AT&T CL2909
| Brand | AT&T |
|---|---|
| Model | CL2909 |
| Available Colors | White |
| Form Factor | Corded (Desktop)
|
| Introduced | 2009 |
| Discontinued | 2020 |
| Successor | No direct successor.
Replaced by: AT&T CL4940 |
| Ringer | Piezoelectric
|
| Original Retail Price | $24.95 |
| Manufacturer | Advanced American Telephones |
The AT&T CL2909 is a basic economy-grade corded landline telephone. It was produced by Advanced American Telephones, manufactured in China, and released in 2009. And branded as the "AT&T Corded Speakerphone". It sold for $24.95.[1] It's similar to the VTech CD1153 but with minor differences. Unlike many previous AT&T economy models, it features caller ID/call waiting and a speakerphone. These features run on 4 AA batteries. It was the last corded desktop telephone produced by Advanced American Telephones to feature standard sized buttons. In 2020, the CL2909 was discontinued and pulled from the AT&T online store and from retailers alongside all other single-line non answering system models such as the CL2940. There is no direct successor the the CL2909. The AT&T CL4940 has replaced it, which is not in the same product category. The CL2909 remains on sale to this day at NOS retailers including Amazon.
Features
- Caller ID/Call Waiting
- Caller ID History (up to 65 entries)
- Speakerphone
- 14 speed dials (7 keys, with a lower button)
- Redial
- Flash
- 3 Ringer Volume (OFF/LO/HI)
- Basic Hold
- English/Spanish/French Setup Menu
Functionality
The telephone uses the same basic software found in a lot of older AT&T telephones.
4 AA batteries is required for the speakerphone and all software features to work. The bottom of the telephone is stamped "USE ONLY NEW 4 AA ALKALINE BATTERIES".
The ringer is piezoelectric and does not require batteries to be in the telephone to operate. The volume can be adjusted using the "RINGER" 3 position switch on the bottom of the right side of the telephone, near the battery compartment.
The telephone has a "CALL INFO" light. This light is off when the phone is connected to a phone line and it's not in use. On when the phone is in use. And blinks once per second when the telephone line is in use or not plugged in.
When the telephone line is in use or not plugged in, "LINE IN USE" is visible on the bottom line of the LCD display.
The user can use the "CALL LIST" up and down buttons to the right of the display and the left the "CALL INFO" LED to scroll through the caller ID log.
The telephone keeps the date/time in HH:MM AM/PM MM-DD format. The telephone does not store the year. The date/time is also always updated by caller ID which cannot be turned off.
The telephone adds 1 before any 10-digit North American Numbering Plan (NANP) unless the area code is one of the user's local area codes, where it will not add the 1.
Setting a home area code is required to use display dial in the caller ID log. Any area code set as a home area code will display in the caller ID log without the area code and will be dialed without it.
The telephone can store 1 home area code and 4 local area codes.
The settings of the telephone can be scrolled through by clicking "OPTIONS". Available settings are "SET DATE/TIME", "SET CONTRAST", "WHICH LANGUAGE?", "HOME AREA CODE?" AND "LOCAL AREA CODE? 1-4".
Common applications
As a cheap basic telephone, the CL2909 can be commonly found in offices/business. Or somewhere where a basic telephone is needed, such as an emergency phone, connected to a PA/intercom system, or connected to a PBX that already provides voicemail. The phone was not super popular for consumers, many opted to get higher end models with answering systems sold at the time such as the AT&T CL4940 which was only $10 more, or not use corded telephones all together and use cordless phones.
Variations
Units produced from 2009 to 2012 featured the older AT&T logo with lowercase text and came in a orange box with a slight Frutiger Aero design.
Some boxes printed during the 2010 Winter Olympics also contains branding "Proud Sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Team" next to the AT&T logo.
Some units made up until circa 2013 seem to include a data pass through ports. (Pictured below) However, it seems like this was a limited run. It's mostly only present on the early logo versions.
In 2012 the box was updated to resemble Frutiger Metro. There are several variants of this box from several years. For example, the "F01/03/2013" box features the "RoHS compliant" logo and new icons compared to the "F04/13/2012" box[2].
Units produced from 2017 to 2019 and later just have the AT&T symbol/logo without the text came in a new box labeled "F03/02/2017" with a more modern design and a blue on white color scheme.[3]
In 2017, a new users manual was made that features the newer AT&T branding and font.
Units produced in 2019 to 2020 have the newest AT&T logo with uppercase "AT&T" text. And come in the newer style box found on most AT&T telephones sold today with a white on blue color scheme, along with the features list on the bottom below the picture of the unit and a more modern design. This is the rarest variant, as it was only sold for a year before the phone was discontinued entirely.
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20170708010254/https://telephones.att.com/pd/290/CL2909-Speakerphone-with-caller-ID-call-waiting
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20251123100010/https://www.ebay.com/itm/397102921308?mkcid=16&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=35dnqkolr9g&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=VZyc9GvnSa2&stype=1&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20251123094525/https://www.ebay.com/itm/365827700934?chn=ps&norover=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=365827700934&targetid=2504760222447&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9033553&poi=&campaignid=22904808709&mkgroupid=190100216564&rlsatarget=pla-2504760222447&abcId=10415538&merchantid=6296724&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22904808709&gbraid=0AAAAAD_QDh_Qr7cwW5PxsLC0Z4jDBQ9X7&gclid=CjwKCAiA_orJBhBNEiwABkdmjAotpqGoVLGfcBpHzmq9giSeiPyAiVBPocSCB7FXD8Z6bmqGRBoABxoCIh0QAvD_BwE