Anyone who has ever used a desk or wall phone knows they all have one problem in common: cords getting tangled. In the long run, it does not particularly matter how careful or gentle you are with a coiled handset cord. Eventually, the cord is going to end up as a jumbled mess. Preventing a cord from tangling in the first place is where a detangler comes in.

Phone cords do not last forever. When a cord starts to tangle, the smaller wires inside the cord begin to bend the wrong ways and start developing small, unnoticeable kinks. While the damage does not have immediate effects, it does add up over time. Eventually, the phone cord will start to have static because the damaged wires can no longer transmit a phone signal properly.

Along with a static-filled signal, tangled cords are just annoying. You sit there trying to keep the cord straight as it wraps around itself, wraps around your hand, and knocks a picture frame off the table all while the damage keeps compiling. Eliminating this issue is arguably even more important than using a detangler to extend the life of the phone cord.

Functionally, a cord detangler is very simple. The detangler goes in-between the handset and the coiled cord. One side of the detangler plugs into the handset (where the phone cord would plug in normally) and then the phone cord goes into the other end of the detangler. The part of the detangler connected to the phone cord spins around, preventing the phone cord from wrapping around itself and becoming tangled or damaged.

Like phone cords themselves, detanglers have a limited lifespan. Also like a phone cord, the lifespan will mainly depend on how frequently the phone is used. A wall phone in the kitchen used a few times a day will last much longer than a desk phone used 8 hours a day in an office. When a detangler does start to wear out, the phone signal can start to suffer from static. This can be easily fixed by simply replacing the detangler.