Construction sites, warehouses, and multi-story buildings will soon have a 4-line cordless phone that actually does what it’s supposed to and it won’t break the bank. The new AT&T SB67118 is a new DECT 6.0 4-line expandable cordless that will allow you to reach up to 1/2 mile from the main base. This new AT&T model is a great value alternative to the few commercial-type long range phones on the market.

The DECT 6.0 technology helps with providing an uncluttered frequency for great call clarity and inherently has pretty good range. The unique feature for this out-of-the-box 4-line cordless phone is that you can connect up to 6 Repeaters for up to a 1/2 mile range. Business features like push-to-talk, auto attendant, music on hold, answering machine and handset expandability (up to 10 handsets may be used) make this phone a flexible communication solution for many small businesses. Car dealerships, builders, real estate offices, and warehouse businesses finally have a professional sounding, cost effective cordless phone system that can grow with the business.

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)

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.

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.

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…

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…

The first DECT 6.0 amplified phones (GE models 29111AE1 and 29115AE1) are finally out in the market and they deliver with both excellent range and sound quality. Customers can expect new, intelligent features like an amplified headset jack (2.5mm) and a vibrating ringer option. Also, a simple battery back up option is built into the base (using 4 “AAA” batteries). The volume setting was a disappointment with only 4 volume settings in the “basic” mode and 4 settings in the “amplify” mode. By contrast, the Clarity C4220/C4230 has a thumb wheel volume control that goes from “0″ to “50″. But, the range is outstanding and you can add up to 3 handsets to the base unit (4 total phones). Being able to have 4 phone handsets is a big plus for most consumers . Bottom line: The GE DECT 6.0 Amplified phones aren’t the most stylish or sleek phones on the market, but they do deliver with excellent range, great sound quality and expandable handsets. These are some of the best amplified phones on the market.

If you have been searching for a new wall mounted phone, you have probably discovered that the selection is extremely limited. Here is our current list of wall phones:

+ GE DECT 6.0 Kitchen Phone (GE-27909EE1)
+ Philips SE7451/7452 (note: this has horizontal mounting holes, not vertical!)
+ Panasonic BB-GT1540B and BB-GT1500B
+ Clarity C4210 (this is an amplified phone)
+ RCA 25250RE1 or RCA 25210RE1 (2-line phones)

A few other phones claim to be “wall mounted” but in fact stick out at an angle from the wall. Many of these are “wall mountable”, but they’re far from flush to the wall. So, why is there a lack of wall mounted phones? First, people forget that even if the cordless phone can be wall mounted, all cordless phones require an AC connection for recharging the batteries (another ugly cord hanging down). Older wall mounted phones used the power provided on the telephone line and didn’t need direct A/C power to operate. The only way to (elegantly) fix this problem is to have an electrician install a power outlet next to the phone plate on the wall.

One final note. Remember that with most new cordless phones the voicemail system can be accessed from any handset. So, maybe you don’t need to mount that phone in the kitchen after all!

Mix in some industrial design, good quality and “high definition” marketing and you can see why Philips has really added fire to the competitive cordless phone market in the last 6 months. Though the product line is relatively small, expect more models to reach the U.S. market within the next 6 months.