Why does the phone go dead after only talking about 20 seconds?

Either you need a new cord that goes from the wall to the base or the phone's electronics parts are going bad. You can try a new cord and if that does not help, buy a new cordless phone because it is not worth repairing it.

If the batteries are 3 years old it's time for new ones. Talk time when new is only about 6 hrs.

You need to ensure that the batteries are fully charged. On the handset while talking, the phone should show how much battery charge is left.
The other thing to check is how far are you from the phone base. For example if your base is on the first floor and you are on the third floor using the handset, then you might loose the signal clarity and eventually loose the connection to the base. To ensure that you are getting enough signal on all the floor, you can purchase a range externder from the manufacturer of your phone.

clean contacts to allow the battery to charge. Cordless phone battery near dead. I took butter knife and scraped the 2 recharging strips so it could charge. After I did that my "red charging dot" stayed on and phone now works like new again. If this does not work then you may have to replace battery in phone. Mine I could buy online for around 10 bucks, but I am glad I didn't have to do that.

clean contacts with qtip and rubbing alcohol and bend out!!!! :)

Try charging the phone. They are usually shipped with a near dead battery.

Another user (thank yoiu but I'm sorry I forgot his/her name) had the answer. It was ihe instructions but I missed it. Needed to set the 2nd handset into the main base for 20 seconds so that it could align itself.

you might have your phone connected to a fax machine. also sometimes cordless phones pick up other talk.

wow..that's a cool feature..did you program it that way?

good thing it doesn't just bring them into the same conversation(autoconferencing)..

so is this an issue or are you just letting us know?

Ted, The blank space you hear is the phone sending a digit to the other end. The person you are talking to hears this tone. The voice mail also hears the tone. That is why it is responding to you. First try pulling the battery out of the phone and wait about 20 seconds. Then reconnect the battery. I would also while the battery is out take a contact cleaner and a q tip and clean around the push buttons. If it persists your battery may be going dead. Replace it with a good one.