The wireless phone in my house finally died and I’m looking to replace it. I haven’t bought a new phone in a very long time and I’m completely out of touch with what is the best brand and such.
I picked up a Uniden phone at KMart the other day and I keep on hearing this noise like wind blowing in the background whenever I’m on the phone. Is this a problem with the phone, if so then what are some good brands to look for?
Generally speaking you want either a DECT 6.0 or 5.8Ghz phone. The 2.4Ghz jobbies suck because everything uses 2.4Ghz. But anyway, try switching the channel around, it could help.
I gave up on wireless and got wired phones for all my rooms. Ugly, but at least they’re clear.
Easy to pick models as well, since there are generally only one or two available at any store, and all are Chinese made junk.
My biggest beef with modern phones is the handsets are too small to be tucked between ear and shoulder. I realize the idea is supposed to be that you attach an ear piece accessory for the hands-free stuff, but how many people actually do that? I think my next house phone will be something retro.
I hear ya.
Yeah, barstein, I agree with you. The phones I have now are almost big enough to wedge them between your shoulder and ear but not quite, so it’s a crapshoot when you do it as to whether or not you’ll cut off the call or push random buttons.
In addition, one beef I have with current phones is small crappy keypads. I’m a big guy with big hands, plus my 84 year old mother in law lives with us. So teeny, un-lit, stupid RAZR like keypads are a no-no in my house (honestly does anyone NOT think the RAZR keypad is a piece of crap? Why on earth companies would imitate that horrible keypad is beyond me).
I got a nice Panasonic DECT 6.0 system about two months ago that I’m very happy with (after trying an AT&T one that provided crappy wireless connectivity for the remote handsets). I dunno if you need this many handsets but it came with the base and 3 handsets (2 black, one white) and was a package deal at Costco, so you should be able to find it if you look there. Wired sets don’t work well in my house because it’s old and rambly and has lots of interior walls that are brick and/or stone - so we have a couple of modular plugs but not any in a couple of key rooms. But this Panasonic works like a champ.
As for who actually uses a plug-in headset, my wife does, up at her computer. However, that phone rarely leaves her desk (she does it so she can have both hands free to do computer stuff and talking on the phone). For years we had a home phone (and I can’t find it now, sadly) which had a small keypad and a wireless headset (we got it so long ago that we called it “the Madonna phone”). It worked great but finally gave up the ghost. I’ve never found something else that’s cheap that worked (that phone was in the neighborhood of $70).
Go with DECT if at all possible. Beyond that, I have no preference I can recommend on brand. They all seem to fail equally.