Cordless phones

[huisjen]

A few years ago, Katey and I wore out our cordless phone and had to replace it. Maybe wore out is the wrong term. Maybe we dropped it one time too many or the geese chewing on the antenna while we were talking had something to do with it. Anyway, we got new onse, which I still have. The old one had something like a quarter mile range. With the new ones, I can't step out of the far side of the house from the base station without it breaking up. I want to be able to walk around in the barn or garden or a few hundred feet into the woods and still be able to talk to someone. If I get an ear bud, I can even do something productive while I talk.

What current models work well for people? Katey's idea (used in the past) is to buy several, try them out, keep the winner, and return the losers. It seems a little rude to the retailers though.

Forget suggesting a cell phone. Reception around here is almost as bad as I have with my current cordless handsets.

Dan

[John Bell]

The only thing that's worked for me is to do like you do, that is buy two or three different ones and return the losers. The brand we've have the most luck with is Uniden.

[Mrleft8]

The best one I ever got was an el cheapo radio shack model.....Of course they stopped selling that one years ago.....Not cool enough....

[Dryer lint]

the best advice I have is get the base up as high as you can- the attic is a good place- even if you need to buy an extra base it will be worth it for the reception you get-

[Beowolf]

We bought a set of Panasonic cordless phones (5.9 GHZ) a couple of years ago. They work awesome. Crystal clear for as far as I've ever taken them. (In support of DL's post, our base has always been located in a 2nd floor bedroom). The only drawback to them is that they seem to go through batteries at a fast rate, about one per year, but at $25 a shot...:mad:

Jeff

[ishmael]

I'm on my second Uniden in five years. It won't go a quarter mile, but it will go to the mailbox, maybe sixty yards. I think I paid thirty bucks at Best Buy.

The first one just died. I tried new batteries, but no soap. One thing I really liked was that it had two handsets and two bases. Very handy.

Brother is always running out of battery when we talk. It's become a joke. He leaves the handset off the charger too much.

[Paul Pless]

Dan, do a google search for 'long range cordless telephones'. There are a number of manufacturers that offer phones for sale with ranges measured in miles. I think there's a limit by the FCC of something like 5 or 6 miles in the United States. We have a multi handset, multi line Uniden system at the kennel that we are pretty happy with. Its range is a little over a mile and a half.

[Tylerdurden]

I buy two of whatever is on sale at the time. Usually $10 at the big box. I have been known to throw phones from time to time. The last cell phone I owned myself is in deep blue water somewhere.
I hate the phone and just refuse to spend money on it.

If you don't have good cell coverage you can purchase a cell phone repeater. Or look for hi power cordless with seperate antennas.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CELL-PHONE-REPEATER-BOOSTER-WIRELESS-ANTENNA_W0QQitemZ270053199581QQihZ017QQcategoryZ46 68QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/SN-8310-Long-Range-Cordless-Phone-Telephone-2-Handset_W0QQitemZ150059746081QQihZ005QQcategoryZ33 932QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[paladin]

If you just need communications locally, not cellular, get a pair of FRS radio phones, the cheap ones, which will be at least 2-3 watts. You can get earmikes for them....
If you want cellular capability, get a pair of cell phones...they are only going to be 30-40 milliwatts at best, but with the lack of a close tower, you can use a in house repeater with an antenna on the roof...and should be able to work quite well 20 miles away....

[rbgarr]

We've got a Uniden base and three remotes and they work great.