2.4 GHz vs 900 MHz Cordless Phones

[Garet Jax]

Hello all,

I am a little confused about the affects each of these technologies will have on a cordless phone.

I have been told that a 2.4 GHz phone will get a lot more range than a 900 MHz phone.

I have also been told that a 2.4 GHz phone is far less likely to experience interference from household appliances than the 900 MHz.

I have also been told that the 2.4 GHz vs 900 MHz technology does not affect the range of the phone at all. Instead the Digital Spread Spectrum technology is what gives phones added range over the regular 900 MHz phones.

Can someone help me to become a little less confused?

Thanks

 

[rival]

i duno, i just got a 2.4ghz panasonic phone the other day, its quite nice, but i duno why it has two antennas on the base...anyone?

 

[LakerGod]

bump...i'd like to know too

 

[RossMAN]

Definitely get a Panasonic 900MHz digital spread spectrum or Uniden or Toshiba from CostCo.

 

[vtqanh]

I haven't seen any major advantage of the 2.4 over the 900 so far. I don't think it's worth ur money getting a 2.4

 

[theknight571]

I had a panasonic 2.4GHz and a Panasonic 900 MHz.

The 2.4 was nice, but touchy. The 900 MHz is a tank, and sounds just as good, IMO, as the 2.4.

After the 2.4 crapped out (about 1 year) I bought the 900MHz because it was cheap and that's what my in-laws had been useing for several years and they loved it, so I figured I get one too.

It's still going strong after 1.5 years and after getting a couple of pretty good beatings. (A two year old will do that you know. )

I'm thinking of getting another to replace the upstairs corded phone.

My $0.02

- TK

 

[jdavis71]

the 900 is easily picked up on older and modified scanners, so I would go with the 2.4 just for privacy.

 

[glen]

I got a new GE 2.4 GHZ with headphone jack and caller ID for $50.
They are everywhere now.

 

[Garet Jax]

Hello all,

Thanks for all the replies. However, I don't think the original questions have been answered. Does any here have some insight into this topic? Thanks a bunch

 

[duke]

Aren't there differences in various 900MHz phones? Such as analog, digital, and digital spread-spectrum? Can someone who knows more shed some light?

 

[Doggiedog]

I just spoke with the CEO of Microtune yesterday. They make the tuners for most of the world's cordless phones and he tells me there is a new 2.4Ghz cordless phone upgrade coming out in March or April of next year.

The 2.4Ghz digital phones now use a pretty bad type of spread spectrum in which the frequency hop is linear. So eavesdropping is still doable. The new models have random frequency hops so it is near impossible to listen into. Also, they will be including bluetooth capability to enable cordless headsets to the phones. These phones will initially be priced at a premium but because the electronics in the phones are actually cheaper than the phones out now, the phones will rapidly come down in price despite the added features.

 

[kag]

I've been reading about cordless phones for the last 2-3 days too...

I think I got this all...

analog phones are the cheapest phones and they are more likely to interference because they use only 1 channel, and you can listen to the conversations with scanners

digital phones are also only using 1 channel, but the signal is scrambled so you can't spy with scanners. they have a greater range and quality than analog

dss (digital spread spectrum) are the best ones, they use more than 1 channel to send and receive data, so if a channel is noisy, it will pick a signal on a "clearer" channel... so you have even a better range/quality than the previous two phones

900 mhz vs. 2.4 ghz - it seems that the main reason why 2.4ghz is "better" than 900mhz is because the 2.4ghz frequency is less crowdy (used by other applications) than the 900mhz frequency... I just know that, for example, 900mhz dss are better than 2.4ghz analog/digital (non dss)

hope it helps

 

[IndyJaws]

<< i duno, i just got a 2.4ghz panasonic phone the other day, its quite nice, but i duno why it has two antennas on the base...anyone? >>



I used to sell these, so I can help you out there...

One antenna is for sending, the other is for receiving. The Panasonics actually use (or at least used to use) a combination 2.4 GHz/900 MHz system. IIRC, it was sent to the phone at 2.4 GHz and sent back to the base at 900 MHz. The reason they did this was that sending and receiving at 2.4 GHz would cause interference between the two "streams." They were actually able to get longer distance using the hybrid system, rather than a 100% 2.4 GHz setup.

900 MHz SS (Spread Spectrum) or 2.4 GHz are pretty even as far as quality is concerned. Both give you great sound and silly range. I was able to take my Panasonic 2.4 GHz about 9 blocks from home and it still worked. Of course, YMMV.