is not mentioned in the manual is the ability for this to work with Voltage Type message waiting on larger PBX systems. This feature is not advertised as it only works on larger PBX systems. After some unrelated observation and some checkup in the service manual, the 'Ringing Light" is also used as a message waiting light on these larger systems only. This means if you are replacing a phone that uses a Neon Bulb to indicate new messages, the ringer LED on this will also indicate new messages. Flickering of the LED will also be noticed when hanging up either at this phone or another attached extension as well as when pulse dialing (especially on an extension) is used.

This is a good value for the money, and I'm glad I bought it. It works well and has very useful features. There was, however, a period of initial frustration getting it programmed. It didn't do what the manual said it would do. I kept trying different things and somehow accidentally did something that caused it to start working properly. After that it was easy to program and use. Also, its features are not fully documented and a little experimentation is helpful. If you don't mind an initial learning curve, you will probably like this product.

I must agree with all the complaints about the use of a headset with the phone. I tried using a Plantronics headset and could hardly hear a thing. I then ordered the Panasonic headset that is recommended for this phone and people couldn't hear me very well. To make it worse, once you plug in a headset, you disable the speaker phone capability. In addition my previous desk phone showed a light indicating that someone else in my family was using another extension. Not so with this phone. There is no way to know that the phone line is already in use unless you pickup the phone or try to use the headset thereby interrupting the conversation that is already going on. I returned the phone and went back to using my ten year old 2 line AT&T desk phone even though I only have a single line service. I bought a new cable for that phone that allows me to direct connect my Plantronics hedset to the phone and I can switch easily from headset, to handset to speaker phone with no problems. And there is a light on this phone the tells me that someone is already using an extension phone.