dbb@fluke.UUCP (04/12/84)
[Feed a node, starve an article eater.]
Many thanks to all of you who responded with advice on cordless
phones. I haven't bought one yet, waiting for a good price on what
I would guess must be a high flexibility product. Following is a
summary, then the responses with contributors' names elided. Each
numbered item corresponds to a response.
1. Inadequate transceivers are the biggest problem. Stick with
name brands.
2. Freedom Phone 4000, bought at $199. No problems, good range.
Check out AT&T Nomad 800 (~$399) has voice scrambler, they think.
3. Phone-Mate Roam Phone IQ4220HS. Nice features (incl. "Clearline
Security"), 1000' range, good voice quality.
4. Talk and Tote, ~$70. So-so voice quality, but cordless is handy
enough to make it tolerable. Suggests looking at Consumer Reports.
5. net.consumers article re. battle with COSMO TIME CORP. DO NOT
BUY a Cosmo phone. Reinforces advice in reply #1. Since it was
posted here once, it's omitted below.
6. Phone-Mate. Works well. Had some interference with another
unit in neighborhood. Units share common frequencies, make sure
you can change frequency or have store do it.
7. Reposting of fa.telecom article about Kansas court decision that
cordless phone conversations are not private. Caveat communicator :-).
8. Mura Qwik 3.5, ~$32. Simple features, works OK.
(1)
The biggest problem with most cordless phones is that they have inadequate
transceivers. This causes the unit to drift in and out, to "sound
strange," to not work at all, or to pick up your neighbors phone calls
and not your own. Don't buy the generics or unknowns. They have even
more problems. Stick with the big names like the AT&T's Nomad series or
competitors equivalents and you'll be a lot happier in the long run.
(I know I work for AT&T but they sell good stuff. The phones may cost
more than you want to pay for them but that's a personal opinion.)
(2)
I own the Freedom Phone 4000 (same as AT&T's Nomad 1000) which uses
the higher frequencies (49Mhz) for both directions. I love it and
have had absolutely no problems. Seems to be good for far distances --
maybe a thousand feet or so. I paid $199.
You might look at AT&T's new nomad 800 which retails for $399. I hear
it has voice scrambling circuits so that no one can listen in on
your calls.
(3)
I played with over 10 in my home on trials before settling in on the
newest PhoneMate. It has "Clearline Security" and both pulse and touch-tone,
and a programmable channel so you can select channel without sending the
unit back. All models I tested before allowed me to hear my neighbors
conversation. (I presume they could hear mine also.) With this unit I
have heard no interference. It is the phone-mate Roam Phone IQ4220HS.
I don't really think their seperate transmitter, receiver, charger is
all that it is cracked up to be, but it doesn't hinder anything. The
range is the best of any. None, including this one goes 1,000 ', no
matter what they say. This one covers my yard without static, and so that
is what is important. People I talk to can not tell I am using a cordless.
I do hear a hissing sound though as I move my head to various positions.
The battery holds a charge only for about 4 hours. It really needs to
sit in it's cradle when you are not using it.
(4)
I have a "Talk and Tote" or "Tote and Talk" or some such. I paid about $90
for it; I've seen things that look equivalent for about $70 since then.
People tell me that "I sound better when I'm on my regular phone, but I'm
understandable on the cordless one". I find that there's a lot of
(shwsshshsh) background (hnnntutututut) noise on the them-to-me side of the
circuit, enough to make it hard for me to understand what they're saying,
(sometimes, it comes and goes alot. I suspect my refrigerator motor.)
and make me switch over to the real phone. But the cordless one is SO
HANDY! I LOVE it! I can chat with my girlfriend while doing the dishes,
taking out the garbage ("wait a minute, I'm getting (reeeeeeeeee) a little
to far from the house now").
I would suggest you INSIST on trying anything you're going to buy. I would
imagine any electronics store would generate enough 60-Hz hum to give a
good test. I seem to recall that CU said that most phones (and I think
mine, too) use radically different frequencies for the two directions. It
would seem that the one used for handset-to-base is good, and the other
direction is lousy. What this is all leading up to is that I think CU said
there were a few that used the good frequency range for both directions,
and said that these were better. I would tend to believe this.
Unfortunately, I also seem to remember that they were ~$300. Bummer.
(6)
I bought a Phone-Mate over a year ago. Chosen based
on reputation and the "feel" of the unit. A nice
feature allows additional remote units without having
to purchase another base. It also has a "fast" pulse dial
mode (20 pps) which means that it dials quickly enough
that you don't miss the lack of instant tone dial. And
you can punch the numbers faster than it is dialing without
confusing it.
We have experienced interference with another (neighborhood)
unit, but that was only for a few weeks. Those things share
common frequencies, so be sure you can either change freqs
or have faith that the store will help you.
Anyway, I'd give the Phone-Mate a high rating. It has worked well.
(7)
The following news article appeared recently in fa.telecom. Based on the
information below, I'd stay away from cordless phones.
a239 1443 24 Mar 84 AM-Phone Evidence,390 State Court Says Cordless
Phone Conversations Not Private By BILL VOGRIN Associated Press Writer
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Police can lawfully monitor and record
cordless telephone conversations heard over an ordinary FM radio and
use the recordings as evidence in court, the Kansas Supreme Court
ruled Saturday.
In overturning a Reno County District Court judge, the high court
decided that cordless telephone conversations are the equivalent of
oral communications and not subject to wiretap laws.
Attorney General Robert Stephan hailed the ruling as ''a great
decision for victims and for law enforcement.''
''The Supreme Court has obviously plowed new ground and, in my
opinion, they plowed the furrows straight and true,'' Stephan added.
The state Supreme Court sent the case - involving charges of
possession of cocaine and conspiracy to sell marijuana against Timothy
and Rosemarie Howard of Hutchinson - back to court for a new trial.
Justice David Prager, in writing the decision for the court, said,
''Owners of a cordless telephone located in a private residence who
had been fully advised by the owner's manual as to the nature of the
equipment, which involves the transmission and reception of FM radio
waves, had no reasonable expectation of privacy.''
In other words, the Howards had no valid expectation of privacy
when they decided to use a cordless telephone which was advertised as
having a range of 50 feet and is basically a radio unit.
Prosecutors alleged the Howards used their cordless telephone for
drug dealing.
The conversations, which Judge William F. Lyle ruled were
inadmissible as evidence, were recorded in 1982 after a neighbor of
the Howards picked them up while he was randomly tuning a standard
AM-FM radio.
The neighbor told police about the conversations and the Kansas
Bureau of Investigation provided a tape recorder and tapes and asked
the neighbor to record more communications.
A similar case is pending in Rhode Island, but is not expected to
be resolved until later this year.
During oral arguments before the court last month, Herbert R. Hess
Jr., attorney for the Howards, urged the court not to set an
''illogical precedent'' by allowing the use of the recorded
conversations.
He contended that what occurs in the privacy of the home is
protected constitutionally and statutorily and said a 1968 federal law
governing wiretaps applies in this case.
(8)
Last week I bought a Qwik 3.5 from a company called Mura. I had never
before heard of either, but I needed a cheap phone in a hurry. This
unit cost $32.XX at K-mart (sorry), and has the following other features:
o 7-foot cord
o Modular plug
o Switch-selectable pulse/tone dialing
o Switch-selectable ring loud/soft/off
o "Chirp" ring
o 10 registers, #1 through #9, and #0 == the last number called
o 16 digit memory for each register (can't remember # or *)
o mute button (actually *, mutes when there is a connection)
o one-piece construction (i.e. you can dial with one hand)
o hang up by placing on flat surface or in wall bracket
o key pad is on the side opposite the earpice and microphone
o 2-year limited warranty (I think it was 2 years)
o internal battery so that phone can be moved to another room
without losing registers
Misfeatures:
o "Loud" setting is not very loud, since power comes from phone line
o "Soft" setting is inaudible if there is a running refrigerator
in the room
o Doesn't fit the contour of my head as well as desk phones do
Hope this helps. Let me know what else you hear.
--
Dave Bartley John Fluke Mfg Co PO Box C9090 Everett,WA 98206 USA
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