Number of rings (auto attendant)
Problem: A reviewer at Amazon.com says, “The phone is terrible for a office that has a main receptionist. The issue is when the phone is in auto-attendant mode, you have to hit *# to get to the receptionist which is fine. Once you hit that, the phone rings 5 times (which feels like forever) and then goes into a main menu selection, not a mailbox. There is no mailbox for a main receptionist/user.”
Solution: The number of rings before the auto-attendant or general voicemail picks up can be determined. There is no need to leave it at 5 rings. Use this feature to set the number of times the telephone rings before the auto attendant answers. The number of rings can be between 2 and 7. This is explained on page 29 of the user manual. NOTE: You can also use your 3rd-party voice mail service with this system.
AT&T says, “Some service providers bundle or combine
multiple services like voicemail and call waiting, so you may not be aware that you have voicemail. To check what services you have and how to access them, contact your telephone service provider. To use your voicemail service rather than your answering system, turn off your answering system. To use your answering system rather than your voicemail service, contact your telephone service provider to deactivate your voicemail service.
Privacy Issue
Problem: The Amazon.com reviewer also says, “Do not use it for medical offices because you can only listen to voice mails on speaker phone. You can not pick up the phone and listen to voicemails, which can be a privacy issue.”
Solution: There is in fact an easy way to hear the voice mail messages privately. While the phone is yet in the “answer” mode, simply call in and wait for the greeting. During the greeting, enter the secret code, included with each phone system. You will hear the voice mail messages privately.Recorded messages can be retrieved from any location, using this technique.
AT&T Receptive To Our Suggestions
I recently spoke to AT&T about the Syn-J system and understand that the design team will be looking at a short-cut for retrieving voice mail privately. In addition, we are suggesting a separate input for the external music on hold device, which will free up the headset jack on the base station.
Shoppers Also Say…
“After reading reviews and comparing to other similar products for weeks…I finally decided to get the AT&T SynJ SB67158. Phone system setup took about ten minutes across five handsets, voice quality is superior and there is no end to the useful options. I highly recommend this product!”
“We use this as a front desk phone for an apartment building. The personnel love it as it is easy to read and very easy to use. Call quality is excellent. We also purchased 3 Cordless Handsets (SB67108) to go with it. The entire system works great.”
