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No change since the introduction of the touch
tone telephone has changed making
a call
from home as much as the cordless
telephone.
Cordless telephones have a base
piece that
plugs into your household outlets
just like
an ordinary phone and a handset
that can
look like anything from a walkie-talkie
to
a cell phone. When shopping for
a cordless
telephone, choose from these
important features:
- Transmission frequencies vary among 900 MHz,
2.4 GHz, and 5.8 GHz (older 43-50 MHz models
are disappearing). There is no difference
in sound quality though lower frequency analog
models tend to have somewhat shorter transmission
distances between the handset and the base
unit and are subject to more interference
as well as eavesdropping. Higher frequency
digital sets, especially those that use spread
spectrum encoding, suffer less interference,
offer a little bit more distance, and are
generally immune to eavesdropping.
- Some base stations allow extra handsets so
that any one of up to six telephone
handsets
can use the same telephone
connection. That
can be very handy for placing
telephones
in different rooms of your
home without having
to rewire the house with additional
telephone
outlets.
- The battery life of the handset is important
if you plan to leave the handset
on a table
or counter top away from the
base unit for
ease of use. One week of standby
operation
is typical; two weeks between
recharges at
the base unit are not uncommon.
Nickel-cadmium
batteries while cheaper to
replace may suffer
from high drain and the so-called
memory
effect that limits the amount
of charge the
battery can hold while nickel-metal
hydride
and lithium batteries are more
robust and
deliver more power for less
weight at greater
cost.
- Unlike regular telephones that are powered
by the telephone line itself,
cordless telephones
require an electrical outlet
and will not
work if the power fails. A
backup battery
in the base unit will supply
power so your
cordless telephone continues
to work in an
emergency when the lights in
your house are
out.
Consider built-in extras like
a speakerphone
for sharing a conversation with
a group,
an answering machine for capturing
missed
calls, dual line units if you
run a business
at home, and handset to handset
intercom
for talking to separated members
of your
family in the house. |
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