Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications, abbreviated to DECT, is the name of a standard for the wireless transmission of telephone calls or data.
DECT is often used for cordless telephony in buildings and has established a strong presence in this market. A cordless phone with this standard usually consists of a DECT base station and one or more handsets.
The DECT base station is connected to the network by an analogue or digital phone line. It handles the radio part of the phone connectionand voice transmission with the handsets. Systems using the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications standard allow a single base station to support up to 6 cordless handsets. The frequency range uses various radio bands at around the 2 GHz range. A handset can be used at distances of up to 50 metres indoors and up to 300 metres in an open environment and reach standard data rates of 32 kilobits per second. The maximum transmission power of the base station is limited, so that coverage over any greater distance can only be achieved with booster units.
In order to be used, a handset must first be authenticated by a base station. In general, this is accomplished by using a special PIN, set by the user. The DECT standard can also provide the encrypted transfer of user data, thereby protecting it from unauthorised access. However, this type of transmission is relatively rarely used and is not implemented in many phones.
In order to reduce so-called electric smog there are various methods used within Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications to minimise the transmitting power of both the base station and the handset while in idle mode. These methods are often called ECO DECT.