EnGenius SN920ULTRA 900 MHz DSS Expandable Cordless Phone

by EnGenius

Product Details

Product Manual [581kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000056V7S
• Item model number: SN920ULTRA
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 27, 2001

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Create your own cordless network with the EnGenius industrial cordless phone system. This phone combines the flexibility and features of a cordless phone with the power of a two-way radio. Plus, the EnGenius transmits at up to 900 milliwatts--about four times the power of most cordless phones--for a range in excess of 8.8 miles and the ability to penetrate up to 12 floors inside a building. This phone is ideal for communication throughout a warehouse, office building, or farm.

This EnGenius system consists of a base unit, one handset, a NiMH battery pack with 80-minute fast charger, and two AC/DC adapters. Each base unit can support up to nine handsets (sold separately), and each handset can be registered with up to four base units. The system is expandable to up to four lines with four base units and 36 handsets. Network features include hold, call transfer, call manager, and a programmable ring feature that allows you to select each handset to ring with every incoming call or only ring for transferred/intercom calls.

The EnGenius system features full-duplex capability that allows handsets to communicate with each other as two-way radios. A long antenna is included with each handset to maximize range in open areas. Independent of the base, full-duplex capability lets you talk and listen at the same time with no group chatter and with the convenience and comfort of a phone handset. Digital spread spectrum technology means the phone hops frequencies more than 200 times per second, ensuring privacy.

Other phone features include call waiting and caller ID compatibility, 30 presets for speed dialing, selectable three-level ringer volume, and six-level voice volume. The handset operates on a NiMH rechargeable battery for three hours of talk time and 40 hours of standby time. A trickle charger is included, and you can even charge the battery while a caller is on hold at the base unit.

This phone comes with a one-year warranty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars EnGenius SN920 Ultra, December 13, 2001

By 

Paul Schluter (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: EnGenius SN920ULTRA 900 MHz DSS Expandable Cordless Phone (Office Product)

My principal reasons for purchasing the EnGenius SN920 Ultra were:
1) supported multiple remote handsets
2) could be expanded to support multiple incoming lines
3) operated in the 900MHz band

The 900MHz band was a key issue, since I planned to install an IEEE 802.11b RF LAN, which operates in the 2.4GHz band. This ruled out any of the 2.4GHz phone systems, since they would interfere with the phone and vice-versa.

The EnGenius SN920 works fine from a technical standpoint, but there are numerous quirks about the phone, especially with regards to 'human factors' issues:

1) Voice quality is good, but not as good as a Motorola STARtac. This is surprising since the SN920 uses ADPCM digital encoding. Also, the speaker has very poor low frequency response, likely due to the small size of the phone, and is nowhere as good as a traditional corded phone.

2) A very annoying trait is that when you pick up the phone from its cradle, the caller ID info disappears! This forces you to crouch down to view the caller ID, which is inconvenient.

3) When the phone is not in its cradle, you answer it by pressing 'TALK', which is fine. Unfortunately there is no way to configure the phone to require 'TALK' to be pressed when it is picked up from its cradle, so picking up the phone that is already in a cradle versus not in a cradle is *different* and annoying. Half the time, we have to press 'TALK' twice, since you shouldn't press 'TALK' after you pick it up from a cradle. Although this sounds like a trivial nit, it really is a hassle.

4) I would not recommend this phone for older people, especially those who have arthritis. The phone is smaller and heavier than most, but it is too heavy for a moderately infirm person to hold for a long time. The buttons are also harder to push. The phone was designed this way for heavy-duty industrial environments, but it does make it difficult to use if you are 80 years old and have arthritis.

So, keep these issues in mind if you are considering this phone. From a system design standpoint, the ability to add multiple lines and handset is great, and the fact that it operates in the 900MHz is a major plus if you are planning to install a 802.11b RF LAN. (I'm surprised that cordless phone system vendors are not considering this issue more; I've talked to Apple and Siemens and they have confirmed that 2.4GHz phones and 802.11b RF LANs can and do interfere with each other.)

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent for Long Range, September 18, 2001

By 

"joegi" (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: EnGenius SN920ULTRA 900 MHz DSS Expandable Cordless Phone (Office Product)

Buy only if long range is an absolute requirement and you can put up with less-than-ideal battery life.

I live in a difficult area for signal reception and tried many cordless phones. The EnGenius 920 sported a fair price for a long range phone. I initially bought 2 handsets and planned to standardize on this phone throughout my house, but eventually returned one due to the poor battery life.

There are many long range phones available, but only a few that are legally FCC certified in the United States. Most of the longest range phones use military frequencies and are sold for export only. So I tried the EnGenius because it was legally certified and the price was fair. It also has a great sized handset which is Nokia-style. It looks like a phone rather than a walkie talkie, which is nice.

The long range works for an impressive radius like down the block, across the ranch, or on different floors, but not quite long enough for boat or car use. The optional external antenna works well too. If you can reasonbly install it on a roof top or away from obstructions, it will increase the range especially in open air.

The biggest issue is the battery life. It comes with an older Ni-MH battery and claims 40 hours standby. But in actual use, if you make a few phone calls of any length and standby the rest of the time, the battery is dead by the end of the day.

Also the sound quality is not perfect, the volume cannot be raised high enough in my opinion (when outdoors in noise), and the phone echoes your own speech a little bit, which can be annoying.

Battery and sound quality reminds me of a 1990 era phone, before Lithium Ion batteries and small cell phones that seem to last forever. Even your basic home cordless phone has been designed for much better talk-ability, battery life, and comfort.

If you must have the long distance, this is a good phone. I will be keeping one of mine. But for good talk-ability and general home use, I would not buy this as your only phone. You would find it more convenient to have a couple phones, using a standard cordless phone that feels better and lasts a long time, and one EnGenius for only the times you must roam farther from the base station.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well Built Nokia 6100 series clone, April 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: EnGenius SN920ULTRA 900 MHz DSS Expandable Cordless Phone (Office Product)

This phone is almost identical to a Nokia 6100 series phone, which I happen to like. It weighs more and has less battery life, but the size and feel is the same. It is an industrial phone and for its small size feels like a brick. I installed the phone without the external base antenna and received reception about 1/2 mile from my home. I live in a wooded area. The phone battery is a metal hydride and can be recharged without memory problems like nickel cad. I really like this phone. The build quality is outstanding and most of the other cordless phones I've owned just feel flimsy. You can't hold this phone against your head while typing because of it's small size, this along with the battery life are the only reasons I can't rate it 5 stars. The small size is also an advantage, you can fit this phone into the same case as the Nokia 5100/6100 series phones.