What is the Difference Between a Cellular Phone and a Cordless Phone?
When Alexander Graham Bell discovered the power of the human voice in 1876, Americans swarmed to experience the new technology for themselves. Phones quickly became a common household item. However, it took more than a hundred years for phones to become portable.
The cellular phone and cordless phone both share a common ancestry. They both served to allow humankind to get up and move while talking on the phone. Also, both the cellular phone and cordless phone were prototyped in the 1970s. From that point, however, cellular phones and cordless phones have evolved perpendicularly, each finding a niche in the domestic market. So, what makes the cellular phone and cordless phone different?
Calls Heard 'Round the World
The cellular phone and cordless phone both make the world seem smaller than it is. A family separated by continents due to work or social circumstances can maintain a daily emotional connection, even as their separation prohibits regular cultural sharing.
Cellular phones were invented to be taken on the road. As such, cellular phone companies divide their service area into "cells," with each cell containing its own tower. That way, calls can travel easily through a cell, or from cell to cell if necessary, sometimes traveling thousands of miles to reach their destinations. Cordless phones, provide a smaller range of mobility, and most cordless phone customers can only get a clear phone call within a range of 100-200 meters of the base. Since cordless phones are typically used within a short distance of the home anyway, this limitation is usually tolerated.
The available features of the cellular phone and cordless phone differ as well. Cellular phones, which have become the new virtual assistant of the working class, offer users the ability to send text messages, record video and music, surf the Internet and check their e-mail, all while traveling in between work and school. Cordless phones, since they are connected to a landline, don't offer much more than standard phone features such as caller ID, call forwarding and speed dialing. As cordless phones attempt to compete with other portable communicators, manufacturers are adding voicemail and other answering services. Newer model phones also provide paging and intercom services.
It may seem that technology favors the cellular phone over the practical uses of the modern cordless phone, but as different styles of phones compete for consumer attention, manufacturers continue to widen the scope of use. And while cellular phones clearly reign supreme in regards to "extras," they also provide users an "extra" danger in the form of radio frequency energy. Cell phone companies are becoming increasingly aware of the potential dangers of radio waves and are taking the appropriate steps to make cell phones safer.
Written by Jenn Ratliff
