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)

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.