EnGenius Cordless Phone Range

Your mileage may vary:

(above) An Engenius DuraFon system can cover about 3,000 acres on a farm or a ranch.

(above) EnGenius phones are often used in self-storage facilities where they can penetrate through metal doors and thick walls. They provide both outside calls and intercom conversations. (Photo from Liberty Building Systems).

(above) Coverage and range are worse in an urban environment than in a rural or suburban area.

(above) "Broadleaf" trees (hardwoods such as maple and oak) limit range more than "conifers" (evergreen softwoods such as pine and fir).

(above) Range is greater over water than over land. If you can get the base up high, you will probably increase the range.

(above) In prison? Fuggedaboud having long range.

(above) If you're going to be buried in a pyramid, don't bother taking a phone with you.

(above) Vertical penetration inside a building can be 12 floors.

EnGenius DuraFons have more power and more range than any other phone that's legal to use in the United States or Canada.

 

Straight-line "open field" range has been tested at over five miles. Typical range is a mile or two.

 

You can connect one or even two external antennas for additional range and coverage area.

 

Comments

& Info

Numbers are very important to lots of human beings, especially men. The male homo sapiens likes to know that his car has more horsepower, his stereo has more watts, his PC has more RAM, his TV has more inches, and his personal equipment is bigger... than the guy's next door.

 

With cordless phones, range is the important number, even though it's almost always unimportant. Most people seldom take a cordless handset more than 20 feet from its base. 100 feet will take you far beyond most homes, and a football field is just 300 feet long... yet lots of people are asking for phones that can go a mile or more, particularly for business and government use, and we have them.

 

It's tough to find a cordless with that kind of CONSISTENT range. The EnGenius cordless phones have the longest range of any cordless phone that can legally be used in the US, and their range can be 1/2 mile to 5 miles or even more, depending on conditions.

 

That brings us to an important point. Sometimes car commercials brag about gas mileage, and then weasel-out by stating that "your mileage may vary." It's that way with cordless phones, too. The advertised ranges are seldom equaled in the real world, and the same phone may behave very differently in two places, or even in the same place on two different days.

 

Cordless phones are generally able to maintain an existing conversation at a greater distance than they are able to start a conversation, and can ring at greater distances than they permit talking. With EnGenius DuraFons, you may be able to use text messaging in places where you can't have a verbal conversation.

 

Most "range-boosting" antennas -- unless designed by the maker of the cordless phone -- are useless.

 

With all else being equal, phones that operate on higher frequencies are usually better able to punch through dense walls, than phones operating on lower frequencies. HOWEVER, all things are seldom equal, and transmitting power may be more important than frequency.

 

When you move around while using an analog cordless phone, near the end of its range, you will probably hear a "fluttering" sh-sh-sh sound. In the same conditions, while using a digital phone, you will probably hear clicks.

 

Tip

Near the range limit of any cordless phone, slight movements and changes in position can make a big difference in performance. If you put your head between the handset and the base, you may lose the signal, but if you turn to let the handset be in line-of-sight with the base, it may work just fine.

RANGE TEST RESULTS
of original EnGenius SN-900
(The current DuraFons are more powerful.)

Wyle Laboratories, one of the nation's largest independent testing and engineering firms, tested "line of sight" range for the EnGenius SN-900 cordless phone at the US Army's Redstone Arsenal test facility in Huntsville, Alabama.

The maximum range, with the handset and base kept at ground level (using standard base antenna) exceeded the limits of the 16,300 ft. test range.

The first noise was noted at over 3124 feet from the base, and this noise was intermittent, and not present when the handset was not in motion. Steady noise was noted at 3758 feet, but the testing company indicated that the typical user would accept the sound quality at 7603 feet. Conversation was possible, but difficult, at over 16,300 feet (more than three miles).

Handset-to-handset conversations had greater range than base-to-handset. For example, steady noise in handset-to-handset conversations occurred at 8988 feet -- more than twice the distance for base-to-handset steady noise.

Wyle also conducted maximum range testing above ground level, with one unit on an open mountainside and the other on the top of an office building (height not specified). The testers obtained clear communications at about 5.5 miles!

These test results indicate the range under optimum "open field" conditions, and DO NOT indicate the range for a suburban or urban environment with hills, houses and other obstructions. If you want the greatest possible range, mount the base as high as possible, or install the optional external base antenna.

In AbleComm's own initial testing, we found about 1/2 mile range (with the standard base antenna) in a typical suburban environment, and excellent ability to punch through floors, walls and even elevators.

We don't have access to the Redstone Arsenal, but did put the base on a desk in room #404 at the Marriott Courtyard in Fishkill, NY; near a window facing west. We drove west on the NY Thruway, holding the handset outside the car. We still had good signal strength and audio when the odometer indicated .5 miles from a point on the Thruway approximately parallel to the Marriott.

In another test, we went north across several large parking lots, in a direction where the signal had to pass through several walls of the Marriott. It was not possible to drive in a straight line, so odometer readings were not useful; but we estimate we maintained good communication at about .3 - .4 miles, and were even able to have a (noisy) conversation from inside the nearby WalMart store.