This thing works. I bought this for my 100+ year old father in a nursing home. Even he could hear this phone ring, and if perchance he was out of the room, it was so loud and annoying that a staffer would come in to answer and let me know what was going on. He could hear it ring; he could hear me speaking. It worked wonderfully. I would offer 2 things to consider: Daddy had Parkinsons, and had terrible tremors. He could hold on to this receiver ~ just barely. There's a need out there for a receiver that's easy to hold. This is better than some, but not great. He also went through 3 of these phones, which aren't cheap, but worth it. In his shaking attempt to answer/hang up, the phone would hit the floor and eventually break. I finally put heavy duty velcro on his side table and on the phone. Poof. Phone never hit the floor again.

The phone arrived in the condition that the seller stated, with a few minor scuff marks from normal usage... not a big deal. I cleaned it with a damp towel and all was well. I had to purchase a 9V DC adapter separately, which was easily sourced from Radio Shack, and they also matched the exact port up since I brought the phone with me. The phone jack wire was purchased from Home Depot for less than $10. After setting it up at my grandma's house and having her practice using it, she was very surprised at how well it amplified the sound on her end! I was happy that I could program in speed dialed numbers to greatly enhance ease of use for her! Unfortunately after leaving it at her place for her to use, I am guessing that the 9V DC plug came slightly loose from the wall, which kicked on the batteries. A family member was visiting her and wasn't able to figure out why the phone was not able to place calls, even though I had printed out the instructions and left them there. Once I was able to get back over her house a few days later, I plugged the phone back into the wall without the batteries inside and was able to place calls no problem. However, there was a bit of background static that I could hear whenever the person on the other line would speak, and visa-versa (the person on the other line could hear static whenever I would speak). My grandma became afraid of using the phone after this minor event and didn't want the phone any more.

My mom is 97! and has severe to profound hearing loss, per her audiologist. This phone has made talking to mom SOOOOO much better with her. She quickly learned how to adjust the volume. She is also legally blind with Macular Degeneration and has to use a magnifying lens to see the numbers, but she is able to, which is just great. She still hasn't mastered the tone control yet, but she is getting there. There has been one occasion where things weren't working good enough for her to hear, because she pushed too many buttons and somehow messed up the sound. So I told her to hang up and I called her back. By doing this it reset to the default levels, where she could try to adjust the volume to the appropriate level. At this time I am really glad that I got this phone for her and so is the rest of the family.

This is now being used for a person aged 97 with both severe hearing loss and vision loss and it works great. We didn't even have to turn the ringer volume up past 1. At a volume of 10 it reminds me of the ringer my brother used on my mom's phone years ago that made everyone jump when it rang so she was able to hear it without a hearing aide. If you tape down the receiver button you can disconnect the cord/handset and then only use the speaker button to be able to answer/hang up. It is quite large and blinks red. Great for the elderly or those with impairments.

(Note as I write this I've only used the phone a few times.) Satisfied. Does the job. Can hear the words people are saying far better, largely because of the Tone choices - a huge plus. Choose the right Tone setting for you and you avoid using too much volume boost (which will damage your ears further, esp. if you have long conversations). The large LED displays and large dialing buttons surely a big plus for the also visually impaired.

Some reviews here complained of the very very loud ring of the phone when a call is coming in. This can be adjusted to very tolerable. They apparently did not read the manual fully. Take the time or you could be missing out on some operations very useful to you. The manual is not that long and is very good.

Great not to have to mess with batteries as with a cordless model: I found the expensive batteries quickly lost more and more capacity, getting to the point where after a full recharge I had only about a half hour of use (even after wasting money on a new battery, which proved even worse, by far).