Finding a phone that doesn’t suck
For some reason, it seems to be difficult to find a multiline cordless phone that doesn’t suck. What I want seems to be impossible to find:
- A cordless phone that isn’t 2.4 Ghz. Most of the idiots who designed these phones assumed they would be the only device using that spectrum, so they operate in a non-frequency hopping spread-spectrum manner. That means if you run 802.11 or Bluetooth in your house (and I dabble in both), your phone kills your wireless network. A few of the newer phones are actually designed with frequency hopping. I’d rather get a 900mhz or 5.8 ghz phone, but you can hardly find 900mhz phones anymore and 5.8 ghz phones are too damned expensive.
- 2 or more lines. Between my two POTS lines and my two VoIP lines, I really need a phone that can support 4 phone lines. I’ll settle for two since it seems the four-line phones are all corded and the four-line cordless phones are way more than I want to pay.
- No answering machine. Don’t want it, all my lines either already have an answering machine (one POTS) or don’t need it (Fax machine on other POTS, Voicemail on VoIP lines).
- Message Waiting Indicator. Most voicemail systems send a “signal” down the phone line to indicate a new voicemail has arrived. There are a couple of different methods for this (stutter tone and FSK, which I believe stands for Frequency Shift Keying). Both my VoIP lines are served by different Sipura devices, the services on those Sipuras have Voicemail, and the Sipura supports FSK and Stutter tone.
- Call waiting caller ID — most phones have this today, but a few don’t.
- Headset compatible
- Has a “mute” function</ul> I ended up buying the Panasonic KX-TG2267B phone. I’ll have to try some tests with WLAN and/or Bluetooth and see if I’ve totally hosed my WLAN/Bluetooth possibilities or not. I probably have.
- Headset compatible
- Call waiting caller ID — most phones have this today, but a few don’t.
- Message Waiting Indicator. Most voicemail systems send a “signal” down the phone line to indicate a new voicemail has arrived. There are a couple of different methods for this (stutter tone and FSK, which I believe stands for Frequency Shift Keying). Both my VoIP lines are served by different Sipura devices, the services on those Sipuras have Voicemail, and the Sipura supports FSK and Stutter tone.
- No answering machine. Don’t want it, all my lines either already have an answering machine (one POTS) or don’t need it (Fax machine on other POTS, Voicemail on VoIP lines).
- 2 or more lines. Between my two POTS lines and my two VoIP lines, I really need a phone that can support 4 phone lines. I’ll settle for two since it seems the four-line phones are all corded and the four-line cordless phones are way more than I want to pay.
