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In the twenty-first century, corded phones may seem old, outdated, even anachronistic. After all, cordless phones that provide freedom of movement have been available for decades, with features that match those of corded models. And today, Voice over IP (VoIP) services can provide costs far below those of traditional telephone service, especially for international calling.

Even so, a simple, inexpensive corded telephone is an important possession, and I intend to always have one in my home, if only for emergency use.

Growing up, I learned that even if there was an electrical blackout, the corded telephone would still work, since it ran off the small amount of current available on the telephone company's wiring.

Most cordless models, on the other hand, have bases which require power from a home's electrical wiring, and will stop working if the power goes off. Although some cordless bases have compartments for backup batteries, not all do, and of course backup batteries must be tested and periodically changed. VoIP requires power as well, to maintain an outbound network connection - and some VoIP services can't be used for emergency calls to 9-1-1.

Of course, it's certainly possible to buy an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) and plug your network equipment and cordless phone base into it, thus providing power to them through short outages - but a corded phone is simpler, less expensive, and will work through power outages of any length.

Another advantage corded phones have over certain cordless phones is lack of interference from other equipment. Most homes today have microwave ovens, and many also have wireless networks using the 802.11b or 802.11g standards. Both of these technologies emit energy at frequencies near 2.4 gigahertz, which is also one of the most commonly used frequencies for cordless phones. Although a wireless network or cordless phone is unlikely to affect a microwave oven, a cordless phone and a network might affect each other, and either might get interference near a microwave oven that's in use.

Learn more about this author, Dan Birchall.
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