2.4 GHz PHONES SHOULD BE OUTLAWED

For the last few months, I have been battling with intermittent connection problems on my network. After hundreds of hard reboots on my router (which restored the connection for 10 minutes at a time), tweaking my settings (which did nothing) and enduring the complaints of my wife (and a neighbor who piggy backs my wireless connection), I was at the end of my rope. Suddenly, I remembered that the network at my father’s house occasionally made clicking sounds on his cordless phone. We fixed the problem by turning off the SSID broadcast from his wireless network. I realized that my problem began about the same time I purchased a new phone for my office. I reached over a couple feet, unplugged the offending phone and 30 seconds later, my network problems disappeared.

It would be easy to consider this a lesson relearned and an $80 dollar phone that needs a new home, except that 2.4 GHz cordless phones don’t have to be in your house to cause network problems. They are much higher power than WiFi devices and can wreak havoc on a large section of an apartment complex, a nearby business or on a half a block around your home. Here is a very technical description of WiFi Interference Problems.

Law makers should immediately make it illegal to sell any device that interferes on the WiFi spectrum in light of the widespread adoption of WiFi, the huge investment in the standard and the difficulty in overcoming interference, shouldn’t that bit of spectrum be protected? There are cordless phones on the 900 MHz and 5.4 GHz frequencies that don’t interfere, so it’s not a question of cordless phones versus wireless networks. At minimum, a warning label should be required that screams in 48 point type, “THIS DEVICE MAY DISABLE WIRELESS NETWORKS OPERATING NEAR BY.”

As a marketer, here is a great opportunity! Providing a solution to a problem that people are not aware of, while creating a little fear and uncertainty about another product, is a very effective way to get a consumer to make a decision!

If you sell 900 MHz or 5.8 GHz phones, raise the price above what you charge for 2.4 GHz phone. Print up some labels that say, “WON’T INTERFERE WITH YOUR WiFi NETWORK” and then below that, include “2.4 GHz devices may interfere with WiFi networks” and attach the labels to the 900 MHz and 5.4 GHz phones. Now, run a promotion for a great deal on 2.4 GHz phones and watch the sales for the 900 MHz and 5.4 GHZ phones jump while your 2.4 GHz phones stay glued to the shelf collecting dust.