Despite having been around longer than internet based communications, cordless handsets feel like they belong with modern VOIP telephony. Part of the furniture in offices everywhere, the technology behind cordless phones has largely been left unchallenged for the best part of three decades, while all around change has happened at break neck speed.
That is until someone struck on the idea of running wireless telephones using WiFi. It is an ingenious idea – we already connect desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones to broadband remotely using WiFi, so why not telephones? Why have a separate protocol and network just to link phones to PBXs (phone systems) on the internet, when offices all now have WiFi hubs anyway?
With no specialist hardware needed, business telephone costs could be driven down even further than they have been already in the Cloud age. The cool thing about WiFi phones is that you could potentially roam anywhere in the world with the same handset, making all you internal office calls for free using the internet.
Reliable Standard
You might expect WiFi enabled telephones to have swept the market already, banishing the old technology to legacy status. But that hasn’t happened.
The reason Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telephone (DECT) technology has lasted so long is it is extremely good at what it does. DECT is a cellular system designed specifically to transmit voice, and nothing else. It connects your handset to the office network using a specific transmission frequency, avoiding risks of interference and giving extremely reliable connectivity within broadcasting range.
In effect, DECT can be likened to having your very own mobile network in your office.
Wrong Tool for the Job?
WiFi was not designed to transmit voice. Like DECT and mobile phones, WiFi uses radio waves to transmit signals from one place to another. The difference is in how WiFi standards interpret this data.
Voice needs to be processed in real time, and in the right order, for spoken conversations to remain intelligible. Designed with the transfer of computer data in mind, the way WiFi packages and unpackages the data it sends and receives makes no allowance for order and priority; computer systems are very good at unscrambling data, and slight delays in processing make little difference to how programmes work.
In practice, while WiFi can and does transmit voice, it is less reliable than DECT. Especially when WiFi hubs are being used to carry signals from other devices, the high wavelength demands of transmitting VOIP wirelessly can lead to connection issues, or call dropout. And because voice is not given its own dedicated signal with priority over others, packaging issues can affect the quality of calls made over WiFi.
DECT versus WiFi?
So, in conclusion, at this moment in time you now have TWO options. WiFi of DECT.
Don’t be afraid of WiFi, in fact in my experience it works really well, it just depends on the environment you’re wanting to use it in. If you need ultimate reliability, un-disturbed quality and security stick to DECT for now.
Comparing one to the other it might come down to cost also. DECT is generally a lower price than a WiFi phone however again it depends on your requirements and the complexity of the environment.
DECT Phone Brands
Here’s a list of DECT phone vendors. Some of these are specialist brands for large or specialist deployments and some are ideal for small office use. Always check compatibility before purchasing.
- Ascom
- Spectralink (was KIRK / Polycom)
- Mitel
- Avaya
- Aastra (now Mitel)
- Panasonic
- Siemens
- BT
- Doro
- Alcatel
- Engenius
WiFi Phone Brands
Here’s a list of WiFi phone vendors. These brands typically work with IP or cloud based phone systems. Always check compatibility before purchasing.
- Cisco
- Mitel
- Avaya
- Snom (now VTech)
- Yealink
Rate this review. If you have used any of these and would like to share your opinion and rating please comment below.
