Stephen Ostermiller's Blog

Deregistering VTech 5.8GHz Handsets

I recently purchased a 5.8G Hz digital spread spectrum, multi-handset phone from VTech. Not wanting to pay full price, I found a used base station and some used handsets on Ebay and purchased them from different people.

Note: I no longer recommend VTech cordless phones. I now use Panasonic DECT cordless phones in my own home.

The system is pretty sweet, you type the base station identification from the menu of the of the base station into a handset and it searches for and connects to the station. You can connect up to six handsets all to one station this way. Once the base station knows about the handset, the handset gets assigned a number and the base station will continue to look for the handset.

When my base station came (with its one handset) reported that it knew about two additional handsets (2 and 3) that I didn't get with it. They guy must have sold them separately. I also got three additional handsets and connected them to the base station. That worked, but my handsets were numbered 1,4,5, and 6. Handsets 2 and 3 were in the page menu, but when you selected them you would get a "handset not found" message. I was also worried that if I ever got additional handsets I wouldn't be able to add them because my base station already knew about six.

Suprisingly, neither the owners manual or the FAQs on the VTech website had anything about removing, deleting, forgetting, or deregistering a handset. There was also nothing about a factory reset of the base station. So I emailed tech support and they promptly replied with the following instructions for a factory reset:

For the VT5831 base unit, take the handset out of the base, and any spare battery inside the base. Press (**335782) on the base to de-register all of the handsets at one time, then register the handsets again.

It didn't work. So I called tech support. Turns out they forgot a step in the directions they emailed me. You have to be in a certain menu for the reset code to have any effect. Here are more complete directions:

  1. Remove the spare battery (if any) and handsets from the base station.
  2. Navigate in the menus to the "base settings". Your screen should say "ringer volume, ringer melody, keypad tone, tone/pulse, ..."
  3. Punch in the reset code (including the stars): **335782
  4. Wait for the phone to restart itself (about 5 seconds).
  5. Re-register all of your handsets.

It would have saved VTech tech support time if this information were in the manual or FAQ, and it would have saved them tech support phone time if the information in the email support was actually complete. Impressive that they offer free support at all I suppose.

Other Models

It appears that this proceedure works with some other models that are manufactured by VTech.

AT&T 5870

Thanks so much for making this info available. I have an AT&T 5870 base that is manufactured by VTech. I had one handset go bad, and no spare positions, so I couldn't register the 5800 replacement handset. When I contacted AT&T, they said my phone was too old to support, and offered me 15% off a new phone. After searching and searching, I finally found your site and the procedure worked just as described. -- Brett

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