It was touted as the dream of a wireless world. It raised your cool factor by several notches if you could take the phone from your bedroom to the drawing room without tripping over the wire. No wonder then that it is considered the precursor to the mobile. But move away from the base and you could be left ‘helloing’. Ditto in case of a power failure. But today, GeneratioNext cordless phones are equipped to overcome these problems with some add-on features.

While it might not be a match in terms of the distance covered, it is in the other departments that the cordless instrument is trying to copy the cellular phone. Caller Id display, colour display, speaker phone, touch screen, answering machine, recording facility and many more features are being integrated into the set. Moreover, phones on one line can now be expanded to include as many as eight lines, each capable of carrying out private conversations. But wait, notwithstanding the fancy paraphernalia, when you go shopping for an instrument, be on the lookout for some specific features to get the best mileage.

For one, frequency counts ? both for those in the trade as well as gizmo aficionados. The higher the frequency of the instrument, the longer the range and better the voice clarity. Cordless phones are available with a frequency of 43 mhz and can even go up to 5.8 ghz. Most phones available in the market today are 2.4 ghz which holds good for at least 100 metres. This, claim dealers, roughly translates to about three floors from the base unit.

Customers, however, do not agree. “Irrespective of what shopkeepers and companies claim, the phone stops functioning beyond one floor up or down from the base unit,” says Rachit Sehgal who has a Beetel cordless. Moreover, none of the manuals specify the range of the phone. “The obstructions differ in different places. This affects the range of the phone, so most companies prefer not to specify it,” says a dealer who sells both branded as well as Chinese imports. He points out that this holds equally true for almost all the phone companies.

Another factor to watch out for is voice clarity. Earlier, cordless phones had just one channel. So if neighbours had the same phone frequency, there was the possibility of interconnection. The newer models have several channels. In fact, Panasonic offers frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) technology which hops constantly through a range of available channels to reduce interference and provide improved security against eavesdropping. As far as voice clarity and range are concerned, both traders as well as customers concur that Panasonic wins hands down.

The talk time in the case of power failure ? especially for those who do not have an alternate corded phone on the same line ? is also important. This can range from two to 16 hours. “For a heavy user, the duration for which the phone can be used in case of a power failure may be the deciding factor,” says Nandita Trivedi, whose export business involves heavy phone usage.

Price is another important criterion. Cordless phones are available in the range of Rs 900 (base model, no caller Id, unknown company) to Rs 9,000. The high-end models offer eight expandable lines, an answering machine and three mailboxes. However, there is no point paying for features that you may never use. “Eight lines in a single bedroom apartment with a sole occupant obviously do not make sense but an answering machine obviously would. So it is important to decide even before you step out of the house what you want or else, the shopkeeper can convince you to buy a phone that has features you may not require (which obviously translates into a more expensive instrument),” says Ritesh Kapoor, who works with a BPO in Gurgaon.

Price also brings to mind the place of purchase. In Delhi, the grey market in Ghaffar Market, Karol Bagh, does brisk business in cordless phones because of the lower rates. If shopkeepers are to be believed, they sell more units than the regular outlets. However, the phones though cheaper do not carry a warranty and this is something the consumer has to take into account. Ghaffar Market and Palika Bazaar in Delhi also stock several unknown Chinese brands as well duplicates of known brands that can be picked up for anything between Rs 800-1500 depending upon your bargaining skills.

One more thing that needs to be looked into is the sturdiness of the phone. “One drop is all it takes to spoil the display or ruin the voice quality. With children around, that is something unavoidable,” says Anu Asthana, a homemaker with two active pre-school sons. After having used several cordless phones in the last two years, she has finally settled for the old wired instrument.

what’s new

• Panasonic and Beetel are the more popular brands followed by GE, Sanyo and BPL

• Beetel has come out with a new model in which the sim card of a cell phone can be inserted to copy the phonebook. However, most cordless receivers have a power back-up, a phonebook where numbers can be stored and also provisions for storing last dialled, received and missed calls.