I know dedicated POTS type home phone lines are quickly becoming relics of the past for a lot of people, but I’m old school and must have a dedicated landline. I can’t stand making lengthy phone calls on uncomfortable smart phones. The Panasonic KX-TGF892B DECT 6.0 phone system is a worthy successor to the similar Panasonic phone system we were using in our household. I’m a long time Panasonic phone user. It is the only brand of home phone we’ve used for the past decade plus, and for good reason. For us, Panasonic phones typically have the best sound quality, most features, and most bang for the buck. The KX-TGF892B continues this trend by providing numerous useful features like digital display with caller ID, dedicated base station with integrated answering system, expandable handsets, internal phone book, backlit keys and display, phone service voicemail access, Bluetooth headset compatibility, and anti-spam tools that interestingly include a call-screening feature. I will admit, that last one has quickly become my favorite feature. When a suspected spam call comes in, I click the “Tele-Block” button that appears on screen. The phone then self answers and a robotic voice says “please say your name”. The phone then pauses for several seconds to allow the caller to state their name and see if I want to take the call. If I want to refuse the call, I simply do nothing and after a few seconds, the voice says “Your call will be disconnected now” and hangs up. The first time I used it on a spam caller felt so awesome and empowering. Listening to the spam caller repeatedly saying “hello” in total confusion before being summarily dismissed by the phone made my day. We were previously so inundated with spam calls, that we kept our house phone on permanent do not disturb mode. Even then, all of the spam calls ended up going to voicemail and many left useless robocall messages. The spam tools on this phone allows us to finally use our house phone again and quit being held hostage by spam callers. It also makes deleting tons of spam voicemails and hang ups a thing of the past. For pesky known callers who don’t disguise themselves behind spoofed VOIP numbers, the system also has a call block feature. When this feature is active and a number added to the list, the phone doesn’t ring if the blocked caller calls. Besides sporting robust anti-spam features, the KX-TGF892B is more ergonomic and comfortable to use than a typical smartphone. The base station has an integrated answering machine, large easy to read buttons, and a large bright LCD screen. It can either be wall mounted or rest on a desk/tabletop. The system ships with two cordless handsets and can expand to accommodate four additional handsets if needed. As I briefly mentioned above, up to four Bluetooth devices can also be added. Bluetooth seems to only work with Bluetooth headsets however. I tried pairing my iPhone and iPad Pro but neither could not find the phone when scanning in Bluetooth settings. On the flip side, my Sony headset paired instantly on the first attempt.
Sound quality is great. Voices on the other end are loud and clear with no distortion. The volume has a nice range and voices remain clear at both low and loud volume levels. Battery life is impressive. We get 3-4 days of standby between charges with light phone use. The keypads and screens are backlit for easy low light viewing. One small change that I don’t like from prior models is the elimination of a dedicated speakerphone button. Unlike our last phone, this model integrates the speaker phone button into the main talk button. The button is more of a personal preference rather than a con. Overall, the KX-TGF892B more than satisfies our home phone needs. A fully functional phone base station and two cordless handsets are more than sufficient. Our last Panasonic phone had three cordless handsets but only had a charging base station with an answering system. It had no stand-alone phone capability in the base other than a ringer. We really can’t think of anything else we’d need. Maybe making the system compatible with Bluetooth phones and tablets would be the only suggestion we’d have, but otherwise it is a fantastic phone system.