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DECT is the acronym given to the new digital cordless telephony standard available in the UK (and Europe). DECT systems are far superior to their analogue cousins in a number of respects and users of DECT are nearly always delighted with the improvement compared to an old analogue cordless phone:

Why should I want to use DECT instead of a standard cordless phone?

• Standard analogue cordless phones can easily be listened to by anyone with a cheap radio scanner, which are freely available from Tandy, et al. DECT is digital and therefore means eavesdropping is almost impossible and very expensive to do.
• DECT offers improved clarity of call and a greater usuable distance compared to Analogue cordless
• Most analogue cordless phones operate on one of only 8 frequencies, so interference from another phone is common. DECT uses 120 channels which means you will never suffer from interference from another handset.
• Digital handset registration prevents any unauthorised handset using the base station, unlike analogue cordless phone systems.
• The DECT specifications define range should be a maximum of 500m, but manufacturers always quote a maximum of 300m.

You can connect up multiple handsets on one base station providing a free method of calling other connected handsets, calls can also be transferred from handset to handset.

• CT1: This is the standard analogue system described above
• CT2: Rabbit, Phonepoint, etc - first generation digital cordless handsets, not as good sound quality as DECT. 2nd hand systems can be bought, but a modern DECT phone will cost little more.
• other digital systems: it is possible to purchase and use illegal imported digital handsets from abroad. These are illegal on 2 points: firstly they have no type approval from BABT and secondly they also blast out a very strong radio signal which will mean that you'll be rumbled in no time at all. (And the phone may well suffer from interference from whatever is using that frequency legally.)

Generic Access Protocol is a standard adopted in Summer 1996 by DECT manufacturers and this ensures that if DECT equipment is GAP compliant it can operate with any other piece of GAP compliant DECT equipment. This only extends to basic specifications and therefore phonebooks, CLI and answerphone features may not work.

What are the technical specifications of DECT?

DECT is a low power digital transmission system using TDMA at 1880-1900MHz, with a peak power output of 250mW. This makes it significantly less powerful than a mobile phone for example, which can operate at up to 2W (2000mW). This is why DECT phones are widely used in hospitals, while mobile remain banned. The power output makes interface a much smaller risk. If there are any health implications with a mobile phone, again this will be much reduced with DECT.

Who are these phones made by?

DECT has been established longer on continental Europe than in the UK so a lot of the manufacturers are based in Europe, or South East Asia where DECT technology is also becoming more and more popular.