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Can Routers Ruin Wireless Headphones?

A phenomenon has occurred at an elderly relative's house where wireless Internet service was just installed. Two perfectly fine RCA headsets used to amp up the volume (partially deaf) have stopped working. I wouldn't perceive a connection to interference if both didn't konk out after a "MyEssentials" router (Belkin?) was installed with the wireless internet service.

You plug the headphones into the outlet; they power on for thirty seconds max--then go completely dead.

I noticed that any VOIP activity (cordless phones) interrupts the router. At first I thought it might be a faulty cable modem, but the cable folk gave us a new modem to see if that was the source of the VOIP interrupts. I plan to take the router back today for some other brand.

So before I go out and buy two new headphones, I want to know if something beside normal wear-and-tear, and weird coincidence, could be responsible for both crashing at the same time.

Thanks.

Reply to
mutefan
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snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com hath wroth:

Are these RCA headsets wireless? If not wireless, are they plugged into anything that uses 2.4GHz wireless such as a cordless phone.

Yeah, MyEssentials stuff is Belkin. I couldn't resist the price and bought a few to play with. They work, but I'm really irritated by the firmware insisting that I have to reboot and wait for every single page in the setup. Yech.

What outlet? On what devices?

It's also the other way around. 2.4GHz cordless phones will interfere with wireless internet at 2.4GHz. You're best option is to replace the 2.4GHz phone with a 900MHz or 5.8GHz model.

A new wireless router won't help. The transmission characteristics of just about all models is the same. If one interferes with your cordless phone, so will the others.

Is the headphone actually broken? Plug it into something else that does not involve 2.4GHz such as a cell phone, boom box, hi-fi, scanner, or midi synthesizer. Hear anything? If yes, then your headsets are fine and something else is happening. I need to know the details of what you have to work with before pronouncing a culprit.

Incidentally, in the past, I did some semi-charity work at a large retirement home. Blown stereo headsets were epidemic. The problem wasn't over powering the headset to compensate for hearing loss. It was mechanical damage caused by mishandling. The tenants would wear them to bed while still plugged into the TV or Hi-Fi so as not to disturb the neighbors at night. When they roll over in bed, the stress on the cord was too much. I arranged for a few magnetic quick disconnect connectors, but even that was insufficient to prevent ripping the cord apart (usually internally).

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Yeah, they're wireless.

Thanks for letting me know this. What I can't figure out is why my old DLink router never was affected by this phone or another, separate cordless line I had in the house.

So--

Then why didn't my DLink crash like this MyEssentials?

I busted ass after reading your response on another thread. The lovely folks at RCA don't even have archived Help available for the WHP 150 headphone model (an excellent wireless headphone, BTW). Thank God I found the original manual, which said "If the transmitter does not detect an adequate audio source, it will power down after sixty seconds." First I got one headphone up-and-running after finding the jacks plugged into the wrong connectors. The second is more interesting.

The elderly relative had used regular AA batteries for 4+ years, and the headphones specified NiMH. One of the battery terminals was shot; I used steel wool on it. But the more interesting thing was that this headphone was attached piggy-back to a digital converter, then to a DVD player, and THEN to an old NTSC television. I removed the digital converter and attached the headphone to only the DVD player, and--at least as of now--the headphone seems to be recharging.

What a heck of a nice guy. Not too many kids would be concerned with noise pollution in places where noise pollution is torture (I also volunteer at nursing homes).

Reply to
mutefan

cordless phones or VOIP? The two are completely different (though you can get cordless voip phones, or use cordless DECT phones on a voip line).

Unlikely, unless they also use 2.4GHz

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com hath wroth:

The WHP-150R is a 900MHz headset, not 2.4GHz.

There should NOT be any mutual interference with 2.4GHz wireless devices. Something else is wrong here.

The headset has 3 channels. Try one of the others.

I have a few of the Belkin MyEssentials wireless routers in my palatial office. If I have time, I'll put it on the spectrum analyzer and see if there's any spuriour garbage in the 900MHz area.

More later. Somewhat busy tonite....

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

There can be a number of interference problems.

Here, the 900 mhz phone impacts on the 900 mhz cordless video monitor, and it impacted the cordless headphones. I replaced the heaphones with one that operate at 950, and replaced the cordless phone with a 5.4 ghz unit.

Similarly, the 2.4 phones interfered with the wireless router and with the

2.4 cordless video monitor. The router/phone problem was fairly well discussed here some time ago.

We found that all channels were afftected to some degree, so I gave up trying to find the right combination, and just purchased new equipment.

I sugest you look into 950 mhz headphones. Mine are Sennheiser ( sp? ) .

Stuart

Reply to
Stuart Miller

Yes, and cause cancer, TB, aids, the clap!

Reply to
Anonymous

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