A bright spot in the economy these days seems to be the relative strength of small business. We continue to field a lot of requests for the best 2 line cordless phones. Most are searching out the best 2-line DECT 6.0 (1.9GHz) model. Because not one of the four available 2-line DECT 6.0 cordless phones works for everyone, we felt that it might be valuable to lay out the differences.

Philips SE6591B -

• Pros: Good sound quality, solid build quality/reliable, one of the best color displays we’ve seen
• Cons: Delay when keying in numbers; Call transfer requires an extra step; Music-on-hold can be annoying and cannot be adjusted

Panasonic KX-TG9391T / KX-TG9392T -

• Pros: Good sound quality, reliable, cool features (ex. lower volume of annoying call waiting tone)
• Cons: Volume can’t be turned up that loud (not great for louder environments), average display, keys quality is average

RCA 25250RE1 / 25210RE1 -

• Pros: Long Range, Long Range and Long Range (the longest range off the shelf model we’ve tested)
• Cons: Average to less-than Average voice quality, Average Build quality, Cannot use a standard headset with it (only the RCA headset is recommend but it doesn’t seem to available on the market)

Verizon V500AM-2 -

• Pros: Solid sound quality including good speakerphone, solid build quality
• Cons: Some key delay (though not as much as Philips)

Most of us won’t be seeing bailout money anytime soon, so it makes sense that we at least make an attempt to stretch the home budget. If you phone is on the fritz, a dead cordless phone battery is the most likely cause. Depending on how long you’ve had your cordless phone, locating a cordless phone battery may be a daunting task. In the last couple of years, some of the manufacturers have been kind enough to use AA or AAA rechargeables, which makes life a whole lot easier…and cheaper.

If the phone you use has an antenna that you pull out of the handset (you know the classics I’m talking about), your battery search may just be too daunting or expensive. If it’s relatively new (in the last 4-5 years), you may have an expandable model. In that case, you may find more value in replacing the cordless handset. When all else fails, the prices on cheap cordless phones (inexpensive DECT 6.0 models, not cheap junk) have dropped dramatically.

Though 2.4ghz and cordless 5.8 ghz phones have been around for a while, we’re baffled that these phones continue to be requested. With the competitive pricing of DECT 6.0 (1.9ghz) in this down economy and the widely number of available models, there really is no reason to consider a 2.4 ghz cordless phone or 5.8 model. DECT 6.0 solves voice quality deficit and ranges issues that either of the 2.4ghz or 5.8ghz frequency phones have had challenges with. Ultimately, our DECT 6.0 cordless phone customers have a much lower return rate, which leads us to believe that customer satisfaction is higher with DECT.

It’s another sign of the times. Announced last week, Thomson SA (the company behind the GE and RCA branded corded and cordless phones) will be shutting down it’s U.S. retail telephone unit. Though GE Phones are typically thought of as the “discount phone”, they have produced some genuine innovations in 2008 and it’ll be sorry to see them leave the market. Despite a drop in overall sales, the RCA 2-Line DECT 6.0 25250RE1 continues to be a popular 2-line cordless phone. Look for Uniden, Panasonic and others to scramble to grab whatever market share they can with this departure.

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PARIS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - French media technology group Thomson SA said on Wednesday that it would close its loss-making retail telephone business in North America in a bid to bolster profitability.

The business, which is part of Thomson Grass Valley unit, and sells mainly DECT telephones to retailers in North America, will be shut down.

“We have started a process under which this business in North America will be halted,” a company spokeswoman said.

The North American retail telephony business had around 135 million euros in revenue in 2008, down 18 percent from 2007 and is expected to show an operating loss of over 20 million euros in the current year, the statement said.

At Cordless Workz, we’re always doing our best to promote the advantages of DECT 6.0, so it does come at a bit of a surprise that our customers continue to be pleased with the all-in-one 2.4 ghz GE Cordless Clock Radio Phone. Much like the convenience of having an additional TV in the bedroom, the concept of saving space on the nightstand with a clock radio that combines a cordless phone is a really attractive feature to many consumers…so much so, that the most consumers are willing to sacrifice the phone quality a bit in the bedroom. Interestingly, we also do not hear many complaints about 2.4 ghz interference with home routers. Our only guess here is that most may keep their pc routers far enough away from the bedroom for it to be much of an interference issue. Overall, this unique cordless phone-alarm clock-radio is a reliable choice if you’d like to make some additional room on the nightstand.

The ChatterVox continues to lead the pack in portable voice amplifiers. Teachers, coaches, trainers, tour guides and individuals that require speech enhancement have been providing us with their positive stories since we started with this amplifier. For clarity at a loud volume, the ChatterVox is difficult to beat and the choice of microphones (headset, collar, pencil or transdermal) gives a user a lot of flexibility based on comfort or usage.

In the last 6 months, we’ve seen other portable voice amplifiers released, specifically “digital” models that may be more suitable for specific uses. The Voista and the Sorin are two of the higher quality digital models that have been released. Small physical size, a lighter weight, and very long battery life are some of the key reasons our customers choose either of these digital voice amplifiers. For those with voice loss due to a health condition, the JustAmp is unique digital amplifier that effectively amplifies a whisper by virtually eliminating air rush noise.

Well, Philips and Verizon got caught a bit flat footed here. Panasonic actually beat their rumored release of their new 2-line KX-TG9391T DECT 6.0 phone by about a month. We’ll have more info once tested, but we expect more of the same from Panasonic….quality sounding voice, reliable, and easy to use. We’re hopeful that range is a bit longer than some of their 1-line DECT 6.0 models (range should be good, but you expect better than good from Panasonic). Verizon & Philips should provide more 2-line DECT 6.0 competition soon…

For all the crazy phones that have hit the market that do everything from smell funny, take pictures and allow you to pay for a soda, it’s refreshing to see a phone company get back to the basics. The Jitterbug clearly has a very targeted market. The post-boomer, loss of hearing, loss of dexterity, and possibly loss of some sight market will really appreciate this phone/service. The sound quality is among the best we’ve ever heard on any cell phone.

Part of the reason is due to the way the ear piece cups your ear. It’s also refreshing to have a Jitterbug customer service team that can clearly communicate with you and really knows their product. We have yet to wait on hold…and this is worth a lot to Jitterbug’s target market. It is a bit of a bummer that you still can’t transfer an old phone number to your Jitterbug phone/service, but based on demand - we’re hopeful that they’ll add this capability (you can transfer your Jitterbug number to another phone/service, just not vice-versa). To be clear, not everyone is looking for this simple of a phone (Most boomers would rather show off an iPhone). The Jitterbug does get a thumbs-up from our customers…complaints are extremely rare.

RCA (Thomson Electronics) was first to deliver a long awaited 2-line DECT 6.0 cordless phone this Spring and it has really proven itself worthy. Though the RCA brand isn’t typically associated with premium quality phones, we’ve had solid success with the 25250RE1 and 25210RE1 (answering machine and non-answering machine models). The menu options are relatively straightforward, features are intuitive and the physical range is among the longest on the cordless phone market. We tested the handsets to reach through multiple floors of concrete and steel, beyond a multi-story parking garage and around another concrete and steel commercial building.

Short of using specialty-use long range cordless phones, we were amazed with the range. Like all cordless phones, there are short-comings with these. We consider the voice quality to be average compared with the superior "high definition" sound of some available 1-line phones (like some Philips models). We’re excited to see more DECT 6.0 2-line cordless phone choices from Philips, Panasonic and Verizon by the end of September/Early October, but we believe these RCA phones will still be able to hang with these brands due to the ability to add up to 10 handsets per phone and the great range they provide.

If Verizon’s new cordless phones look familiar, look no further than one of our favorite European brands/manufacturers. There are only a couple European home phone brands and with a little online searching, you’ll see the strong resemblance with similar handsets made for Europe. Our initial testing has been quite positive – though we expected this given the quality behind this manufacturer’s core brand of phones. The design is straight forward and basic. It’s profile certainly isn’t ultra-slim, but for a home phone – this is probably ok with most users. Stay tuned for detailed reviews of the Verizon cordless phones…