Product review: AT&T CL4940 Corded Standard Phone with Answering System

I purchased AT&T phone with answering machine over a year ago. Overall the answering machine is working fine, but it has two annoying behaviors.

We have more than one phone in the house.  When a call is answered on another phone the answering machine shows these calls as "missed calls".  The second annoyance that it seems not be able to handle day light savings time. Even when I correct the time manually it resets itself to the wrong time.  So for half of the year the phone calls are shown as 1 hour off.  I read the manual trying to find how to change this and could not find it.  If someone who is reading this review knows how make it responsive to Day Light Savings time I would really appreciate a tip on how to do it.

On the positive side, the display is large and clear.  The screen has a back light (note that the dial buttons do not have back light). The back light is turned on when a phone call is coming in or when you press any button. The voice that comes in on the phone is loud and sounds good. This is also true when you use the speaker phone.  I am told that I sound crisp and clear even when I am using the speaker phone.  When there is a message waiting there is a button that blinks to indicate a waiting message. The manual states that you can also configure a beep to indicate a waiting message, but we do not use this option.  The answering machine is easy to turn on and off (a button that glows when answering machine is turned on).  I have caller id, so when a new phone call comes in I can see the phone number and name displayed on the screen (it is not announced by voice, just displayed).

I am using this phone as a wall phone. I like how the attachment bracket is designed - it is easy to hang and the phone is lifted a little away from the wall.  The handset has a special catch to make it work well as a wall phone.

The messages and greeting announcements are digitally recorded in the internal media.  Recording my own greeting was easy.

This phone comes with AC adapter but it is actually possible to make calls during power failure. The power comes from the phone line itself, so it is limited to making and receiving calls. Other functionality is not available unless you have power.  After the power outage I have to reset time, but my pre-programmed quick dial numbers are NOT lost.

Other than the two negatives I mentioned at the start of the review the phone has many good features that I like.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆