[Faceplant]

Oddly, when I make or get a call on my V-Tech cordless 2.4 GHz phone, my connection to my AirPort drops. The only way to get it back, I have to quickly finish my pizza order, hang up, allow my 'puter to sleep and it seems to reset itself. Iknow there have been threads detailing peoples isues with spotty connectivity, and while this may be the answer, it is still frustrating. Any ideas? If I change the frequence of my Airport, how do i do that and what will it accomplish? Does that change the performance?

BTW, I have an iBook and am running Panther. I have two kids, two cats and one wife, if that makes any difference in my connection.

[John Strung]

You can't change the frequency of Airport. All 802.11b wireless devices run at 2.4GHz. Your only alternatives are to keep your cordless phone and its transmitter well away from your computer and your Airport Base Station, or get a cordless phone that runs at a different frequency.

[MrNo]

I have a Motorola 2.4 GHz phone, and same thing happens to me. Solution I found is that is I change the channel on the phone and I can get wireless connection again. I don't need to put my computer to sleep either, as long as the channel is changed.

[The Ayatollah]

Originally posted by Faceplant:
Oddly, when I make or get a call on my V-Tech cordless 2.4 GHz phone, my connection to my AirPort drops.

it's not odd, but expected. They operate on the same frequency. I have had similar troubles in the past. Changing the base station's channel helped sometimes, but was not a reliable solution. Ditching the 2.4GHz phone was. Besides, they're not really secure and throw your phone conversations all over the place. I do not make banking, financial, or other private transactions over cordless phones.

[ghporter]

The Ayatolla's advice about private transactions is very good; it's not hard to intercept most cordless phone conversations. The fact that most such phones are built to "keep you from being bothered" by other people's conversations doesn't keep an industrious person from tweaking his phone just a bit to intentionally pick up other people's conversations. In the US there's a federal law against using information you unintentionally intercept, and by extention, that you intercept intentionally and without permission.

Anyway, you'll find that different 2.4GHz phones give you various degrees of problems with your wireless network (AirPort or any other brand, 802.11b or 802.11g), depending on your signal quality, channel selected, etc.

Different brands of these cordless phones use the spectrum differently. Some use separate, discrete channel pairs between the base and the handset, while others change per call or on the fly. Your wireless network steps through specific transmit and receive frequencies in order, so your phone may step all over your network, or your network may just step around the phone, depending on what's happening. The only way to find out what happens is to try it or get reports from others who have.

[microcars]

and what is wrong with 900mhz phones?


they are dirt cheap now and work just as well, or better than 2.4ghz phones and they DON'T interfere with Airport.

we have both in the house and the 900 works great, (that's my phone..), I'm constantly yelling for my wife to CHANGE THE CHANNEL on HER Panasonic 2.4ghz phone because sometimes it picks the same channel Airport is using and the connection is dropped.