From: sung@concert.net (Wayne Sung)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Panasonic and Tropez 900 MHz Phones
Date: 23 Nov 92 02:56:52 GMT
Organization: TELECOM Digest
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 868, Message 1 of 8

I recently had the chance to use both the Panasonic and Tropez 900 MHz
phones.  Here is a quick comparison. Note that these are subjective --
I didn't try to make any measurements.

Range: Tropez gives almost three times the range outdoors, a small
amount extra indoors. I can get two houses down the street with the
Panasonic, more than six with the Tropez. Indoors, I cannot get from
my desk to my machine room with the Panasonic (less than 100 ft but
through several walls). The Tropez makes it, although there are some
dead spots. As long as it rings, I can always take it into another
room to answer.

Fidelity: Panasonic sounds better than Tropez, although both are very
good.  In particular, under some circumstances the Tropez audio will
have a low level clicking to it. There is also some gating noticeable
on the Tropez in a noisy room. Neither had any static (49 MHz phones
do not work at all in my machine room - all they do is buzz). Dropouts
are quite abrupt on both, i.e. near the range limit the audio will
come and go rather than have increasing noise.

Convenience: Panasonic is smaller, and has a belt clip. It is smaller
because the mouthpiece folds, and also the antenna is shorter. The
clip that holds the mouthpiece looked flimsy, though. Also, Panasonic
supplies two batteries with the phone. There is a charging slot in the
base for the spare pack. No wires are used in the Panasonic packs, the
Tropez pack has a pair of wires and a connector. The Panasonic can be
switched totally off, the Tropez is always in standby (even though
there is an off button).

Operation: The Tropez has a dial in the base, the Panasonic does not.
Both have page/intercom. The Tropez further allows the handset to
prevent the base from conferencing into a call. Normally a tone
indicates that the base has been added. When out of range, the Tropez
will start beeping as you exceed range whether a call in in progress
or not. The Panasonic only indicates during a call. Both allow you
time to get back in range before disconnecting.

The Tropez has a problem (perhaps only with documentation) with the
out-of- range signal. The manual says press any key to stop this
signal. Pressing 'off' does _not_ stop it, nor does pressing any of
the function keys. Only the main pad keys do it. Also, if you stop the
out-of-range signal and then attempt to get a line while still out of
range, the phone seems to buffer up the line button: press line, no
dial tone, press again (maybe a few times).  This can result in the
phone beeping several minutes (a fast beep, different from the
out-of-range signal).

Also if you disconnect the base to move it, you will cause the
security code to change in the base but not necessarily the handset.
You will have to put the handset in the base for maybe half a minute
for them to resync. Otherwise you get either no response or a lot of
noise. There are three pins that connect the base to the phone -- two
carry DC and the third is a data link. The line is answered upon
removing the phone from the base, no separate switch is required. The
Panasonic necessarily requires opening the mouthpiece to answer.

Misc: Both phones state that they run at maximum power allowed for
their respective types of operation, but that maximum range may not be
attainable in actual oeration. However, neither one specifically says
what range to expect. There is also no mention of battery operation
time. Tropez doesn't even say how long the warranty is.

I would judge the Tropez to be the more capable phone, especially
since the voice is digitized. However, it is quite a bit less costly
than the Panasonic even considering I saw the Panasonic at two
discount stores and the Tropez at a phone store which normally has
everything priced higher.