blake@pro-party.cts.com (Blake Farenthold) (05/18/89)
With all the PhoneMate blasting going on I guess asking for digest readers help in selecting a cordless phone is appropriate. My wife has wanted a cordless phone for months now and I keep putting it off because I never met a cordless phone I liked. I have "sorta" been looking for one but havn't found one I loved. The newer AT&T phones seem to sound the best assuming you pick a channel that one of your neighbors is not using. There is a Sony that looks nice too (it automaticly scans for the cleanest channel). Any tips on what to look for? What to stay away from? Basicaly I'm not overly worried about price, I just want one that sounds good. Thanks! ______ UUCP: ...!crash!pnet01!pro-party!blake ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-party!blake@nosc.mil INET: blake@pro-party.cts.com Blake Farenthold | CIS: 70070,521 | Source: TCX023 P.O. Box 17442 | MCI: BFARENTHOLD | GEnie: BLAKE San Antonio, TX 78217 | BBS: 512/829-1027 | Delphi: BLAKE
940se@mather1.af.mil (Pete Brown) (05/22/89)
>From: Blake Farenthold <blake@pro-party.cts.com> >Subject: My Wife & a cordless phone > ... (deleted stuff)... >Any tips on what to look for? What to stay away from? Basicaly I'm not >overly worried about price, I just want one that sounds good. I had a bad experience with a UNIDEN cordless... non-user-replaceable batteries kept failing. I spent as much in shipping it back to South- ern California as I did to buy the thing! About a year ago, bought an AT&T 5200 which has worked like a charm: batteries ARE user-replaceable (but haven't needed to yet,) two channels which are user-selectable from the remote, excellent signal quality, a fully-charged battery lasts about a week, no spurious noises on the line (like the UNIDEN had!), no neighbors on the line, etc. The only problem I've encountered is this: the system generates one of 4096 "security codes" when you remove it from the charger/base on a "random" basis; on occasion, the handset has gotten out of sync with the base - and all control is lost until I cycle it through the base. All in all, I'm happy as a clam with the 5200, despite its being an AT&T product! :-) Good luck!
wws@bellcore.bellcore.com (W W Scott) (06/01/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0174m04@vector.dallas.tx.us>, 940se@mather1.af.mil (Pete Brown) writes: > >From: Blake Farenthold <blake@pro-party.cts.com> > >Subject: My Wife & a cordless phone > > > ... (deleted stuff)... > > >Any tips on what to look for? What to stay away from? Basicaly I'm not > >overly worried about price, I just want one that sounds good. We bought a Southwestern Bell Freedom Phone 1700 in January '88 and have been very pleased with it. The batteries are user-replaceable, it has 10 user-selectable channels, user-selectable security codes, a speaker phone on the base, you can dial from the base or the handset, and you can store up to 10 numbers in the handset for auto-dialing. I had a problem with interference from a baby monitor, so I just changed to a different channel and haven't had a problem since. The antenna is replaceable also. But to avoid having to replace a broken one, just go to Radio Shack and get a flexible antenna for about $5. That has saved me a lot of grief. My mom and both sisters have had lots of problems with the older ATT phones - the 4400 series. They give false rings, are prone to interference and they cut out a lot. Avoid them at all costs. Wayne Scott
carlson@gateway.mitre.org (Bruce Carlson) (06/02/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0170m06@vector.dallas.tx.us> blake@pro-party.cts.com writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 170, message 6 of 9 >With all the PhoneMate blasting going on I guess asking for digest readers >help in selecting a cordless phone is appropriate. >My wife has wanted a cordless phone for months now and I keep putting it off >because I never met a cordless phone I liked. I have "sorta" been looking for >one but havn't found one I loved. >The newer AT&T phones seem to sound the best assuming you pick a channel that >one of your neighbors is not using. There is a Sony that looks nice too (it >automaticly scans for the cleanest channel). >Any tips on what to look for? What to stay away from? Basicaly I'm not >overly worried about price, I just want one that sounds good. I bought an AT&T 5300 about 3 months ago and have been very pleased with it. The 5200 is very similar, but doesn't have the intercom feature and the 5310 adds a memory dialer and extra phone cradle to the 5300 features. At the local phone center I also saw a new 40xx series phone that has the looks (and supposedly the voice quality) of the 5xxx, but its cheaper. However, I can find the 5xxx models at a lot of stores and the new 40xx was only in the phone center, at straight list price. They also had the 5200 at a lease to buy price of about $20 a month for 6 months, but didn't offer several of the better models under the lease to buy program. My 5300 has very good voice quality and so far has been very durable. I dropped it twice on a ceramic tile floor and managed to break the antenna, but the shell and the electronics survived without any problems. The 5300 has a poor design for wall mounting because the line cord and AC cord end up on top and you have to route them down and around the phone base. The phone base needs its own wall mount (included) because it won't fit on a standard Bell wall mount (is this too much to expect?). The handset also doesn't catch very well in the cradle when wall mounted, which is why I have dropped mine twice while hanging it up. Based on quality I would buy another AT&T phone, but they could use a little more work on ergonomics and general design features. Bruce Carlson