We bought a Uniden TRU5885-2 5.8 GHz cordless phone yesterday.
For the past couple of years we’ve been using a 2.4 GHz phone and have been suffering from interference with our 802.11b Wi-Fi home network. Picking up a phone call would sometimes disrupt the wireless Internet connection and our SSH sessions would terminate. When our old phone finally started to show its age (intermittently would fail to get a dialtone), we decided to try something new as a replacement.
Like most 5.8 GHz phones, the Uniden TRU5885-2 is pricier than comparable 2.4 GHz or 900 MHz models. But it’s got a much greater range throughout the house, and more importantly, it co-exists with our wireless Internet.
This model in particular has an absurdly large number of features. Aside from standard stuff like Caller ID and an integrated digital answering machine, this model gives you a good-sounding speakerphone in the base, and an extra handset. But wait, there’s more! Each handset itself can act as a speakerphone. 3 different speakerphones? Wow.
Sound quality is very crisp. It almost sounds like a wired phone. Plus, each phone has an orange backlight. You’ll see an eerie but beautiful glow when you hit any key on the keypad.
The only drawback we’ve found: you can’t use both handsets simultaneously. There’s only one base station, and apparently only one handset can speak to it at a time. There’s a nifty transfer feature that lets you put the call on hold and pick it up on the other handset, but that’s not the same as being able to have two people on the line at the same time (when we’re talking to our families, for example).
Please post updates as to how the phones do over time!
Seems like most of the digital/2.4ghz phones have this problem–both of the ones I’ve bought have had this issue.
Although, one of them allows you to ‘add’ the second handset to the conversation, with a thoroughly cryptic sequence of keypresses… you essentially have to “call” the other handset from the first, and “invite” them to join. And of course you must know the *ID* of the other one (single digit). You might get this down pat with 2 handsets (write the number on yours, call the opposite) but what about 3+? It stupid.
Someone has to figure this out. It’s like you buy a shiny new hi tech toy that can’t do what the phone your parents rented from Ma Bell for $1/month could do forever, effortlessly. 🙁