I bought the Panasonic KX-TG5673 phone at Costco simply because it had “voice” caller ID. That means it would say the callers name. Sounded like a great idea.

Unfortunately, it is a horrible implementation.

The benefit would have been that you could hear the phone announce the caller if you were in another room or away from your desk. You wouldn’t have to run back to the phone to see who is calling. Instead, you’d be able to hear the caller’s name and then decide whether to answer the call from an important client, or leave a telemarketer to be dead in the water.

Unfortunately, this feature is badly done in several ways:

1. The voice is first generation text-to-voice. It sounds like a robotized computer on prozac. It is hard to understand what the phone is saying. It accents the wrong syllables, which makes it even more difficult to understand.

2. It seems that caller ID can’t make out many IDs. I thought my previous phone ID’d most callers, but I could be wrong. However, with this phone, it is clear that many numbers don’t have names attached to them — or the phone is not capable of displaying and saying the name. The phone says “number unavailable” which would be okay, expect it says it FOUR TIMES, each time the phone “rings.” This is incredibly annoying!

3. There is a way to turn off this so-called feature — at least in theory. I tried many times but it wouldn’t shut up!

As for phone quality, the sound is good on this 5.8 Ghz digital and can be used confidently for recording teleseminars to your computer. It has a nice range, so you can go into another room, or another floor and still get good quality reception.

Unfortunately, the one feature that makes this phone stand out on the sales floor — voice caller ID — is the one quality that dooms it. Although I bought the phone only a few months ago, it is destined for the recycle bin.

Dan Janal
Executive Producer
Great Teleseminars Audio Production Company
www.GreatTeleseminars.com