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Cordless Phone History

It all started around 1980. The phones were primitive by today's standards. They were given a frequency of 27 MHz. By this standard, FCC range was good but the sound quality was not. There was a lot of noise and static. The FCC allowed ten channels. If you were within distance of someone using the same frequency you could share conversations or have a 3 way conversation at no additional charge from MA Bell. The phone came with 1 of the 10 channels. If you had this problem you took the phone back to the retailer and exchanged for another frequency. So, cordless phones would hunt for their base when portable. They may find their neighbor’s base. If you were using your neighbor’s base you could make long distance calls and have it charged to the neighbor’s bill. That was fun!!

Around 1986 the FCC stepped in and changed the frequency to 47-49 MHz. This was a higher frequency which meant less noise. They also cut down the power to decrease range. This was an attempt to slow down the 3 way conversation problem and the long distance dialing problem. Manufacturers were making huge strides in technology introducing security 
cords and phones that actually could change channels. This was a big help but cordless phones just didn’t have any range. Customers would be able to talk as long as they were in the same room and standing or sitting still. 

It’s now 1990. The FCC allows a new frequency of 900 MHz. These phones were much clearer and had better distance than ever before. They also gave their phones 100 channels to choose from which meant less crowding. The phones work great but sold for $499.99. Retailers thought if they could sell them for less than $200 then they would sell.

Around 1994 different choices in 900 MHz phones would be developed. Previously, phones had been analog meaning the transmission was sent and received in a regular voice format. The engineers found out that they could send out a digital signal (X and O’s) transforming them back to analog when received by this portable phone. This increased clarity and it also made it impossible for radio scanners to pick up this frequency for listening to other’s conversations.

1995 was a good year for cordless phones. DSS (Digital Spread Spectrum) was a whole new way of sending the signal from the base to the handset. It spread the signal 360 degrees so there were no dead spots and distance went up to half a mile. It was digital so your signal was secure. Phones were expensive, and you had limited choices. The phone of choice was Uniden 910 at $359.99. It was an awesome phone at a great price. Of course there was a price to pay for this power. If this phone was a car, the government would have slapped a gas guzzling tax on it! This phone drained batteries like a Ferrari through gas. As technology progressed battery life got better and prices came down. I think they call it capitalism. Around this time, Caller ID was sweeping the nation, and this was a big boost for cordless phones. Now you could have the phone next to your chair and see who was calling before you answered it. As additional features were added, prices dropped even further and more people bought them. Consumers were no longer satisfied with only one cordless phone in the home any longer. Now they wanted two or three or all the phones to be cordless. This created a new set of problems. If there was ever a power failure you wouldn’t have any working phones. All of the sudden, one phone line wasn’t enough. Because of the evolving of the Internet and teenagers, Americans decided that they needed two phone lines in the household. Manufactures starting selling two line cordless phones. Now you could buy a two line cordless with Caller ID and DSS. Life was good! However, this created a new problem. DSS is a bully phone. If you were on the DSS and someone else (example: your teenager) was on a regular 900 MHZ cordless digital or analog phone, the DSS phone would walk over the other phone, meaning it would cause static or lessen the transmission of the non DSS phone.

In 1998 came another huge advancement. The FCC saw how many cordless phones were being used and and gave the American public an expanded new frequency. The frequency increased to 2.4 GHZ. It was so much higher, so you have better clarity, and in some models you picked up better distance. Cordless phones had now reached their goal of true corded quality in a cordless phone. You could walk around the block with no noise and maximum security.

In the year 2000 you can buy a DSS cordless phone for under $100. That’s amazing!! Technology in cordless phones has come a long way in the past 20 years!

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