by It used to be that if you had a landline home phone that wasn’t cordless you were behind the times. Now cordless phones are far less of a necessity since only half of American households still use landline phones. This decrease in numbers is because most Americans see no need in having the additional financial expense of a home phone when most individuals use their cell phone.
History of the Cordless Phone
The first cordless phone was invented in 1965 by jazz musician Teri Pall. Terri’s phone was not originally marketable because it needed to operate through radio signals and only had a two mile range. Even though Teri had a revolutionary invention she was not able to further develop it and sold her rights to her cordless radio phone. However, Teri is recognized as being the founder of the cordless communication that leads to the invention of cellular communication.
Over the next decade and a half inventors worked to find a way to turn Teri’s cordless radio phone into a phone that could be massed produced for the home consumer. In 1980 the first home cordless phone that operated on a 27-megahertz (MHz) frequency was developed. However, it wasn’t until the 1990’s that cordless phones became more mainstream with the introduction of the 900 (MHz) frequency and the 2.4 GHz frequency.
By 1999 more than 40% of adults owned cell phones and home phone usage slowly began to decline in popularity brining us to our current day findings that less than half of American households still utilize home phones.
Is There Any Value of Having A Cordless Phone Today?
There is still value in having cordless phones today and modern cordless phones have evolved to be compatible with our smartphones. Today’s cordless phones have Bluetooth capabilities and can link to your cell phone so that you can share contacts and make and receive phone calls from your cell phone, but on your cordless home phone. Here are some other valuable reasons to have a cordless phone:
- If you still have a home phone your cordless phone offers you the freedom of mobility and multi-tasking.
- Many building entry systems require phones to buzz guests in. Cell phones can be used, but a cordless may be more convenient.
- If you are in a remote area or building with poor cell phone reception a landline is still needed.
- Cordless phones are still popular in many business settings in which employees need mobility.
- Many people like the safety net of having landlines when there are weather conditions or natural disasters that affect cell phone towers. During power outages your cordless phone will not work since its base plugs in to the wall so you would still need a backup landline phone with a cord.
Even though the market for cordless phones has greatly reduced due to the popularity of cell phones, they are far from obsolete. While home phone use continues to decline cordless phones will still have a place in many business settings and homes outside of cell phone tower range. While cordless phones are less and less popular they will always be remembered as the forefather of our modern day cell phones.
