Had I taken the time to look the phone up on Uniden's website (since Overstock¿s description does not include this info), I would've known this unit comes with a digital answering machine. Had I known that, I never would've made this purchase because I don't need or want an answering machine. If this were the only thing I didn't like about the phone, I could've dealt with it and just left the machine off. BUT...This phone is horrible. I stuck with it for 5 days, and then gave up and am now returning it. The sound quality is terrible (some of the time) - I felt like I was in a cave talking on this thing. More often than not, the phone would not register Caller ID, even though my other phones would. There is no visual indicator that a message is waiting (possibly because I was not using the systems answering machine). My old phone (VTech) would detect the stutter dial tone when a Voice Mail message was waiting, and then a blue light would start flashing. I loved this feature because I didn't have to keep checking the phone to see if I had messages. Given that this is my 3rd Uniden phone, and I haven't been happy with any of them, I will be staying away from the brand and returning to a brand I trust.