atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Cordless Phone Issues / Ideas

we have a car dealer as a customer who is looking to use several cordless phones as anlog extensions on his system. The first couple of phones they bought work poorly due to a very limited range. I have seen antennas, long range analog phones etc. but would like to get some input from others before i do anything.

I've used the EnGenius 2.4 ghz cordless sets in a used car lot that was a city block long. The office is an all metal building. They were analog stations off the system. Worked all over the lot. The 920s look like a Nokia cell set only they are heavier. They offer outside antennas and other accessories. I got mine thru Graybar.

I have installed quite a few auto dealers systems in the past 2 years. Engenius is nice and I reccommend the long range antenna, but they can be very costly, and my experience is that they have about a 10% out of the box failure rate, but if you get past that, they are decent. The biggest problem with cordless in that environment is they want it to be perfect because the calls are typically all sales calls when they are roaming the lot or in the service area, and it won't be perfect but with proper placement of the antennas it can be very good, and you can significantly reduce dead spots.
On the same token I have seen 900MHz cordlesses work better than the 2.4Gs and sometimes Engenius for a fraction of the price in environments where the customers' range is a little smaller.

I, too, think that (although expensive) the EnGenius is a very nice product and with proper base placement or proper external antenna placement--can be what most customers want in a cordless set-up. You can even use them as walkie-talkies even when they are out of range of the base. However, I would also insist that they purchase the protective hardcases and clip for each phone. If these are dropped, they don't work too good. You might also want to order extra batteries. Good Luck

We've had good success with the Spectralink Link WTS. (902-928 MHz band)

It's definitely pricier than the Engenius 900MHz & 2.4GHz systems if you only need a couple of phones. But as you get up to 5-10 phones, the Link WTS pays for itself in ease of installation, integration features, etc.

You can digitally integrate it with some phone systems (pairing or twinning desk phones) and it scales from 8-ports up to hundreds of ports. It also comes analog if required. Here's a list of the digital interfaces it supports:
https://www.tsinc.com/assets/spectralink/switchinterfaces.pdf

Coverage is awesome and Spectralink will certify the coverage for the installation.

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Stephen Joyce, Terminal Solutions, Inc. www.tsinc.com sjoyce@tsinc.com
Business Telephone Systems Sales &a...ntage, Lucent/Avaya, Sprint Protege)[/i]

[This message has been edited by tsinc (edited January 28, 2005).]

Take a look at the Cortelco Compass. This is a good option that falls between the Spectrlink & Engenius. Both in functionality & price. As far as I know they are available through Graybar only. You can install up to 4 access points & the handset will roam between.
https://www.cortelco.com/Products/Compass.htm