Small Office Telephone System With Lots Of Features

The AT&T 944 telephone is designed for small businesses that want a telephone system with the features found on an expensive Key System Unit, without the hassle of hiring a contractor and the expense of the Key System's hardware. This particular family of telephones is known as NOKSU (read "NO""KSU").

This telephone is meant to be used in conjunction with other NOKSU units in the AT&T lineup. [AT&T 944, 945, 955, 964, 974 & 984]. The 944, 955 & 964 have been discontinued and replaced by the other 3 models. Up to 12 units total may be used in a given installation.

The 944 is finished in basic black. It is shaped like a standard business telephone with an unlit LCD near the top of the unit, a standard keypad, 12 memory buttons that can store 2 telephone numbers each, a directory card to write down what numbers are stored in those memory buttons, 4 telephone line buttons with a small red LED status indicator for each line and a slew of other buttons used for programming and feature access. Some of the other buttons also have red LED status indicators.

The 944 does not supply any sort of answering device. Any user who wishes to have calls answered after hours would need to look into a stand alone answering machine, or purchase an AT&T 964 or 984, which have digital answering devices built in.
The face of the 944 seems a bit cluttered with buttons covering about 90% of the face. While the memory buttons and the telephone keypad are neatly arranged, the unit does present a somewhat cluttered appearance.

The rear of the telephone has a jack for the supplied external power supply, (2) 2 line telephone jacks and (2) single line aux jacks to connect fax machines, card readers or some similar device.

Assembling the 944 is straight forward. Insert the included 9v battery that maintains basic functions and programming during power failures, into the proper slot in the underside of the unit, orient the detachable base for either wall or desk mounting, connect the power supply to the rear of the unit and then plug the transformer into a standard AC outlet and lastly connect the 2 telephone line jacks to the telephone wall jacks using the supplied telephone cables.

2 words of caution: telephone line #1 must be the same line at each telephone unit. This will ensure that all available functions, such as page and intercom will function properly as the telephone units signal each other using line #1. In addition, telephones other than the ones listed above should not be used in conjunction with the 944 as some functions, such as hold, will not operate properly. These telephones were meant to be used in conjunction with a specific group of telephones.

Features provided with the 944 include system page, intercom, 3-way call conference, mute, speakerphone, transfer calls to any other system telephone, flash, redial, do not disturb and the ability to use an optional headset.

The 944's programming is menu driven using the 8 buttons located between the LCD and memory buttons. Some menus have sub menus under them, so keeping the programming manual at hand during the initial setup is almost a must. Setting the time, day & date requires multiple presses of the arrow buttons as opposed to allowing the programmer to directly enter the time via the telephone keypad.

Programming mode is entered by pressing the PROGRAM button.
From there you can scroll through the menus to set up the time, day & date, extension number, which lines are active on each telephone, which lines actively ring in on each phone, touchtone or rotary pulse, audible call on hold reminder and few other options. You also have the option to default the telephone to it's factory settings.

Audio quality of phone calls was generally good. Intermittently, a faint high-pitched whine was heard in the background. There was no rhyme or reason for the noise and the cause was never determined. Basic functions like hold, page and the speed dial buttons worked well.

The time of day clock, shown when the telephone is idled, tends to run a little fast, and requires frequent correction. The layout of some of the function buttons results in the user searching to find the correct button to place a call on hold. Making the hold button red or orange might help set it apart from the other buttons on the telephones face.

The 944 does not support caller ID. The LCD is unlit and can be hard to see in dimly lit areas. A backlight would help improve the LCD's visibility.


All told, the NOKSU line up brings the features of a centrally controlled KSU to people who cannot afford a KSU. If a company can afford to go with a standard business telephone system, such as an Avaya Partner ACS, then they might want to go that way and skip over the 944 and it's siblings as there is no substitute for a genuine business telephone system.

Also note, since 2000, telephones with the AT&T label have been built by a company called Advanced American Telephones, a division of VTech.