On Thursday, August 21, 2014 4:52:34 PM UTC-4, Retired wrote:
On 8/21/14, 4:30 PM, Bob wrote:

Hi,



For anyone pretty sharp with cordless phone systems.



We have a several year old V-Tech cordless phone with the answering

machine in the base. Has one handset, only, that sits in the base.



Hooked up to our land line phone.



Wife has medical issues, and is in love with the base unit's

construction, sound quality, push button shape and size, etc.

Doesn't want to part with it.



We now need a bunch of hansets all over the house. The V-Tech is very

old now, and new

handsets for it are not available.



So, what happens if I buy, e.g. one of the new Panasonic ones, that

comes with 4 handsets, and also has the answering

machine in the base.



What happens if I hook both systems up in parallel to the same line ?



Basically OK to do.



+1




An incoming call would trigger both system's handsets. True ?



Yes.



+1






If not answered, they both would record the call. True ?




Check the manuals for both old & new. You may be able to set them to

anawer after a different number of rings, or set 1 of them to not

answer at all.



+1

Should be able to set one to not answer at all.





(There are, of course, new multi-handset systems with no answering

machine capability)



Probably are, but I don't recall seeing one. Seems you get a base with
recorder plus 4 phones for $50 is the typical skew.








If I pick up a handset on the new Panasonic system, the old V-Tech

answering machine would (then) do nothing. True ?



If you get it before the # of rings it is set for. Sometimes you have

to be quick about it.



And I think there's a problem he should be aware of. With one base, if the phone
rings, you don't catch it in time, it starts to play the "Sorry we can't
come to the phone..." message, and you pick up one of the phones, it
immediately stops and you can have a conversation. With two bases, if
the recorder answers on base #1 and you pick up a phone connected to base #2,
the recorder running on base #1 isn't going to know you've picked up the
phone and will continue to play the message and then record. I think that's
what would happen, anyway. And that would be a problem.








Guess I'm asking your opinions if having both is practical,



Yes, we have such a setup at our house. A pair of old ATT cordless

non-answering phones; and a newer Panasonic cordless with answering

machine.



What happens when you pick up a phone while the recording is playing
on the other unit that's answering the call, as I described above?