Cordless Phones

I had recently just bought a new cordless phone and wondered how far they can go. The test I made was suppose to see if my new 2.4ghz phone has better range than my 900mhz.

Phones used:
GE Model 26930GE1


900 mhz analogue

Purchased 5 years ago at Wal-Mart for 50$ 2.4 ghz phones were just comming out at that time.


Panasonic Model KX-TG2420


2.4ghz Digital-Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum

Purchased on "Black Saturday" on sale for 30$ at Wal-Mart

Test Setup:

To be fair, I did an "opened air test" outside. I ran extension cords and phone cords out to my driveway for both base stations which I located in the same spot. I chosed a path where I could keep a line of sight with the base stations.

From there, it was turn the phones on and walk up the street until the phones beep "out of range"


Results:

The GE phone was better than I had expected. I walked all the way to the end of the block (about 400 feet) before I ran out of range. The Panasonic was able to go about 50 feet farther than that. However, it dosen't really do too much justice. About 200 feet away from the base, I already heard static on the GE while the Panasonic was clear to where the GE ran out of range then I started hearing popping sounds for the last few feet.

I don't own or have access to a 5.8 ghz phone yet so I am not able to test that. For a more complete review, I'll probably have to try 2.4 analogue vs 2.4 DSS and different brands as well. I'll even throw in an old 49mhz phone if I could find one.


What kind or brand of phones do you have and what range do you experience?

Re: Fun with Cordless Phones

yuandrew said:

What kind or brand of phones do you have and what range do you experience?

Click to expand...

I only have a cell phone (well, it IS cordless). I get really good range out of it.

I have an older Panasonic 900 mhz and it reaches my car which is maybe 200 feet away and that is far enough for me. The caller ID display is kind of shot but I hold on to the phone because I hear and read the 900 mhz phones sound better then the higher frequency ones.

Cool test... I have an older Panasonic 2.4ghz one that I love. The only bad thing is that you can hear the microwave "talking" every now and then.

-Mike

Get rid of your 900Mhz phones, any scanner bought in radioshack can monitor YOUR calls! Trust me.

Sure scanners can monitor 2.4Ghz also, but these scanners are FAR LESS common.

Take it from PSM, get rid of them 900Mhz phones! :lolsign:

-PSM

PoliceScannerMan know about Scanners!

is there any why to know if your being scanned?
i have 900 in the livingroom and 5.8 in my bedroom

my 5.8 is GE it's crappy
GE and Bell phones suck..

Uniden & VTech are good!

I have an old Sony that is pre-900MHz, bought in 1991. First I bought a cheaper Sony, but it had trouble talking to the base unit even when in the same room so I took it back and exchanged it. The one I ended up with has a small lead-acid battery. It comes with 2 batteries and has a slot in the base unit to recharge the spare. When it runs down you can just swap batteries and keep going. You don't have to put the phone on the base unit to charge it, so we keep the base unit out of the way in a spare bedroom.

Real quickly I discovered that this phone had pretty good performance, so I walked out my front door and headed down the sidewalk. I got about 400' away before I had problems talking, and this was with the base unit in the house. I've had the phone for a little over 14 years and it still works well. I had to replace one of the batteries with one from Batteries Plus but otherwise no problems.

I've owned *lots* of cordless phones, but the best by far was a 900mHz DSS Panasonic "flip" phone, circa 1996. I could go nearly 1/4 mile down the road before I lost the base. I'd be 6 houses down the road at a neighbors with no issues receiving calls as though I were sitting in my own living room. Of course, they no longer make that model now.

This ever increasing frequency game is nothing more than marketing BS in my (educated) opinion. Like lots of other newer consumer electronics, the new stuff is not nearly as good as the older equipment. Seems like all the latest phones are all bells and whistles with no *balls*. That said, I've always had the best results with Panasonic cordless phones.

As far as being "scanned" I don't think you really need to worry unless you are talking on an *analog* phone, be it 49, 900, 2.4, etc,

Peter

scanners can not listen to digital spread spectrum 900 mhz phones.

my 900 mhz digital spread spectrum phone has enough range that I can walk to my moms house and it still works great.

my mom lives 2 minutes away at walking speed.

nemul said:

<<snip...is there any why to know if your being scanned?
...snip>>

Click to expand...

YES.

You can setup the listener/scanner person by carrying on a BOGUS conversation and "make up" something like:

I placed a metal box of cash containing $$$... etc,,, it is buried at bla bla bla's backyard next to a tree.

Then see who goes looking for the cash.

You wont know for SURE... but who would not be tempted to find that cash:devil:

This is the oldest trick in the book. When I was installing simple inversion scramblers for small city/county law enforcement radios, the Sheriff wanted to see if someone had "unscrambled" the audio ILLEGALLY. So he asked the same question; I told him to send out a bogus dispatch call and see who showed up, as he knew the locals with scanners.

I currently own 3 Panasonic 2.4 DSS phones. I recently purchased a Panasonic 5.8 and have to say the 2.4's have a considerably longer range than the 5.8's. My findings were 5.8's generally had only about 65 to 70% of the range 2.4's did. I returned the 5.8 Panny.

Yeah, it seems like many 2.4 phones can get "messed up" by microwaves. I tried using the phone while the microwave was running (standing right next to the unit) and the phone acted like it was running out of range but moving further away from the oven took care of it.

markdi said:

scanners can not listen to digital spread spectrum 900 mhz phones.

Click to expand...

Cool, never heard of those phones before, so this is correct. The only digital signals a scanner can pick up is APCO Project 25 digital signals, if your scanner is digital capable. (This only refers to the typical Uniden/RadioShack (GRE) type scanners.

When I was a newbie at scanning, I would listen to my neighbors on there 900 phones. Yes I know its illegal. If they block out cellular, why not block out 900-927Mhz also??? BTW Cellular is mostly digital now and cant be scanned, however two of my scanners can scan analog Cellular, I dont listen to those bands, but theres a lot of analog cell in my area.

And those who think the cell phone is safe, when your digital carriers get full at say, 5PM, you get bumped to analog, and the calls come in clear on the scanner as your phone!
I'm just telling you all this just to let you know.

I promise you this though, no matter what signal it is out there, there is a way to scan it.... :devil:

-PSM

We had a DSS 900mhz that we finally chucked when we couldn't find a replacement battery. Bought a 2.4Ghz phone (Motorola I think) and it was terrible. Wouldn't work from one end of our apartment to the other. Tons of interference. Took that back and bought a 5.8 ghz phone that works fine but the audio is awfully tinny (not sure if that's because of the phone or the frequency).