I need a decent phone...

[pwd72s]

We've gone through a few brands...strangly, Sony was junk...batteries always going fast. Right now, a cheapy uniden...it's served us well for several years. Suggestion...do NOT buy replacement batteries at Radio Shack, they seem to go out more quickly than the Sanyo batteries we picked up...

[Canada Kev]

I currently have a Panadonic KXTG5776 at home. It has speaker phone and answering machine and is capable of expanding the number of sets. I have had no issues with this phone and would recommend it. Good battery life and audio quality. However, if you talk with the phone held between your ear and shoulder a lot, then I would have some reservations. It seems that the microphone can be somewhat insensitive in this situation. The person you're talking to may have a difficult time hearing you. Other than that, I am happy with it.

If you really want one of the best range and audio quality sets out there, look into an Engenius phone. They are available in single line and four line phones. With the four line kits, up to thirty something sets can be addressed, I believe. They have INCREDIBLE range. They are not exactly cheap, though.

I work in telecommunication for a major telephone service provider and use these sets frequently in an industrial environment. The people in the plant can be kinda hard on equipment and these seem to hold up very well. The biggest issue is that they can be lost easily as the hand sets are a bit smaller than a typical cordless. Battery life is good.

In this current age of cel phones and access nearly everywhere, the application for this phone is somewhat limited. Where I see one of the best places to use one of these, is on a farm or acreage or somewhere where there may be several structures, interference sources or other areas of poor reception. The base with the connection to the phone line can be placed in a different location from the phone cradle and charger - base in kitchen and charger in the barn.

I have personally used one of the Engenius phones at over a mile from the base with good reception. We currently use them for various projects in a power generation plant. There is LOTS of EMI and metal stuff to get in the way of transmission and they work well there. And that's not even using the extended range antennas which can be added if required. Even though the phones are fairly small, they are pretty tough. They have a rubber shock sleeve so when dropped on the concrete floor, they still work. And off the top of a ladder. And down a flight of steel stairs. And likely many other things as well.

The short version is that if I had the space where a regular phone wouldn't reliably cover all areas, I would get one of these. No question about it. The thing that separates them from other manufacturer's phones is that they have tremendous range and have a toughness that's hard to beat. They simply are amazing. And I work with a lot of phones.

-kevin

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by RallyJon

One warning--even with an incredible line of sight range, ALL cordless phones get completely screwed up in stone houses. Walking around our house, if there are any two stone walls in between and there is no signal at all.

I agree. With all the new phones coming out they are getting higher and higher up the frequency range. This does absolutely nothing good for the signal range. In the situation you speak of, that old 900 mHz phone will probably work far better than your fancy new 5.8 gHz Talkalot. The reception QUALITY may be better with the higher frequency within a shorter range, but the range is much less.

The longer wave length will be able to reach a further distance. For example communication to submarines while they are UNDER water half way around the world is in the VLF (very low frequency) band from 10 to 30 kHz. Some of this band is actually audible by humans - most people can hear up to 12-14 kHz and your kids can likely hear higher than that. You would be able to hear the actual radio waves travelling through the water.

The higher frequency of newer phones allow better encription and call quality. Higher frequency = more 1s and 0s transferred which means more information.

-kevin