In one embodiment, a cordless telephone according to the invention includes a base unit, including a paging mechanism, and a handset, including an alerting mechanism responsive to the paging mechanism. At least one of the base unit and the handset includes a page adjusting mechanism to affect an alerting signal output from the alerting mechanism based on a condition. Thus, the paging signal is adaptive to increase the opportunity for a user to determine the location of a misplaced handset. In another embodiment, a cordless telephone is equipped so that the base unit can provide an indication related to a distance between the base unit and the handset. In yet another embodiment, a cordless telephone is equipped so that the paging mechanism is adjusted based on user control. In a further embodiment according to the invention, a method is provided for affecting an alerting signal output by an alerting mechanism of a cordless telephone handset. The method includes the steps of sensing a condition, and affecting the alerting signal based on the sensed condition.