DECT or WIFI

[claganga]

The other half wants a "cordless" phone and I can't decided between a DECT based or WIFI based SIP phone.

The DECT based stuff looks very interesting, I like the idea of a detail agnostic handsets connecting to a base station that takes care of protocol. I like the fact that another handset is relatively cheaper to add cost wise. I'm not a big fan of thinking every neighbor with a cordless phone will be running DECT, not to say the same neighbors don't have a wifi, but I tend to think more people will have a cordless phone then wifi.

The WIFI stuff is a little more expensive per handset. If need be I can add range by adding another AP and taking care of the roaming. I'm not sure of the DECT range. I guess I lean towards WIFI since my familiarity to it and love of control but can't argue a good case either way.

any opinions?

[sandibhatt]

My vote is for DECT6 - especially for the wife - women seem to like the nicer looking handsets availalbe on dect

[GreenLantern]

DECT for sure. Better range, better call quality, better prices for addon handsets.

[claganga]

Just as an update I went with Cisco WIP310 and it turned out to be a horrible POS. Dropped registrations ,dropped calls out, dropped wifi like there was no tomorrow. I'm currently moving to DECT so I can run the WIP over with my car asap

[lifespeed]

Just wanted to respond with my wifi experiences. My wife and I both have an iPhone and Android for our mobile phones (doesn't everybody by now?). Because of this, I did not see the reason to buy a dedicated cordless phone.

Instead, I installed Bria on both phones. It works perfectly, and our mobile phones are also our landline phones. Plus, some clever configuration causes our voip line to automagically forward to our mobile number when the phones are not registered (read not at home) to the VoIP server. A single number reaches us via landline or mobile. It is really nice to get the voip sound quality instead of mobile, without telling the caller "let me call you back on the landline - I am at home now".

So wifi can be a great option, especially when one has the desire for a single number to reach you at home or mobile. But you need a good wireless access point for reliable converage of your house. I recommend the Engenius EAP9550.

If you just want a stand-alone cordless phone, then the advantages and integration provided by wifi and SIP on your smartphone are moot. In this case I would suggest DECT.