I think the reasoning is that:
- not many people (relatively speaking) want extra bases (so, quantities are lower, shelf space gets wasted on products with low turnover, etc.)
- people who want more, can *afford* to pay more (for the convenience of having interchangeable handsets)
Be careful running multiple bases concurrently. Some may not like this.
You also want to be careful what frequency they are on. One of my neighbors is on 900mz and I get them on my wireless headset. I had to move my audio to another channel.
I'm figuring by now, several years later, base stations have broken or they've upgraded, so Ebay would be the place for extra handesets.
I figured he meant it was a spare, for when the first one breaks, like I have it.
I'm on my third set of batteries now...
Yeah, I didn't know what else to call it.
Mine has short jumper wires inside the wiring block. When I remove the tape holding the batteries together, I can seperate the batteries enough to reach in and disconnect the terminals.
Thankfully, my new batteries came assembled as a unit with a new wiring block.
When I replaced my UPS batteries, my computer setup was using about 90 watts (CPU, monitor, cable modem, router, and phone adapter). I was able to run a bit over 70 minutes on battery power.
A couple weeks ago I bought a new monitor and the total power draw dropped to about 70 watts. My UPS claims I can run 90 minutes now, but I haven't tested it since changing monitors.
Anthony Watson
If you, instead, just slide the block "away" from (one of the) battery's connectors, you'll see that the jumper wires are held captive *in* the block and it's just like you are slipping a two-wire connector off the battery. Repeat for the other battery (usually sliding the opposite direction).
It's also handy when you want to assemble a battery pack: make sure the jumper wires are in place, then slide the block onto one battery, hold it in place and slide the second battery on. Apply tape.
Yeah, my power requirements are considerably higher; one of my primary workstations has a 4-head video card, the other has two dual-head cards. Plus SCSI HBA's. Plus any other I/O's (tablet, motion controller, etc.) that I may be using to interact with the application(s).
Of course, having *just* the computer (and monitors) backed up is often not enough. E.g., if the 24 port switch in the office glitches, then anything happening there (or whatever I'm talking to) is suspect. Likewise for NAS boxes, etc.
Like NOT being "just a little" pregnant!
I mainly want protection from dropouts, brownouts, etc. If the power is going to fail, I can drag out a laptop. But, I'd hate to lose what I am working on just because the lights flickered... It's also amusing how easy it is to FORGET what (exactly) you were doing when the screen unexpectedly goes black!
Exactly. As I pointed out, new ones can be had for ~$50, for a base with answering machine and 3 or 4 handsets. Plus then you get all new batteries, the new ones are better, etc. I'm about ready myself. On my 15 year old Panasonic, one of the handsets, the LCD display is shot, on another it's getting less visible.
Ironically, when the power does go out I know I can still keep working on the UPS power for a while. So, I'm usually in no hurry to shut things down and stop working. Of course, at some point the battery power runs out and the system shuts down automatically. It's my own fault for not stopping gracefully when I had warning, but I get a false sense of endless power and just keep working. :)
Anthony Watson
If I'm doing something interactive, I can just remember to "save" often... until the floor falls out from under me. But, I have to make a point of remembering what "set of things" I was trying to accomplish at the time. So, if I got A, B and F done, I will remember to come back and tackle C, D and E, later!
E.g., I'm presently reconfiguring BIND9 on my 24/7 box. The configuration file is several hundred lines of "settings" -- in no particular order (well, there's an order, of course, but not one that you can easily remember your place: "I got through the G's..."). So, I know to leave breadcrumbs for myself -- a line of "*********" that I cut and paste into the general place I'm working from time to time (in case my telnet(1) session abends, power fails or I get careless and close the session or editor prematurely)
The real pisser is when I'm rendering a 3D animation or something that the machine just crunches on for a *really* long time -- it usually can't be "resumed" if the power drops out in the middle.
When the power goes out, the cellphone works for me. I'm sure people will say it's not as reliable as copper, etc, but IMO, not worth all the worrying about extreme hypothetical situations. Each has it's advantages and disadvantages.
I have been through several hurricanes here in Florida. Internet is the first thing to go. Power failures will take that out, even if it is not bad where you are. Anything up on a pole is going to go early too so power is at risk. Cell phones are going to be spotty and cable TV is worse. Phone infrastructure is buried in my area and I have never lost my POTS phone and my DBS satellite comes back as soon as the sky clears. Broadcast TV was still there in the storm.
Thanks for the real world report. I've kept my POTS line for the power cuts that happen now and again. I suspect the cell phone would go down after a while, as the backup batteries discharge. Well, same for POTS, but some time later. During the 2003 ice storm, I was without power four days. Cell and POTS kept working.
The extra base was very useful when the first one failed.
These ARE interchangeable. I bought another set of the same model.
I never did. The second base was to replace the first one when it failed.
With some of the older (pre-900MHz?) cordless phones, you had to exchange it with one that used a different channel if you had interference. IIRC, 900MHz devices let you change the channel. Later ones should automatically find a clear channel.
That's right. And I needed it too, when the answering machine in the first base failed.
When we had a tornado last year, cell phone service was unreliable (probably overloaded and dropping calls), but was working OK in less than an hour. Wired phone was out for 5 days.
In the previous major outage (hurricane Ike), wired phone was out for a couple of days. Cell worked all that time.
It was the same here in NJ after Sandy. I had cell service the whole time. Landline in my specific area, I can't say, because I don't have it, but given the extent of lines down all over and that many shore towns the poles and everything were kaput, I think a lot of landline service was out. In many of those badly damaged shore towns, Verizon will not be putting copper back in, it's gone for good.
What makes POTS so good here is when Sprint bought UTS, they replaced just about everything with lots of fiber and virtually all of it is in the ground. They put fiber in front of my house but Century Link never used it and now it appears to be abandoned. A "locate" only comes up with 2 services and there used to be 3. When Century Link replaced the pedestals, the installer said he never heard anything about a fiber.
So, at least one handset lived without a charging cradle; or, you had the second base set up strictly as a charging cradle (hoping that it wouldn't try to talk to the handsets?)
+1
I've *never* (in my lifetime) had a "phone outage" (have lost power, water, and natural gas, but never phone).
Had a problem with a line once that I traced to a length of quad that had fallen onto the top of the furnace (and, eventually, degraded the insulation enough to cause a partial short).
Here (below grade services), had a problem that interfered with DSL (but not voice) that was probably a result of moisture infiltration in the cable (the linesman just moved us over to a "better" pair).
Watched a city worker once drive the post for a street sign THROUGH the cable feed for the neighborhood (with a pneumatic hammer). I suppose he could just as easily have caught the phone, instead -- but I think it is buried deeper (CATV is really "cheap", IME, when it comes to installation)
Century link is trying to delay a full FiOS installation here so they went through and tuned up all the copper. I get a solid 10mb on my DSL and that seems to be fast enough for anything I am doing. I think they have a way of doubling up on the pairs and getting me 20meg but I am not willing to spend more. My "central office" actually a fiber hub, is right up the road.
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