Comparing Cordless Phone Features - What Do You Really Need?

When you compare cordless telephones, do you know what to look for? There are many models on the market each with a feature list as long as your arm. In this article, I'll try to make some sense of it all by summarizing each of the main cordless phone features on offer today.

Is Your Cordless Phone System Expandable?

A basic cordless telephone system consists of the base unit and handset. The base unit plugs into the phone jack in the wall and normally provides battery charging for the handset.

An expandable system allows you to add more handsets to the same system. The handsets all share the same phone line for making and receiving calls but can each be used interchangeably. Each handset normally comes with its own charger which must be plugged into a power outlet, but beyond that, they can be placed anywhere you like.

And that is the advantage of such a system. You can place phones anywhere you like without having to run phone cables all over the house.

Multi-handset cordless phones normally have other features which can be of benefit as well. Line-in-use indicators let you know when someone is already using the phone (no more abuse from your teenage daughter for breaking in on one of her calls) and home intercom capability are a couple of the features which are worthwhile.

Speakerphone

The speakerphone feature allows you to use either the base unit or the handset (or sometimes both) in hands free mode. This can be very useful.

I don't know how many times I've been placed in a call queue when trying to contact a utility company (or the phone company, ironically) and been able to take advantage of the speakerphone by continuing on with other important tasks while I wait for them to get around to taking my call.

Another use for speakerphone is for group discussions (conference calling) like when the family all want to talk to Grandma for her birthday.

Answering Machine

Some cordless phones have an answering machine built into the base unit. Without going into all of the functions available in an answering machine, the main benefit is the space saved. By just having the one unit, you have a smaller overall footprint (freeing up space for all of the other electronic devices which you no doubt share your home with).

Frequency

A discussion of the frequency which cordless phones transmit and receive at is a whole article in itself. Rather than bore you with that here, I'll just quickly go through the 3 main frequencies.

DECT 6.0 cordless phones use the latest technology. It provides the best range (ie. distance between handset and base unit) and sound quality and is designed to be more secure as well. At the risk of causing confusion, I'll also point out that DECT 6.0 phones use a frequency of 1.9 GHz.

5.8 GHz cordless phones provide the next best performance in terms of range and sound quality.

2.4 GHz phones are becoming less popular now. The biggest drawback is the potential for these models to interfere with other electronic devices around the home, in particular wireless networks.

Skype/VOIP Cordless Phones

Skype is is probably the most popular service providing cheap (or free) voice-over-ip (VOIP) calls using the internet. Some cordless phones now allow you to make Skype calls without needing to use your computer, in addition to being able to use you landline to make and receive calls. If you're a Skype user, then this might be a handy feature to have.

Bluetooth

The last feature I'm going to cover is Bluetooth connectivity. If your cell phone is bluetooth enabled, you'll be able to connect it up to your cordless phone system so that you can make cellular calls on any of your hansets while you're at home.