Uniden TRU5885-2 Cordless Phone

What a beautiful orange glow...

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Sep 25, 2003 | 15 out of 16 found this Uniden TRU5885-2 review helpful

Pros: Good voice quality, doesn't interfere with Wi-Fi Internet

Cons: Can't use both handsets simultaneously

For the past couple of years we've been using a 2.4 GHz phone and have been suffering from interference with our 802.11b Wi-Fi home network. Picking up a phone call would sometimes disrupt the wireless Internet connection and our SSH sessions would terminate. When our old phone finally started to show its age (intermittently would fail to get a dialtone), we decided to try something new as a replacement.

Like most 5.8 GHz phones, the Uniden TRU5885-2 is pricier than comparable 2.4 GHz or 900 MHz models. But it's got a much greater range throughout the house, and more importantly, it co-exists with our wireless Internet.

This model in particular has an absurdly large number of features. Aside from standard stuff like Caller ID and an integrated digital answering machine, this model gives you a good-sounding speakerphone in the base, and an extra handset. But wait, there's more! Each handset itself can act as a speakerphone. 3 different speakerphones? Wow.

Sound quality is very crisp. It almost sounds like a wired phone. Plus, each phone has an orange backlight. You'll see an eerie but beautiful glow when you hit any key on the keypad.

The only drawback we've found: you can't use both handsets simultaneously. There's only one base station, and apparently only one handset can speak to it at a time. There's a nifty transfer feature that lets you put the call on hold and pick it up on the other handset, but that's not the same as being able to have two people on the line at the same time (when we're talking to our families, for example).