sundance-communications.com Forums Member Forums Phone Booth Sad State of Consumer Telephone Equipment.

The October edition of Consumer Reports includes reviews/ratings of cordless consumer telephones. In years past, reviews ran about 3 or 4 pages and covered, in depth, features and tips on choosing a good model.

This year, the telephone section was compressed onto 2 pages (1 text & 1 Ratings) and listed 26 models by 5 manufacturers (4 if you take into account that AT&T branded telephones are made by VTech).

Whatever happened to days when there were maybe a dozen or so companies churning out good telephone gear, including answering machines whose recorded messages could actually be understood? :confused:

Oddly, I just tried to order some cordless phones for a friend of mine through one of our normal supply houses. I was told they are just about to stop carrying them since so many result in returns. Their response is "let Best Buy handle them".

It's true that many manufacturers and suppliers simply can't afford the high cost of selling consumer-level products. It's way too easy for someone to run home with a brand-new cordless phone, hook it up but not let the battery charge, then return it the next day "because it's a piece of junk".

If phones were still sold by telcos and telephone retail stores, there would be a lot more control over this. The problem is that big box stores just don't have the knowledge or personnel to address it. They are the ones who have brought the consumer-level product offerings down. It really is a shame.

Not to mention that it's darn near impossible for us to compete price-wise.

Dave

the market is price driven not quality driven

late 80's early 90's we used to sell the hell out of the SW bell 246 cordless for $165. they where a quality product and we had few returns sold 3-4 a week for a couple of years

when the Vtech first came out with 9mhz cordless they where over 200 retail .

stop buy best buy etc and and you can get a cordless phone for 19.95 or even 9.95 with rebate

people (including me ) aren't willing to pay big bucks for consumer electronics

they've become disposible

I tend to think that the decline in the consumer telephone market is due to the increasing number of people who are disconnecting their land lines and using their cell phones for everything.

Anybody but me suspect that the loss of quality has something to do with the country of manufacture?

WECO, ITT, Stromberg, AE, Teltone. Melco, Comdial, and more than I can recount offhand were all made here in the good old USA.

NEC, Tie & OKI were quality products made in Japan.

Tadiran (GTE Subsidiary) was made in Israel (I think)

Plessy - UK

Alcatel - France


Where is all this crap being made? And who is making it? Convict labor? Child Labor?

There's a reason it only costs $9.95. And for under $10 what did you expect!

Pardon the rant. Somethings make me crazy. The loss of American manufacturing is one of them.


Sam

its not "where its being made " in my opinion

its up to the manufacturer to spec the item , and to run QC and pay the cost of quality

the difference to me is we have bean counters buying anything to a price point VS Items engineered and built to high standards

remeber in the '50s made in japan meant low end junk

who makes the highest quality goods today ?

Japan is right up there

I believe any nationality is capable of producing quality given design and raw materials

"ya gets what ya pays for "

Skip -

I agree with you 100%. Anybody can make great stuff and anybody can make crap.

So why are all these consumer products crap these days? Is that all people will pay for? Is it part of the "constantly upgrade" syndrome? Is it a plot on the part of the manufacturers? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but sometimes.....

What set me off was that I was packing up a 23 year old Teltone Intercom for Matt (see the thread in 1A2). Right on the case it said "Made in USA".

I've got a 1A2 system still working in my house. Every component was made in either the US or Canada and it's been working without a problem since 1980.

What happened to all those factories? And more important, what happened to all the people that worked in them and sold them goods and service?

Are they all investment bankers now?

When I worked for GTE our factory in Northlake, Illinois put out some of the finest Switches in the world. It directly employed 5,000 people on the day shift, 5,000 on the swing shift and 2,000+ on the night shift. The railroad had tracks running directly into the factory to haul stuff in and out. We did everything there from circuit board design to fabricating and painting cabinets.

Where are all those jobs and what happened to all those families and what legacy are we leaving our children?


It's just one of those things that gets to me. I've been working in the industry at a whole variety of positions for 40 years now and I'm real glad I'm at the end of my working career and not at the beginning.

I'm also more than a little sad at what I see.


Sam

Oh man, this really gets me going.

I use cordless phones for employees who run around our manufacturing plants (yes some electronic products are still built in America). It has gotten harder and harder to find decent cordless phones. Especially when someone sees the $9.95 cordless on sell at WalMart or Best Buy. I have to try and explain how it simply does not have the coverage or reliability we need. The 2.4 MHz Panasonic phones I used to get would easily go 300 ft. The new stuff goes about 50 ft and craps out. Plus they break ALL THE TIME. "You get what you pay for" was never more true.

Then there is the consumer electronics for the home. All crap. I've been thru 3 DVD players, a Tivo, and 2 "stereos" (AM/FM tuner/amps). All Sony. Don't even get me started on the piece of crap, Sanyo I think, DVD/VHS player, my wife bought. And two days ago my 36" Sony Trinitron blew up. Ok it was 7 yrs old, but still... So I pull out the old Philips 27" as a replacement. That thing is like 12 yrs old works fine. Problem, inputs for the DVD player. So now I gotta buy a new TV. I'm skeered.

I think the "where its being made" arguement is a valid indication of what kind of product you can expect. Not so much that a good product can not be made in say, China, but that the inferior product is more likely to be made there.

Example: We make guitars in the US, right here in little ole Meridian MS. We also have them made overseas. Hands down the best ones are built here. However there are some good guitars built in China. And really good ones built in Japan. We don't build the $199 models here. Can't do it.

Oh, and on the cordless phones. If anyone knows of a model without all the answering machine, caller ID kinda stuff, or frickin multiple handsets, let me know.

Richard