802.11a (5.8GHz)
802.11b&g (2.4GHz)
802.11n (2.4GHz & 5.8GHz)
Hey, I have these phones! I bought them right here on this very interweb page over three years ago. (Wow, I paid $70 plus shipping?!? At least it came with one additional handset…)
Anyway, I can’t speak to the answering machine performance, but the performance of the phones themselves has been great overall.
Like:[list][]every handset has a speaker phone
[]built-in phonebook
[]caller ID is searchable by letter
[]range is pretty good inside and even outside my cinderblock house
[]works as a short-range indoor walkie-talkie when I’m up in the attic
[]can record conversations
[/list]
Don’t Like:
- No easy way to synchronize the phonebook across all handsets
- No easy way to clear caller ID memory on all handsets at once
- I really have no use for an answering machine…
You lost me at Answering Machine…
I bought a previous Uniden phone set on woot a while back and were easily the worst woot purchase of mine ever. Those were an earlier model, so maybe these are super more awesome; although, my current Unidens would be hard to beat as the world’s crappiest phone. In fact, when I got the phones and they were static-y, short ranged, and battery-hot, I sent them back under warranty. Got a new set after sending them in and they work just as aweful. Uniden used to be great back in the day of MHz phones.
2.4, no problem with interference
If using VOIP is like having a land line then well I have a land line and will continue to have one until rates on Cell phones drop to an acceptable level.
We have these at my house… They don’t interfere with my Wireless G network as far as I know and I am running them with VOIP… They are good phones.
next is DECT 6.0 (1.9GHz)
I use these phones at work, and they are AWESOME to say the least. The range is incredible; I get reception about 80 feet away, through about 5 walls. The speakerphone on the base unit is also very effective and can pick up even a whisper at 5-8 feet away. You can also transfer calls between handset, base, and second handset or even conference all three together!
This is 5.8GHz which is kind of older standard in cordless phones. New standard is DECT 6.0 which works on 1.9GHz, and these are available in market for cheap. Uniden’s DECT 6.0 cordless is available for $14.99 in walmart… not sure if this is good deal !
Three and a half stars, $43.99 at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Uniden-TRU8885-2-Cordless-Handsets-Answering/dp/B0001F9KLY
I bought these when they were offered in July of 2006. I got about two years out of the batteries–they’re not cheap unless you happen to have a Meijer near you ($12.99 there, but almost $30 at Best Buy). Wal-Mart has them for around $15, but they were never in stock when I looked for them.
I regularly use my phone within a couple of feet of my wireless adapter on my laptop and I rarely get interference. When it does happen, it seems that it’s because the phone just happened to pick the wrong channel for that phone call.
The speakerphone built into the handsets is very good. There’s a room monitoring feature where you can use the base or handset as remote microphones. So you can use it as a pseudo baby monitor, or call in and listen in through the base unit.
The only real complaint I have about this phone is that there’s no “Channel” button. If you get interference, you have to hang up and try again. This is the only cordless phone I’ve owned that doesn’t allow you to change channels on the fly.
Am very happy with this after three-plus years. It’s not DECT, so that may be a deal-breaker for some…
Woot apparently is selling costco’s leftovers! I have about four sets of these phones. The best feature of all, and there are lots of nice features, is the CALL BLOCK feature. If a telemarketer keeps calling you, just press the CID button, ADD to Block List, and next time he calls the system will immediately pick up and HANG UP on him! 
ACK! BELAY THAT!! This is my OLD phone system, which worked great but does NOT have the call block feature. Sorry. That’s the Panasonic CostCo is still selling.
Love these phones. Lots of features not available on most phones available at Target/Costco/Walmart. I had these exact phones and when they died I had a hard time finding comparable replacements.
Great phones. Long battery life. I had mine for about 4 years until the batteries died. Highly recommend.
Have these same phones I bought at Costco. Works great except for the remote unit which has trouble working through the plaster walls between our office and the kitchen and will drop calls on us.
I use mine on Vonage, which is considerably cheaper (free) for international calls than Skype or Google Voice.
GHz technology is very good for long range if you dont have brick walls or concrete walls in your house. If you have solid walls like those then you should look for Mhz technology.
There should be no significant interference. After all, the 2.4ghz wireless (b and g) both run on 6 different overlapping channels, so even if this was a 2.4ghz phone, you wouldn’t notice much interference.
After all, it’s all about placement. A well thought out plan of your wireless + cordless network will determine the amount of interference.
Hopped on Woot! to check out the item du jour and there’s my cordless phone!!
I bought mine new about two and a half years ago and it’s still going strong. I have had no problems with it whatsoever in the time I’ve had it. I use it with two handsets but I don’t use the answering system because I have voicemail, so I can’t comment on that.
I paid a lot more than $25 for this system, I’d say it’s well worth it for the price!