So this blog entry probably isn't news to some. In fact, to most outside the US most likely.

I recently went down to Costco to buy a new cordless phone set for the house. I settled on a nice unit by Panasonic KX-TG1034 -- one base with cordless handsets and 3 additional handsets. I was intrigued because of the advertised battery life (approaching 17 hours of talk time).

This phone came with something called DECT 6.0 which claimed to be the latest in privacy and interference prevention technology. Hmmm. That's a challenge in our house with two wireless networks, baby monitors, and a bazillion other electronic devices to contend with.

I got the box home, set it up, and have been really impressed with the performance of these phones. But reading the technical specs was the kicker.

This thing is nothing more than a short range cell phone.

DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) 6.0 runs in the 1920-1930MHz spectrum (close to US cell phones) and utilizes TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) which is the same technology used by GSM cell phone to multiplex calls. This is great! Technology that we know works pretty well in cell phones, and operating on a frequency that nothing else is (supposed to be) using. My 2.4GHz wireless networks are safe and so are the 900MHz baby monitors.

And even with a full day of con-calls, I've yet to even get the battery to drop one status bar. So far so good.

Highly recommend the phone.