New Cordless Phone Woes

Posts: 249 · Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:10 am Post subject: New Cordless Phone Woes

I thought I'd expand my Vonage lines by installing a pair of cordless phones to replace the single cordless Radio Shack 900 Meg phone I'm using. I have no problems with the Radio Shack phone except I don't hear it ring unless I'm in the Log Room.

I purchased a pair of Uniden DXI 5586-2 phones from town, charged them the required 20 hours and plugged them in. Not Good! Either phone works fine in the Log Room where my computer is. Fifty feet away in another room their full of static and scratchy. Volume goes low and they cut in and out. I tried plugging my land line into them and they work just fine! I went back to my old Radio Shack phone and Vonage talks just fine in any room in the house and even outside.

Waited a day and tried again with the same result.

Anybody got any ideas?? What is the suggested optimum frequency for cordless phones on Vonage if their is one? The cordless phone base is a good 10 feet from my phone adapter and computer.

Thanks,

Edit: I forgot to mention in the original post that the new Uniden phones operate at 5.8 Gig. TT

Posts: 199 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 26, 2005 Posts: 199

You might try the 8865-2. I've been very happy and these have a long list of features.

You can get a smaller system package at Costco (two handsets, 8860-2) for $69. I paid $108 for a sale on the 8865-2 at Circuit City.

Both systems are 5.8Ghz.

Posts: 25 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Apr 27, 2005 Posts: 25

SBMongoos wrote:

You might try the 8865-2. I've been very happy and these have a long list of features.

You can get a smaller system package at Costco (two handsets, 8860-2) for $69. I paid $108 for a sale on the 8865-2 at Circuit City.

Both systems are 5.8Ghz.

I have the Uniden 8860-2 ($70 from Costco - what a steal!!!) and it works great with Vonage and my wireless G router (dlink 624).

Posts: 249 · Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 6:07 pm Post subject: Phone Woes

Quote:

I have the Uniden 8860-2 ($70 from Costco - what a steal!!!) and it works great with Vonage and my wireless G router (dlink 624).

What frequency do these operate at Kendolin? I have a hunch that my problems center around the 2.8GHZ the new phones have. The old 900 Mhz worked fine. I can't figure though why they would be OK on the landline and only act up on Vonage.
Thanks,

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 26, 2005 Posts: 3

If I bought two of the 8860-2 sets at costco, can they be used as a single 4-handset system or will the second base station get in the way? That is, is there any way to make one of the base stations act just like a charger and not register the phone you put in it?

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:40 am Post subject: Re: Phone Woes

OldSnipe wrote:

I can't figure though why they would be OK on the landline and only act up on Vonage.
Thanks,

I wonder if it is the Vonage analog phone line that is the problem, or just that an Internet call is in progress. I am assuming here that you have a wireless network, the thing I can't figure out is why your wireless traffic would increase unless you had connected your adapter wirelessly.

The test would, of course, be to connect the cordless phones to your POTS line and listen for static while playing a recording across your Vonage line.

Posts: 249 · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 8:59 am Post subject: New Phone Woes Concluded

Quote:

wonder if it is the Vonage analog phone line that is the problem, or just that an Internet call is in progress. I am assuming here that you have a wireless network, the thing I can't figure out is why your wireless traffic would increase unless you had connected your adapter wirelessly.

My three computers are all hard wired to the router. There all in the same room we use for an office so there was no advantage to the extra expense of a wireless network plus at the time I installed the network wireless was not well developed. My wife has one computer and I the second. The third computer is one I "built" from knock-about parts for a standby. It is seldom fired up. The sound system on #3, however is always on.

I noticed the other day they were buzzing a 60 Cy. hum very faintly so I unplugged them. Since then the Uniden phone worked flawlessly. Odd since the cordless phone is a good 6 feet from the computer sound amp. It must emanate a strong rf field with a harmonic in the ghz range! Why, without moving the cordless phone but substituting the landline they worked flawless is a puzzlement Question

Perhaps the line leading from the telephone cachinkus to the phone was acting as an antenna? I'll never know because I laid the #3 computer audio to rest in the trash can. The rest of the computer will follow as soon as I have time to pull it out and remove the hard drive. It's need is past. as I have both a RAID array and a external HD in my present computer.

Thanks for your thoughts. Sorry I did not get around to posting closure on this.

Posts: 1424 · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:21 am Post subject: Re: New Phone Woes Concluded

OldSnipe wrote:

[ Why, without moving the cordless phone but substituting the landline they worked flawless is a puzzlement Question

Perhaps the line leading from the telephone cachinkus to the phone was acting as an antenna?

Thanks for the update. I wonder if your problems were a result of your Vonage phone line not being grounded whereas landlines are typically grounded at the NID.