Cordless telephone

For mobile/cellular phones, see Mobile phone.

DECT, have blurred the once clear-cut line between
A cordless telephone or portable telephone replaces cordless and mobile telephones by implementing cell
hando (handover); various advanced features, such as
data-transfer; and even, on a limited scale, international
roaming. In specialized models, base stations are maintained by a commercial mobile network operator and
users subscribe to the service.
In 1994, digital cordless phones in the 900 MHz frequency range were introduced. Digital signals allowed the
phones to be more secure and decreased eavesdropping
it was relatively easy to eavesdrop on analog cordless
phone conversations. In 1995, digital spread spectrum
(DSS) was introduced for cordless phones. This technology enabled the digital information to spread in pieces
among multiple frequencies between the receiver and the
base, thereby making it almost impossible to eavesdrop
on the cordless conversations.
Unlike a corded telephone, a cordless telephone needs
mains electricity to power the base station. The cordless handset is powered by a rechargeable battery, which
is charged when the handset is stored in its cradle.

1 History
A jazz musician named Teri Pall invented a version of the
cordless phone in 1965 but could not market her invention, as its 2-mile (3.2 km) range caused its radio signals
to interfere with aircraft communications. In 1968, she
sold her rights to the cordless phone to a manufacturer
who modied it for practical use.[1]
Bell Labs Lineless Telephone 1963-1967
Beginning in 1963, a small team of Bell Laboratories engineers was given the task of developing a practical and
fully functional duplex Lineless Telephone. The team
included (in alphabetic order): S.M. Baer, G.C. Balzer,
J.M. Brown, W.F. Clemency, M. Rosenthal, and W. Zinsmeister, under the direction of W.D. Goodale, Jr.

A cordless telephone with base

By 1964, breadboard models were working in the lab.

During 1964-65 these were rened and packaged to test
around the Bell Labs Holmdel N.J. building and grounds.
The system operated under an experimental license on
crystal controlled channels in the 35 and 43 MHz bands
using FM modulation, a low power transmitter and a sensitive superhet receiver. Full supervision of all telephone
The base station on subscriber premises is what dier- functions, including on-o hook and dialing was provided
entiates a cordless telephone from a mobile telephone. via an out of band tone supervision system. The user end
Current cordless telephone standards, such as PHS and of the system was packaged to look like a normal (althe handset cord with a radio link. The handset communicates with a base station connected to a xed telephone
line. The range is limited, usually to the same building
or some short distance from the base station. The base
station attaches to the telephone network the same way a
corded telephone does.

2
though bulky) telephone handset. The other end the
base station was a small box connected to the normal
telephone network. (See additional photographs in Bell
Laboratories Record article below. Note especially the
dial.)
About 50 units were built in a Western Electric model
shop in Andover Mass. for eld trails in two Bell System
locations in the Boston and Phoenix area.

2 FREQUENCIES
dio
4350 MHz (Base: 43.7246.97 MHz, Handset:
48.7649.99 MHz, allocated in November 1984 for
10 channels, and later 25 channels, FM modulation)
900 MHz (902928 MHz, allocated in 1993)
1.9 GHz (18801900 MHz, used for DECT communications outside the US)

The overall project was described in the Bell Laboratories Record, Volume 45 (1967), pages 202 1.9 GHz (19201930 MHz, developed in 1993 and
203. See link at: http://www.telephonecollectors.
allocated in October 2005, especially with DECT
info/index.php/wiring-diagrams/doc_view/
6.0)
11603-67jun-blr-p202-experimental-lineless-cordless-telephone
2.4 GHz (24002500 MHz, allocated in 1998)
In 1966, George Sweigert submitted a patent application
for a "full duplex wireless communications appartus. He
5.8 GHz (57255875 MHz, allocated in 2003 due
was awarded US 3449750 in June 1969[2][3] He (see beto crowding on the 2.4 GHz band)
low: Patents). Sweigert, a radio operator in World War II
stationed at the South Pacic Islands of Guadalcanal and
1.7 MHz cordless phones were the earliest models availBougainville, developed the full duplex concept for unable at retailers, and are generally identiable by their
trained personnel, to improve battleeld communications
large metal telescoping antennas. Channels just above
for senior commanders.
the AM broadcast band were selected manually by the
Sweigert was an active proponent for directly coupling user. Some of the frequencies used are now part of the
consumer electronics to the AT&T-owned telephone lines expanded AM radio band, and can be clearly heard by
in the late 1960s. (This was banned at the time; most anyone with an AM radio. There are reports of people
telephones were made by Western Electric and leased to still using these phones, and even using them as makeshift
the customer by AT&T.) The Carterfone coupler, a crude AM radio stations that can be heard for a couple of city
device for interconnecting a two-way radio with the tele- blocks. These models are no longer in production, and
phone, led to the reversal of the Federal Communications are considered obsolete because they are susceptible to
Commission ban on direct coupling of consumer equip- eavesdropping and interference, especially from uoresment to phone lines (known as the landmark Carterfone cent lighting and automobile ignition systems. However,
decision) on June 26, 1968. The original cordless phones, before the popularity of cellular phones, a person under
like the Carterfone, were acoustically (not electrically) the right conditions could get 0.5 miles (0.80 km) or more
connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network range out of these AM systems.
(PSTN).
4350 MHz cordless phones had a large installed base
In 1977, Douglas G. Talley and L Duane Gregory were by the early 1990s, and featured shorter exible antennas
granted US 4039760 for a duplex voice communication and automatic channel selection. Due to their popularity,
link including controls therefore as provided between a an overcrowding of the band led to an allocation of adbase station connected directly to a telephone line of a ditional frequencies; thus manufacturers were able to sell
telephone exchange and a mobile unit consisting of a models with 25 available channels instead of just 10 chansmall, compact cordless telephone instrument containing nels. Despite being less susceptible to interference than
transmitter, receiver and control circuits powered by a before, these models are no longer in production and are
rechargeable battery pack. A single logic tone is trans- considered obsolete because their frequencies are easily
mitted and detected for all logical control for ring signals, heard on practically any radio scanner. Advanced models
on-hook and o-hook signals and dial pulses.
began to use voice inversion as a basic form of scrambling
to help limit unauthorized eavesdropping. These phones
share the 49.8 MHz band (49.830 - 49.890) with some
wireless baby monitors.
2 Frequencies
900 MHz cordless phones are still sold today and have a
In the United States, seven frequency bands have been al- huge installed base. Features include even shorter antenlocated by the Federal Communications Commission for nas, up to 30 auto selecting channels, and higher resistance to interference. Available in several varieties; anauses that include cordless phones. These are:
log, analog spread spectrum (100 kHz bandwidth), dig 1.7 MHz (1.641.78 MHz, up to 5 channels, AM ital, and digital spread spectrum, most being sold today
are low-cost analog models, which are still susceptible to
modulation )
eavesdropping. Digital variants can still be scanned, but
27 MHz, interspersed with Citizens Band (CB) Ra- are received as a digital hiss and therefore are dicult to

3
eavesdrop upon. Digital transmission is immune to static
interference but can experience signal fade (brief silence)
as the phone goes out of range of the base. Newer Digital
Spread Spectrum (DSS) variants spread their signal over
a range of frequencies, providing more resistance to signal fade. This technology enabled the digital information
to spread in pieces among several frequencies between
the receiver and the base, thereby making it almost impossible to eavesdrop on the cordless conversation. The
FCC only allows DSS model phones to transmit at the full
power of 1 watt, which allows increased range over older
analog and digital models.

terference over a greater range, however. Most cordless

telephones, no matter what frequency band or transmission method is used, will hardly ever exactly match the
sound quality of a high-quality wired telephone attached
to a good telephone line. This limitation is caused by a
number of issues, including the following:
Sidetone: hearing ones own voice echoed in the receiver speaker
A noticeable amount of constant background noise
(this is not interference from outside sources, but
noise within the cordless telephone system)

Virtually all new telephones sold in the US use the 900

MHz, 1.9 GHz, 2.4-GHz, or 5.8 GHz bands, though
Frequency response not being the full frequency relegacy phones can remain in use on the older bands.
sponse available in a wired landline telephone
There is no specic requirement for any particular transmission mode on 900, 1.9, 2.4, and 5.8, but in practice, Most manufacturers claim a range of about 30 metres (98
virtually all newer 900 MHz phones are inexpensive ana- ft) for their 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz systems, but inexpenlog models; some digital features such as DSSS and FHSS sive models often fall short of this claim.
are generally available only on the higher frequencies.
However, the higher frequency often brings advantages.
Some cordless phones advertised as 5.8 GHz actually The 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz band are increasingly being
transmit from base to phone on 5.8 GHz and transmit used for a host of other devices, including baby monifrom phone to base on 2.4 GHz or 900 MHz, to conserve tor, microwave oven, Bluetooth, and wireless LAN; thus,
battery life of the phone.
it is likely that a cordless phone will suer interference
The recently allocated 1.9 GHz band is used by the popu- from signals broadcast by those devices, and also may itlar DECT phone standard and is considered more secure self generate interference. It is also possible for a cordless
phone to interfere with the 802.11a wireless standard, as
than the other shared frequencies.
the 802.11a standard can be congured to operate in the
5.8 GHz range. However, this can easily be xed by reconguring the wireless LAN device to work in the 5.180
3 Performance
GHz to 5.320 GHz band.
Many cordless phones in the early 21st century are digital. Digital technology has helped provide clear sound
and limit eavesdropping. Many cordless phones have one
main base station and can add up to three or four additional bases. This allows for multiple voice channels that
allow three-way conference calls between the bases. This
technology also allows multiple handsets to be used at the
same time, and up to two handsets can have separate conversations with outside parties.
Manufacturers usually advertise that their higher frequency systems improve audio quality and range. In
the ideal case, higher frequencies actually have signal
worse propagation as shown by the basic Friis transmission equation, and path loss tends to increase at higher
frequencies as well. Practical inuences on quality and
range are signal strength, antenna quality, the method of
modulation used, and interference, which varies locally.

The newer 1.9 GHz band is reserved for use by phones

that use the DECT standard, which should avoid interference issues that are increasingly being seen in the
unlicensed 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.8 GHz bands.

4 Security
Many analog phone signals are easily picked up by radio scanners, allowing anyone within range to listen in on
conversations (though this is illegal in many countries).
Though many such analog models are still produced,
modern digital technology is available to reduce the risk
of eavesdropping. Digital Spread Spectrum (DSS) typically uses frequency hopping to spread the audio signal
(with a 3 kHz bandwidth) over a much wider range of
frequencies in a pseudorandom way. Spreading the signal
out over a wider bandwidth is a form of redundancy, and
increases the signal-to-noise ratio, yielding longer range
and less susceptibility to interference. Higher frequency
bands provide more room for these wide-bandwidth signals.

"Plain old telephone service" (POTS) landlines are designed to transfer audio with a quality that is just adequate for the parties to understand each other. Typical
bandwidth is 3.6 kHz; only a fraction of the frequencies
that humans can hear, but enough to make the voice intelligible. No phone handset can improve on this quality, as To an analog receiver like a scanner, a DSS signal sounds
it is a limitation of the phone system itself. Higher-quality like bursts of noise. Only the base unit using a matchphones can transfer this signal to the handset with less in- ing pseudorandom number can decode the signal, and it

chooses from one of thousands of such unique codes each

time the handset is returned to the cradle. Additionally,
the digital nature of the signal increases its tolerance to
noise, and some systems even encrypt the digital signal
for additional security.

Wireless phone handsets

Roaming wireless phone handsets exist which are not

tethered to any particular base station, but which also
do not use traditional mobile (cellular) phone networks.
These most commonly use digital technologies like
DECT, 2.4 GHz unlicensed spectrum, or 802.11a/b/g
standards-based wireless LAN technology. The wireless
phone handset must connect to a wireless access point or
base station that supports the same technology. Also required is a call management function and a gateway to the
public switched telephone network (PSTN). This may or
may not be integrated in the base-station. A Voice over IP
service can be used by phones that use wireless data access points, thus using a broadband Internet connection to
defer the connection to the PSTN to a remote gateway operated by the service provider, close to the calls destination. Analog equivalents do exist and can provide longer
reach, but with potential loss of condentiality and voice
quality. Most digital systems have inherent encryption or
oer optional encryption.

Health and safety

See also: Wireless electronic devices and health

See also
Carterphone
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications
(DECT) in Europe
Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance
Mobile phone
Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) in Japan and
China
Radio frequency
Spread spectrum

References

[1] Patently female: from AZT to TV dinners : stories of

women inventors and their breakthrough ideas, Ethlie Ann
Vare, Greg Ptacek

EXTERNAL LINKS

[2] US 3449750 DUPLEX RADIO COMMUNICATION

AND SIGNALING APPARATUS FOR PORTABLE
TELEPHONE ... G. H. SWEIGERT
[3] Google Patents link

8.1 Patents
US patent 174465, A. G. Bell, Telegraph, issued
1876-03-07
US patent 775337, ROBERTO LANDELL DE
MOTYRA, WIRELESS TELEPHONE, issued
1904-11-22
US patent 3449750, G. H. Sweigert, Duplex Radio Communication and Signalling Appartus, issued 1969-06-10
Patents Link

9 External links
Review of Frequency Allocations for Cordless Telephones
Carterphone Decision
How Cordless Telephones Work
Information about Digital Spread-Spectrum cordless phones

10
10.1

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Cordless telephone Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordless_telephone?oldid=712477345 Contributors: Damian Yerrick, Jpatokal,

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