So what do you get for a £119 DECT phone system, for a start Panasonic are a good brand and this dual handset pack offers most of the features you could want from a home phone system, the main handset also contains a digital anasphone which can store up to 30 minutes worth of messages.

While the KX-TCD 517ES ships with a very comprehensive manual you'll only need it if you intend to dive into the deepest features, most of the daily options are available by the menu system using the mini joystick, from here you can access the address book and directly dial plus you can get to the ansaphone from either handset and delete messages.

The speakerphone is one of the most useable we've found to date, it's good and loud with a speaker mounted in the rear of the handset, callers on speakerphone report hearing us clearly and with no obvious artefacts. Our only real issue is with a background buzz cased by our wireless internet router, we've tried everything but its still there, perhaps the frequency is close to the one used by the handsets?

Call quality is generally good and the range of the handset from the main base station is a good 100ft and we've never had any issues within the building and can make calls nearly at the end of the garden. Battery life is very dependant on use but the handset will last for around 36 hours out of its charger or a full day with heavy use, charging is simple as both handsets come with a Panasonic base station although the second one is a charge only unit with mains adaptor.

There is a multitude of ring tones on the Panasonic 517ES sadly most of them are so poor you'd rather miss calls than hear them, they are plenty loud enough and providing you can find one of the fifteen you can live with you'll be able to hear the handsets all over the house.

There are a bundle of extras like being able to record names against the address book and then you'll hear the callers name when the phone rings, there is also an intercom facility allowing you to page the other handset, plus you can sync the address book between the units.

You need caller ID to use some of the more mobile phone like features like SMS and Voice Activation, SMS however has proven very unreliable and we know of many DECT users who have tried and since given up using BT's SMS service.

The Panasonic KX-TCD 517ES Dect system can be expanded up to 6 handsets on the one base station making it suitable for a small office and given the level of functions that may be a good choice providing you can find 6 ring tones. £119 is not a cheap twin pack of DECT phones but this Panasonic package is well worth the money.

Published - 11/04/2005

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