Do cordless phones use a lot of electricity?

mookybargirl

I need to buy a couple of phones and have had cordless ones before I was money saving. Do these use up a lot of electricity as it seems they're constantly on charge?

Should I buy cordless or just plain ordinary phones?
Any advice appreciated.

crocker

make sure you buy a digital secure cordless or a neighbour close by with a scanner will evesdrop your calls

linda-ann

Don't know if they will use much electric, but I have a cordless upstairs and an ordinary one downstairs in the sitting room.I have the ordinary one because if there is a power cut (and we had had one the other week) the cordless phone doesn't work.

tawnyowls

It should be minimal. My cordless phone is plugged into an adaptor with an output of 9V and 500mA. Using Ohm's law, watts = amps X voltage, thus 9 X 0.5 = 4.5 W, which is very low (a normal bulb uses 100W, an energy-saving 100W equivalent bulb uses 20W).

kittiwoz

You normally use 100W/100W equivalent light bulbs! You must have huge rooms ours are all 60 or 80. Still 4.5Watts isn't masses, 39.42 kWh over the year so in the region of £4 on your bill. Having said that it is energy you don't need to be using so neither money saving nor environmentally friendly.

We had cordless phones for a while which belonged to an ex-housemate but I found them really annoying and we switched back after they moved out even though they left the phones. I found that they didn't retain charge long enough for a long chat with my parents and the reception wasn't brilliant so you had to wander around with them trying to find a good spot which I found more of a pain than just sitting next to the phone.

Also I think if you do have a cordless phone you really should have an ordinary one too because, as Linda-Ann says, the cordless type don't work in a power-cut. So is there is a power cut and someone trips on the stairs in the dark or you knock over a candle or oil lamp an start a fire then you can't use it to call the emergency services. Even if you also have a mobile it is always preferable to make an emergency call on a landline if possible because it is easier for them to trace the call.

Millennium

I have cordles phones but in case of an emergency I have one fixed phone downstairs, and one in the bedroom.

Make sure you could dial 999 or 112 in the dark! Use the little blob on the number 5 to help you find it then you can easily find the 9, 1 and 2!

Off topic - but do your kid's know that 112 works in all EU countries for emergency services? (Not sure if new members had adopted this yet but they will).