My Panasonic cordless phone/answering machine (KX-A142 ALM) has been pretty good, though the interface is shocking. Who on earth decided “INT” then “#” should be the sequence to listen to messages?
Anyway, a couple of things were causing me problems.
1. When the clock resets itself, it’s not at all obvious how to set it again.
Eventually I found the manual and did it, but for the record:
- Press the menu button (the box with horizontal lines in it)
- Press the Down button until you get to “SETTING BS” (I guess it stands for base station)
- Press right
- It’ll say “INPUT CODE”. Rather than input the code… press * to set the time (hh mm), or ** to set the date (dd mm yy)
- When done, press the menu button again to confirm
2. A couple of days ago it stopped being able to make outgoing calls. It could get a dial tone, but wouldn’t dial.
I fixed this with a reboot, which involves holding the red power button on the handset down for 1+ seconds so it switches off, then again to switch it back on. Voila.
Helpfully, Panasonic has manuals available on their web site.
Yes and you need to remember that time setting sequence because those Panasonic phones lose their clock time within about 1/50th of a second, meaning that the clock has to be reset every time there’s the tiniest blip in the power supply. Every other appliance in my house can keep its time after a small power failure but that crap Panasonic phone will be flashing “CLOCK”.
Even better than the idiotic time setting and message buttons, try retrieving messages remotely. After you push * during the greeting, then wait for a beep, then type your code (all reasonable steps for remote access), you can push 1 for OLD messages, or push 2 for ‘other options’ THEN push 1 for new messages. Who the hell would want more to dial in and listen to messages they’d already heard than to listen to new messages?
Anyway, if anyone has suggestions for a good cordless phone / answering machine with a lit keypad and screen and a keylock, and preferably some logical controls, please let me know!
I’m so glad I found this site. All of the official Panasonic sites were useless. They all described different models with buttons that aren’t on our phones. I found this site and the instructions were perfect and I got the time re-set in less than 30 seconds. THANKS!