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From: barefoot@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Heath Roberts)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: AT&T Cordless Phones, Security, Flexible Antennas
Message-ID: <16506@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 28 Jan 91 19:34:54 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 76, Message 4 of 9


In article <16478@accuvax.nwu.edu> ho@hoss.unl.edu (Tiny Bubbles...)
writes:

>1.  Are flexible antennas any good?  They sell them for ten bucks or
>    so at the local discount store (genuine AT&T), but they're pretty
>    short compared to the "whip" that comes with it.  Do they work as
>    well as the whip?  (Too bad they can't retract.)

They have less range than the telescoping antennas, but still work very
well. I have one and only notice a difference at the edges of reception.
Sound quality is still excellent.

>2.  Without divulging anything nasty, how secure is the security code?
>    Are voice transmissions scrambled by the key, or is it just the 
>    dialing codes?  I ask because recent rulings say that monitoring
>    a radio broadcast from a cordless phone is not a "wiretap," and I
>    wonder if my phone is safe.  That's a big consideration for me, and
>    it's one of the reasons I buy AT&T cordless phones.

If you want encrypted audio, start looking for digital transmission.
You could maybe get a couple of Motorola walkie-talkies with their DES
scrambling module (this'd work great for cordless telephone -- good
sound, three or four mile range w/o a repeater....) but that'll run
you about $1K per radio, plus the security modules.

I don't think you'll find any consumer telephone on the market that
actually has secure communications. AT&T's security simply sets a key
number in the base and handset each time they're mated, which prevents
someone sitting outside your house from using your telephone line with
another handset. Cordless conversations are definitely legal to
receive (cellular too, but law enforcement can't use information from
cell telephones without a warrant).


Heath Roberts
NCSU Computer and Technologies Theme Program
barefoot@catt.ncsu.edu