DIYbanter - View Single Post - Which Brandss of cordless phones most reliable

Geoffrey S. Mendelson

hr(bob) wrote:
I am considering buying some new cordless phones with the caller-ID
and answering features. Besides Consumerrrs Reports, does anyone here
have any experience repairing cordless phones, and which brand(s) do
they consider most reliable and/or repairable?

I suggest you look at the Siemens DECT phones. DECT phones use the 1.8gHz
cellular band (it overlaps the US 1.9gHz one, so it is legal there) and are
designed to be used in a shared environment. In plain English, they listen
before using a frequency and skip ones in use. This prevents them from being
interfered with and interfering with other things.

The common 2.4 gHz phones use the same band as microwave ovens and WiFi
networks, so there is a lot of interference and fighting for bandwidth.

5.7 gHz phones, which are legal in the US, but not EU/Africa/Asia, are
shorter range than the others. If that is ok with you (the phones is
going to be used in the same room as the base) then it may be a good choice.

Siemens has a good reputation, and in models I have seen advertised in the
UK (I hope simliar ones sold elsewhere too) have Bluetooth support.

While using a Bluteooth headset with a cordless phone does not appeal to me,
some people may like it. It also allows you to use a PC to synchronize the
directory in the phone with the one from your cell phone.

I don't know about you, but I can't be bothered to put 100 (or even 10)
numbers or so into a cordless phone via the keypad. Since I already have
them on a computer and synced to my cell phone, if I had a Bluetooth
cordless phone I could just pop them into it. Now I have to either look
them up on the computer or my cell phone. :-(

There are many versions of DECT phones depending upon what you pay for. The
cheapest support one line and one base station. You can have 4 phones
registered (using) one base station and call between them. More expensive
phones may have the option to use more than one base station and "roam" between
them if you have a large place, or have multiple phone lines.

You can even buy DECT phones with 2 "lines" one of them being a telephone
line for regular service and one being a USB port for connecting to your
computer and using SKYPE.

Geoff.

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Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM