Guide to Telephones

Hands free speakerphone facility - lets you talk and listen without lifting the receiver.

On-hook dialling - lets you dial without lifting the receiver.
Cordless telephones - if you want your phone at arms reach then a cordless phone is the answer. The base unit is connected to a mains supply and a telephone socket and the handset is recharged by putting it onto the base unit.

DECT or Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication - uses the latest wire-free digital technology to give you cordless phones with crystal clear sound every time and a guaranteed secure line. Another benefit of DECT phones is that they can be used up to 300 metres away from the base unit.

Extra handsets - by purchasing additional handsets for use with a DECT phone, the members of your household can enjoy a multi-way conversation. Additional handsets need only be plugged into a normal plug socket. DECT phones which are marked as GAP compatible mean you can purchase any additional DECT handset for use with the unit even if it's not the same brand.

REN or Ringer Equivalence Number - all faxes, telephones and answering machines have a REN. The maximum total REN you can connect to a single phone line is 4.

Multi-channel facility - enables users of cordless phones to switch between channels to get the clearest Reception.

Guide to Digital Cordless Phones:

What is DECT? - DECT is the acronym given to the new digital cordless telephony standard available in the UK (and Europe). DECT systems are far superior to their analogue cousins in a number of respects and users of. DECT are nearly always delighted with the improvement compared to an old analogue cordless phone.

Why should I want to use DECT over a standard cordless phone? Standard analogue cordless phones can easily be listened to by anyone with a cheap radio scanner, which are freely available from Tandy, DECT is digital and therefore means eavesdropping is almost impossible and very expensive to do.

DECT offers improved clarity of call- and a greater useable distance compared to Analogue cordless Most analogue cordless phones operate on one of only 8 frequencies, so interference from another phone is common. DECT uses 120 channels which means you will never suffer from interference from another handset.

Digital handset registration - prevents any unauthorised handset using the base station, unlike analogue cordless phone systems. The DECT specifications define range should be a maximum of 500m, but manufacturers always quote a maximum of 300m. You can connect up multiple handsets on one base station providing a free method of calling other connected handsets, calls can also be transferred from handset to handset.

CT1-This is the standard analogue system described above.

CT2-Rabbit, Phonepoint, etc - first generation digital cordless handsets, not as good sound quality as DECT. 2nd hand systems can be bought, but they are not usually cheap.

Other digital systems-it is possible to purchase and use illegal imported digital handsets from abroad. These are illegal on 2 points: firstly they have no type approval from BABT and secondly they also blast out a very strong radio signal which will mean that you�ll be rumbled in no time at all. (And the phone may well suffer from interference from whatever is using that frequency legally.)

What is GAP? -Generic Access Protocol is a standard adopted in Summer 1996 by DECT manufacturers and this ensures that if DECT equipment is GAP compliant it can operate with any other piece of GAP compliant DECT equipment.

Who are these phones made by? - DECT has been established longer on continental Europe than in the UK so a lot of the manufacturers are based in Europe, or South East Asia where DECT technology is also becoming more and more popular. Some of the brand names may not be as widely known, so here is a little bit of background to each of the companies:

Alcatel- is a huge French group covering everything from telecoms to defence electronics

Bosch- a German company is involved in engineering and electronics of many different types. In 1996 Bosch purchased the Danish Dancall group who developed many of the best selling DECT phones. This year Bosch celebrate 100 years in the UK

Hagenuk- is another very long established German telecoms group nearly 100 years old.

Philips- Dutch based electronics group

Siemens-is yet another very long established German telecoms group, in business since 1847, and its products have been sold in the UK for a long time now, re badged until recently as BT. All BT DECT products are now co-branded BT and Siemens

Samsung-is a Korean industrial giant

Guide to Faxes:

Using the same telephone number for a telephone and a fax machine? For ease use a model with a fax switch. A fax machine with a built-in answer machine means you won't miss those important calls.

Plain Paper Fax Machines - don�t use traditional thermal fax paper but standard A4 paper. To send and receive faxes - make sure your fax machine is plugged into both an electric socket and a telephone point.

To send and receive faxes - make sure your fax machine is plugged into both an electric socket and a telephone point.

What Does REN (ringer equivalence number) mean? All fax machines, telephones and answer machines have a REN. The maximum total REN you can connect to a single phone line is 4.

What Does CLI (caller display) mean? - your fax machine can display the number of the incoming call once connected to the caller display service.