Wireless networks and wireless phones

[cdwillie76]

I am looking to upgrade my wireless phones at home and figuring out what I should do with my wireless network. Here is what I have now:

900Mhz phones and a 802.11b wireless network.

I know if I upgrade to 2.4Ghz phones, major interference problems will come up. I am looking to upgrade my phones to where there is one base station and the others are just handsets. (Need to do this becuase I am about to switch my phone service to http://www.vonage.com. A VoIP home phone service...pretty cool stuff)

So here are the two options I have...any ideas would be great

1) Upgrade to 2.4Ghz phones and upgrade my network to 802.11a which runs at 5Ghz or somewhere around there.

2) Upgrade to 5.8 Ghz phones and keep my 802.11b network and sometime upgrade it to a 802.11g whichs runs at 2.4Ghz but at the speeds on 802.11a.

Any suggestions/ideas would be great. And if this is the wrong fourm to post or I should look elsewhere, let me know!

Thanks
Chris

[Greenstead]

I guess there is no perfect solution. But I would not go for 802.11a at this time.

[markht]

I have had a 802.11b network and a Siemens 2.4 Ghz phone for the last 1 and 1/2 years, and I have had no problems with interference. The phone base unit and the 802.11b access point are about 15 feet apart.

I would get the 2.4 Ghz phone. If you have interference problems, trying setting the channel on your 802.11b network to the lowest or highest channels. Some people who report interference problems, claim this reduces or eliminates the interference. I have my 802.11b network on channel 6, right in the middle, and I have not seen any interference.

I would not recommend 802.11a.

[sray]

I have a 2.4Ghz Panasonic phone base unit sitting 3 feet away from my Netgear 802.11b base unit. Initially I picked up very mild static when I was two floors away on the phone. Switching channels on the phone fixed that problem.

I've not had any problems with microwaves either. Go figure.

I would recommend purchasing the phone from a store with a good return/trade policy and try for yourself. Don't rule out 2.4Ghz phone based on stuff you have read on the internet.

[unixfan]

The problem is, you have to find Spread Spectrum 2.4 Ghz phones and not Frequency Hopping, if it is the latter, it wouldn't matter what channel you set your AP to, you would get interferance.

[ysgi]

I have a Vtech cordless 2.4G phone and a wireless network (802.11b) and it works perfectly fine. I have never noticed interference either way with the phone.
However, I have had interference problems with the phone and the microwave. But I have never noticed a problem with the network and the microwave.

FWIW, I used to have a 915mhz network (years ago) and I had a 900mhz phone. I had MAJOR interference on the phone. It was the reason that I bought the Vtech.

-ysgi