On that part, I can confirm that a 2.4 GHz Base Phones will interfere 
with wireless networking.  So will your microwave oven (same frequency) 
if it's close to the base. Even Cell Phones interfere with the wireless 
LAN because a lot of them also operate at 2.4 GHz. I have to leave my 
cell phone off while in the house otherwise it knocks everyone's 
wireless signal strength to "poor" or no connection at all.

I had to get a 5.8 GHz Phone Base for my home and as for the Cell Phone, 
will have to wait until new ones that get away from the 2.4 GHz range I 
guess.  Microwave oven you can't help :-(

The problem really (in the US anyway) is that the FCC allowed too many 
2.4 GHz devices that "leak" out of their assigned range.  Your wireless 
router will use channels 2.412 GHz to 2.462 GHz (higher for other 
countries), which as you can see doesn't leave much margin for error on 
signal leakage.  So the microwave oven is in all that range so if it's 
nearby by will basically jam the wireless signal.  Those 2.4 GHz base 
phones are not suppose to touch this range but they leak all over the 
place and cause problems.  Cell Phones are even worse because they have 
a lot more power to them and leak just as bad which is case is stomping 
over the range that the wireless LAN would use.  Then there is the 
problem of two nearby wireless base or devices that are using the same 
frequency which causes even more havoc.  As you can see, the 2.4 GHz 
spectrum is really just overcrowded and it gets very annoying that so 
many things can mess with the WLAN.

Anyway, that was my $0.02

Thanks,
Michael

Stephen Ronan wrote:
> One question I'd have that I couldn't answer but I'd guess someone 
> else her could has to do with 2.4GHZ base station phones. Do those 
> create much more noise when someone's talking on them compared to when 
> they're sitting idle in their base station? If so, one might wonder 
> whether usage patterns of those phones contribute to the problems 
> you're seeing. I'd be especially curious to know whether the pattern 
> of problems on weekends is the same as on weekdays... problems just 
> appearing during the evening.
>
>