Motorola Adds 5.8GHz Cordless To Lineup
By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 9/15/2003
Atlanta— Motorola became the latest cordless phone manufacturer to hop onto the 5.8GHz bandwagon with the announcement of its MD600 series of 5.8GHz digital phones available this October.
The MD600 consists of two models, the MD671 and MD681 and an accessory handset, the MD61. Both models are expandable to six handsets from a single base station and will ship with one handset in the box.
Standard features across the line include non-slip rubberized grips, frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), a base with keypad, speakerphone and caller ID display.
The models will also offer a built-in handset-to-handset intercom, eight ring tones, 50 name/number phone directly and VibraCall alert — a quiet, vibrating alert to notify users of an incoming call. The phones use a NiCd battery pack with up to eight-hours of battery life or a five-day standby life.
The step-up MD681 offers a digital answering machine with 15 minutes of recording time and remote message access. The MD681 will retail for a suggested $179.99, the MD671 for $159.99 and the MD61 accessory handset will retail for a suggested $79.99.
The move to 5.8GHz was made in part to offer consumers an interference-free spectrum, said Cortlandt Minnich, category manager, cordless telephony, Motorola. "The 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz spectrum is becoming more crowded with so many new household items running on those frequencies," Minnich said.
