Cordless phone is a portable phone that gives you the freedom to talk over the phone when you are moving in your house or around the house. Basically, cordless phone works like a standard phone, but it has more advantages in comparison to the standard phone. If we talk about the history, then George Sweigert is said to be the father of the cordless phone. He was awarded with a patent for `full duplex wireless communications apparatus` in 1969. But the first cordless phone came into view in 1980s.



Frequency of initial cordless phones was 27 MHz, but they used to face certain problems like narrow range, inferior sound quality and risk of security breach. Later in 1986, FCC approved for 47 - 49 MHz frequency range and in 1990, 900 MHz frequency range was granted. After that cordless phones became quite popular. In 1994, the first digital cordless phones were launched with a frequency of 900 MHz. FCC granted 2.4 GHz range for the cordless phones in 1994.

A cordless phone has two basic components i.e. base and handset. Regular phone jack is affixed to the base like a standard phone wire connection. It receives the electrical signal for the incoming calls and then transmits that signal to the handset. The handset transfers that signal to the speaker and you hear the sound or voice of the person who is calling. It transmits your voice into signal and sends it back to the base.

The base turns the received signal into an electrical signal and sends it across to the person on the other side via phone line. The whole process performs so rapidly that you hardly face any delay in the transmission of the signals.

The transmission of the signals is based on the duplex frequency which is a combination of the frequency between the handset and the base that allows you to talk on the phone. The base of the cordless phone is plugged into the electricity switch and the handset consists of a rechargeable battery which gets charged when the handset is put on the base.

In order to understand the working of the cordless phone, you need to comprehend the anatomy of the cordless phone in detail. The base is plugged into the telephone jack. It contains phone line interface that is responsible to send and receive signals via phone line. There is a radio that strengthens the signals to and from phone line interface, speaker phone and user controls. The power supply provides low voltage power to the circuits and recharges the battery of the headset.

Besides these components, there are audio amplifiers that enable you to talk hands free, keypads to dial the destination number, LCDs as to display the caller`s identity, LED indicators that enable you to dial the number in dim light or complete darkness and solid state memory that assist in functioning of answering machine and call back facility.

The handset is a wireless device and you can carry it with you wherever you want, within the provided range of the transmitter of the base. It also has a microphone, speaker, dialing keypad and an equipment of a FM radio transmitter and receiver. A buzzer or ringer rings when there is an incoming call. The LCD displays the caller`s identity. The LED lighting enables you to dial the destination number in dim light or in complete darkness. The handset is able to function due to the electrical supply by the rechargeable battery which gets recharged every time when the handset is kept on the base.

There is a variety of models available offering different features in the cordless phones. Initially the cordless phones were quite expensive. But with the ever growing competition, there is a big slash in the prices. Analog cordless phones are less expensive than the digital ones. When you shop for the cordless phone, buy one that meets all you needs. Give security the first preference. Consider the frequency it offers and the battery it contains.