The Vtech Small Business Phone System delivers!
Now you have a second choice when it comes to a truly affordable small office/home office (SOHO) phone system that works easily with on-hold messages or music on hold. The CM18445 VTech Small Business Phone System is a full-featured 4 line phone system with all the features you need to handle your office phone calls.
What is impressive about this model is how easy it is to install a custom on-hold message or music on hold. You can transfer and store your custom on-hold message to the VTech’s internal on hold message function. This allows you to transfer in real-time up to a 3 minute on hold or music on hold file, same as the AT&T Syn-j phone. But what is notably better about the VTech vs. the AT&T is that the on-hold message, once loaded onto base unit, plays in a random loop instead of starting from the beginning every time the hold button is pressed. This may seem like a small detail until you go live with it and realize that 80% of your callers will only hear the first 30 seconds of your on-hold message because it starts from the beginning every time you put callers on hold. So chalk up an advantage for the Vtech Small Business Phone System over the AT&T Syn-j phones.
Another advantage of the Vtech Small Business Phone System I discovered while installing one for a customer that previously had the AT&T Syn-j system, is that it if you receive a phone call during the on-hold message upload process, it will not stop the upload. With the AT&T Syn-j, I actually had to disconnect the phone lines to prevent it from cutting off the upload. The Vtech does not have this problem. So, another small advantage over the AT&T Syn-j.
Good to see manufactures like Vtech and AT&T finally developing phone hardware that allows for a simple and effective way to use on-hold messages and music on hold.
Below is a short video showing you how to record your on-hold message or music on hold to the VTech’s internal memory. The advantage of doing it this way is that you will not require any external playback unit for continuous looping. If your on-hold message is longer than the three minute maximum for the internal recording, you can use an external on hold message playback unit like the PH USB40. Simply connect the output of the PH USB40 to the audio input of the Vtech CM18445 and make sure to select “Aux in device” from the M.O.H. source on the phone.
NOTE: We have been noticing that customers that order the Vtech 18445 base unit with cordless extension from Amazon are ordering the wrong cordless model. The correct model that pairs wirelessly with the base unit is the CM 18045, here is a link. not the UP407.
Here is a link to the Vtech site with the correct model cordless, CM . 18045.
Carlos Garcia,
President and Founder
Please Hold Advertising, Inc.