Panasonic KX-TG4000B: Israel, the Land of Cordless Phones

Anyone who has visited Israel lately knows that nearly everyone here has a cell phone or a cordless phone of some kind. (I'll tell you a joke about that after I finish this epinion.) I suppose, then, I should not have been surprised when on walking into the Berlitz office where a friend works, I realized her cordless phone was the office's multiline number. Smelling an epinion I could write, I checked it out and interviewed her about her experiences with the Panasonic KX-TG4000B.

The long and the short of it -- she loves the system as does everyone else in her office. Since teachers come in and out at various times and often work in different rooms, having an office phone that they can take with them works well.

Here are the specs on the system:

4-Line Multi-Handset Cordless Phone System

2.4 GHz Frequency-Hopping Digital Spread Spectrum (FHSS) Operation
(by the way, I have no idea what that means exactly. Joy says it deals
with the distance at which the phones operate.)

4-Line Operation

94-Channel Frequency Hopping

Accommodates up to 8 Cordless Handset Stations (which means each of the
teachers can have their own handset while working. The reception desk
has its own and the director has his own. The teachers do have to share
but this doesn't seem to be a problem. They check out the handset at
reception when they arrive so Joy knows how to buzz who.)

All-Digital Voice Mail System with Automated Attendant

Up to 8 Individual Mailboxes with Separate Greeting Messages

Up to 100-Minute Total Recording Time (Joy said that at times this is
not enough so she ends up pulling people's messages off their voicemail
and writing them down, especially after a weekend.

Remote Access with Voice Prompts

Time/Date Stamp

Call Transfer, Message Transfer, Deliver Message, Auto Message Delete
(This is what really impressed me. I've worked in offices and to be
able to do all these things while away from my desk would have been a
blessing.)

The system looks really good on the desk. Joy suggested it might work better for some offices where people can keep the phones individually charged in their own workspace. Right now, all of them sit in chargers in the storage area behind her desk.

The phones are clear anywhere in the office. I even was able to walk to the other end of the building that the office is in and get lunch while talking without losing any clarity. This is a big plus. The phone just didn't sound like a cordless.

The handsets were light in weight and well designed. Very comfortable to hold and to use.

Having spoken to Joy and played with this system for an afternoon...big thumbs up....

and now, the joke I promised....

Archaeologists were working in Italy. They dug down a meter and found strands of copper wire. After much research they determined that during the time of daVinci, the Italians already had a phone system.

Greek Archaeologists, not to be outdone, dug down two meters and found strands of glass. They determined, after much research, that there was a fiber-optic communications system at the time of Aristotle throughout all of Greece.

Israeli Archaeologists dug down 5 meters and found nothing. From this they determined that at the time of the children of Israel first inhabited the promised land, they had wireless telecommunication technology.

That's the joke.