2.4 GHz vs. 5.8 GHz Telephones ???

I can get a brand new 2.4 GHz Digital Spread Spectrum phone for about 25% of the cost of a similar feature 5.8 GHz Digital Spread Spectrum phone.

My question:

Does the 5.8 GHz DSS phone offer any enchanced security and privacy benefits to justify its extra cost?

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Biggest advantage; does not interfere with wi-fi wireless networks.

My microwave oven messes with my 2.4GHz phone if I'me within 5 feet.

Daniel

900 Mhz Digital phones are really the best, but the market is dead so all you can get there is crappy 900 Mhz A. That leaves 2.4 and 5.2. 2.4 is a *crowded* spectrum, and although your milage may vary, 2.4 has the potential to interfere with Wireless Networking (802.11b, 802.11g, Bluetooth) and also to get interference from your Microwave oven.

Invest in 5.2.

[ QUOTE ]
Saaby said:
900 Mhz Digital phones are really the best, but the market is dead so all you can get there is crappy 900 Mhz A. That leaves 2.4 and 5.2. 2.4 is a *crowded* spectrum, and although your milage may vary, 2.4 has the potential to interfere with Wireless Networking (802.11b, 802.11g, Bluetooth) and also to get interference from your Microwave oven.

Invest in 5.2.

[/ QUOTE ]


Sabby,

Don't you mean 5.8GHZ?

What Saaby said. The best cordless I've ever used (and still use) is a Toshiba 900MHz spread spectrum digital. I honestly can't remember ever getting noise on the line with that phone. Unfortunately Toshiba doesn't make phones any more, and, like Saaby said, they are rare nowadays.

Another vote for what Saaby said.

my 900mhz digital panasonic was the best phone with the best range I've ever had. I've owned 2.4ghz and gotten rid of them due to interfierence, and now have a very expensive 5.8 which is a piece of crapola with literally half the range of the old 900mhz.

900Mhz goes through walls and such much better too.

Unfortunately, I can't find that panasonic or anybody else is still making a digital 900mhz phone. (don't buy the elcheapo $15 dollar ones as they aren't digital and the reception is sub par at best) I'm going to go search around though.

(Hmmm, i guess now that I've said that the phone is crapola I won't be able to get away with selling it on BST here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif )


EDIT: got myself in such a tizzy over no 900mhz phones anymore that i decided to use panasonics feedback page to give them a piece of my mind /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) I don't often send crank emails, but I just sent this to panasonic:

[ QUOTE ]

Hello Panasonic. I was a happy owner of one your older digital 900mhz phones. I was very disappointed to see that you no longer make a digital 900 mhz phone! After finding that I couldn't replace it with a similar model when it died a few years ago, I began to experiment with 2.5 and 5.8 ghz models and they all, including your own models, were inferior to the 900mhz one. The 2.5 interfered with my wireless networks, the 5.8 have less than half the range of the 900 mhz models and the sound quality is not as good.

Please consider bringing back a superior product! Surely your marketing department can find a way to sell a superior product even if it doesn't have the latest buzzword number for ghz in the name!

thank you.


[/ QUOTE ]

Think I've made a difference? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif maybe not but I feel better!

Thanks for the info!

My NetGear 2.4 GHz wireless router knocked the snot out my my Panasonic 5.8 GHz base station when they were co-located. Moving the telphone base from sseveral feet away to twenty feet away solved the problem....harmonics....


Here's a link to a digital spread-spectrum 900 MHz phone:

AT&T 9450

Edited for spelling and URL

I just purchased a 2.4 GHz Video repeater (hook to digital cable box and send the signal to a bedroom for my in-laws)...

Of course, the 2.4 GHz portable phones stepped all over the video signal (some phone channels were worst than others). But I kind of expected that...

The frustrating thing though was to find that the phone base stations were broadcasting some sort of keep-a-live signal even when the phone sets were in the base station cradle. The only way to silence them was to kill the AC power to the base stations. And these were phones that were not even designed for use with multiple wireless hand sets (why broadcast when the phone is in the base station?).

So--beware, you may experience RF interference even when the phones are not in active use.

-Bill

I have a 900MHz Sony that I've had for 14 years and it still works great. It has interchangeable lead-acid batteries, so you charge one in the base station while using the other one in the phone, then switch them. I went outside one night with the phone and headed down the sidewalk. I got 400 feet away from my front door before having problems with reception.

A better idea is to get an analog phone so that your neighbors can more easily listen to it with a cheap Radio Shack scanner. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Lots of 900 DSS here in Toronto. Telephone Depot and others sell refurbished cheap. My Panasonic works great. Placing the base high up near the ceiling helps...

I use a Panasonic 2.4Ghz phone (7 handsets from one base) and find it's ergonomics and sound quality to be just great. I've not noticed any interferane with my 802.11B networking. They let me go anywhere on my property and the two next door neighbors too.

I use a 900 Mhz for transmitting video, and it's quite happy. 4 out of 5 DSS 900MHz phones stomped on the video. So did the Ricochet wireless network.

Get a set of the new Vtech ip 5825's and you can have both. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif The base transmits at ~5.8 and recieves at ~2.4 GHz. So far so good. Another thing is kinda' neat about them is that they use 3 AAA NiMH rechargeables. (100 bucks at bestbuy) That's a two handset system btw.

I used to love the old sony's with the lead-acid batteries, had about 3 models of them. When my last expensive one died I tried one of their newer models and the handset was HUGE. Didn't have enough volume either. Took it back and got a panasonic (900 MHz at the time?) From that went to the Vtech 900 MHz and then the 2.4's. (The one they had the "sexy" commercial for, hilarious.) Then a Uniden 5.8 GHz. No problems with any of them and all had spare battery charging except for the uniden and the panasonic.

I am really sorry if this is off topic:

I'm pissed... I have a wireless Network running in my house.. and I also have wireless phones.. There is a small problem, though... THEY ARE ON THE SAME FREQUENCY/BAND...

I cannot be online while talking on the phone.. Besides getting another phone/network... I think Im screwed.

-tom

CornKid, some 2.4ghz phones will work with 802.11, but i don't think there is anyway to tell ahead of time other than buy and try and return if necessary. There are almost certainly some web boards out there somewhere that are tracking various models and what works and what doesn't.

But I've avoided the whole problem by just skipping 2.4 and using only 900 or 5.8 phones. Considering that my home is my home office I need to be able to use both the phone and the internet at the same time /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was helping some friends setup a wireless network in their house a few months ago. It was hilarious. I had recommended a list of gear that they needed and they went out and got it all and while I was setting up I noticed that they had about a dozen 2.4ghz phones scattered all over the house. As soon as one would ring the network would disappear completely. And they spent a lot of time on the phone while I was there. Everytime the phone rang I had to stop working and wait for them to be done.

i told them not to get any more 2.4 phones as these died over the next few years /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif But they are not technical people, thats why i was there in the first place helping out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif and I doubt that my words sunk in... I'm just waiting for them to forget entirely what I mentioned about their phones and for them to call me up and ask why they can't be online when the phone is off the hook /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Yah.. I guess I will have to get some more phones..
-tom

Cornkid, you can go into your wireless configuration and change you channel. Im not sure if you can on a card but I know you can change it on the routers.

Gessner beat me to it. All 802.11b allow you to change the freq (channel) it uses.

Some phones choose a freq when they are first powered up. You may clear up your friend's network by powering off (unplug batteries if necessary) all the phones, then bringing them back online. They should see the network and choose a different channel.

Daniel

that might work, but it depends on the phone. Some are smart enough to avoid the network on startup, others are not and even if you get them on a different channel today, they may go back to the network one tomorrow. I know people that use both without too much difficulty, but I'm not on of them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif