Return-Path: Received: from gln.fac.cs.cmu.edu by K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa09586; 17 Apr 92 9:17:06 EDT Received: from gln.fac.cs.cmu.edu by GLN.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU id aa12543; 17 Apr 92 9:16:33 EDT To: bovik@CS.CMU.EDU Subject: cordless phone recommendations Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 09:16:20 -0400 Message-ID: <12541.703516580@GLN.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU> From: Gail_Newton@GLN.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU Dear Mr. Bovik, Included below are the results of my solicitation for recommendations on cordless phones. This information along with my Consumer Reports references were of great help. I ended up purchasing an AT&T 5450 -- hopefully it will live up to it's recommendation :-) One plus with the AT&T's is that there is an AT&T store at Century III -- so if there is a problem with the phone, I can take it there... -Gail --------- To: gln+@GLN.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: cordless phone recommendation? Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 14:07:41 EDT From: chandhok@GNOME.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: chandhok@GNOME.CS.CMU.EDU We have one of the Sony ones. I like the fact that you get two batteries, and swap them to keep a charged on in the handset. I also like the way it stands up. It has good sound quality also. Rob --------- Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 14:26-EDT From: Robert.Frederking@DHAKA.MT.CS.CMU.EDU To: Gail Newton Subject: Re: cordless phone recommendation? Message-Id: <703362376/ref@DHAKA.MT.CS.CMU.EDU> In-Reply-To: Gail Newton's bboard message of 15-Apr-92 13:03 Remember that anything you say on a cordless phone can be intercepted by someone with the right receiver. Bob --------- To: gln+@GLN.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: cordless phone recommendation? Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 15:04:29 EDT From: pane@GNOME.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: pane@GNOME.CS.CMU.EDU Hi Gail, I just bought a Panasonic KVX-T3910, and it is awesome. It is one with a speaker-phone and dialing pad on the base unit, as well as the portable unit. Consumer's Reports rated it well recently. It costed $138 at Service Merchandise. I replaced an earlier model, the Panasonic KVX-T3900, which was also an excellent phone. But it had a quirk that I didn't want to deal with any more. Occassionally (about twice a month on average) it forgot its four digit "security code" which meant that I had to re-program it in order to use the phone. Also, sometimes it would go dead, tying up the line. I had to unplug it and replug it in to fix it. It happened more often in winter so I suspect that it was susceptable to static electricity. Neither of these things have happened with the new one (yet). Anyway, if you want to buy my old one I can give you a good deal. John --------- To: gail.newton@CS.CMU.EDU Subject: cordless phones Return-Receipt-To: davide@b.gp.cs.cmu.edu Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 15:26:44 -0400 From: David_Eckhardt@ROBIN.WARP.CS.CMU.EDU AT&T 5000 series. I've never seen a cordless phone I'd trade mine away for. A previous housemate of mine left his out in a thunderstorm (face up). We took it apart, shook most of the water out, brushed a bit of corrosion off the microprocessor contacts, and it worked. This was about two years ago, and the phone still works. Dave ---------- To: Gail Newton (gln) Subject: cordless telephone Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 17:31:18 -0400 Message-ID: <5690.703373478@RUDY.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU> From: Rudy_Nedved@RUDY.FAC.CS.CMU.EDU Gail, I spent about 2 months looking at cordless telephones. The primary features needed was 10-channel selection, "cordless sound quality" and over all things a "flash" button for using features like call waiting. The result was I ended up looking at the Sony and the Southwestern Bell. The AT&T jobs did not have 10-channel selection. The PACBELL ones did not have any of the reall good noise handling stuff and everyone else had problems like lack of security, random base ringing and lousy sound. I purchased a middle-priced southwestern bell phone because the salesmen convinced me that it had the flash and the 10-channel selection. It turned out it did not have the flash and the 10-channel selection had to be done by taking apart the phone and the base and setting a new channel. When I went back in early December, the high end southwestern bells were gone so I bought the Sony high end. I love it. When I am in a semi-private conversation or I am getting noise, I press the channel button and it scans all channels (minus the one you are on) and picks the first one higher up that is unused and has an okay interference level. It has a flash button which to my dismay, my wife never uses...she presses the talk button on, off, on. Having the phone not have a place in the base is no big deal except if you lose it. Not having a phone builtin to the base is only neccessary when yo lose the cordless phone and do not have ring on...otherwise you simply page the cordless phone and go hunting. In the previous months leading up to the purchase, many times I asked people over trash-can or noisy connections if they were only a cordless phone...they usually said yes. The recomendations about communications in the Consumer Reports was dead on....It is more important to sound good (good base reception) and hear badly (weak handset reception) and not have any ring (weak handset reception) then anything else....especially in business. Oh..we have never had any calls stolen. We did have someone listen in during the middle of a conversationa and actual talk. As soon as that happened, my wife hit the channel button and the probelm was resolved. To bad it can not tell you when someone is transmitting after you get the channel selected.... -Rudy ----------- To: Gail Newton Subject: Re: cordless phone recommendation? Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 17:55:20 EDT From: bobw@WHEELER.MACH.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: bobw@WHEELER.MACH.CS.CMU.EDU Don't buy a General Electric, I spent $125 for it and it has never really worked well. My next on will be AT&T. They do seem to know how to do telephones. -bob ---------- Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 18:10:15 EDT From: Ekkehard.Rohwedder@D.ERGO.CS.CMU.EDU To: gail.newton@CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: cordless phone recommendation? Gail -- I happened to see an article today on misc.consumers, maybe it is of help. Myself I do not have a cordless phone. I tried one out a while back: it was, I believe, a black phone that could be switched between two different channels or so, and it was made by Pacific Bell: it would give spurious rings during the night - which might have been due to other cordless phones in the neighborhood. We brought it back and never considered a cordless phone again. (Thus make sure you can easily return any phone you buy.) When you get a cordless phone also keep in mind that practically anyone who wants to can listen in on your conversations. -- Ekkehard Below is the article from misc.consumers: Article 51967 of misc.consumers: Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!rutgers!usc!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!yale.edu!think.com!mips!mips!munnari.oz.au!uunet!rufus!corvair.almaden.ibm.com!ebm From: ebm@corvair.almaden.ibm.com (Eli Messinger) Newsgroups: misc.consumers Subject: Cordless Phone Recommendations: Summary Message-ID: <1643@rufus.UUCP> Date: 15 Apr 92 06:28:25 GMT Sender: news@rufus.UUCP Reply-To: ebm@almaden.ibm.com Organization: Pandora's Box Lines: 51 Nntp-Posting-Host: corvair.almaden.ibm.com A few weeks ago I solicited recommendations for cordless phones. My primary requirement was to find a phone with optimal sound. Features and price were secondary considerations. Here is a summary of what was recommended: Sony (No specific model #) Two different people said that people they knew had Sony phones they were happy with. Panasonic (No specific model #) The people who mentioned Panasonic all seemed moderately impressed, but not wildly enthusiastic. Two people mentioned that the metal telescoping antenna is prone to being broken. AT&T 5200/5400/5600 These are three models of basically the same phone. The 5400 has 10 channels (the 5200 has 2?), and the 5600 has an integrated answering machine. These phones received several votes and generally high praise from those who own them. Motorola All the regular bells and whistles (auto scanning across 10 channels, two-way paging, etc.), plus it is small enough to carry in a shirt pocket, has an illuminated key pad, a very long battery life *and* it has scrambling between the handset and the base. The downside is that Motorla is apparently not marketing these through any/many retail outlets yet. Sears Business Systems is supposed to be getting them soon. Motorola is apparently working on ramping up production. In the end I was really intrigued by the Motorola phones, but was unable to find them locally. I shopped around and looked at various AT&T and Sony models, and ended up buying a Sony SPP-170. This is a 10-channel phone with autoscan, and a bunch of other handy features (autodial buttons, a speakerphone in the base, a dual battery system that doesn't require the handset being placed on the base for charging, two-way paging, a rubberized antenna, and so on.) While it sounds exactly like a corded phone from my end, people I talk to can still tell it's a cordless. In normal range (inside my house) I don't hear any interference at all. Walking around outside it sometimes beeps to tell me I'm going out of range. Thanks to Gunnar Blix, Michael Polen, Steve Casagrande, Dave Poulsen, Alan Newman, David Eastwood, and Eric G. Elvira for their help. -- "Phish is good." --James Treworgy, March 18, 1992 CSNET: ebm@almaden.ibm.com / UUNET: ...!uunet!almaden.ibm.com!ebm ----------- To: Gail Newton Subject: Re: cordless phone recommendation? Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 12:45:55 EDT From: tjonker@GS63.SP.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: tjonker@GS63.SP.CS.CMU.EDU The AT+T models with "Clarity Plus" have fabulous sound quality, and very good range to boot. My parents have one and it sounds noticably better (even long-distance) than their other expensive corded phones. A friend of mine has a Sony, which sounds nowhere near as good, and has rather poor range and a lot of interference. I'd highly recommend the AT+T's. I dunno about the cheaper models, though. Clarity Plus models are somewhat more expensive, but well worth it. -- Todd