Its been about 20 days since the Netgear Skype Phone arrived at my doorstep. As promised, I’m writing a review of the phone after some use.
My verdict : 3.5/5. Why? Here is why :
Setup : Using Skype and its various features like SkypeOut, SkypeIN, Voicemail etc are a breeze on this phone. That is, the setup is very easy and is quite newbie friendly too. Once you sign-in, all features on your skype account are automatically put into use by this phone. Whats more, all your contacts are automatically imported into the phone too and the phone displays your current skype credit as the wallpaper. Changing status of your skype account : Online, Away, etc is available at the touch of a button. So far so good. 5/5
Usage : Using this phone for making calls is pretty easy but is fraught with problems. To call a number not in the contact list, you will have to use the dial-pad to dial the number. You better not get a busy signal coz the Redial facility ( accessed by pressing the Green call button) is useless. When pressed, the screen says redialing but it never redials. I wait 5 secs, 10 and then 30 secs but still no signs of connecting. This is always the case.
Many a time, I noticed that CallerID for incoming numbers often shows Unknown. And when it does show the number, most of the times the last digit(s) is truncated.
Once I had to restart the Base Station coz the other person(s) was not able to hear me. It worked well after the restart. Weird.
I give the usage 2/5.
Call quality : The call quality on the Skype phone has been excellent. Even when downloading something over the internet on the computer, calls remain as clear as a Landline and seldom drop. I’ve had my calls drop just thrice during my entire usage, and this was clearly when my computer was downloading loads off the internet. So, I don’t blame Skype or the phone for it. I give this phone’s and Skype’s call quality a full 5/5
Battery : Most important part. The phone runs on two AAA size batteries. The batteries provided with the phone are a cheap chinese brand 3YD or something. It is, thus, an advantage that you can actually replace the default batteries for a nice pair of Sony batteris.
The default batteries on this phone doesn’t last too long. A 1hr 15 min call took off more than 1/2 of the battery’s life. The battery also loses 1/4th of its charge in about 7 hrs in standby.
The downside of having AAA batteries is the time it takes to recharge these things. It takes the phone a horribly long time to regain optimum charge. Unless all your calls last less than 5 minutes ,there is no way you’d be able to use this phone in a heavy-usage environment.
For the default batteries : 3/5.
Range: I’ve not really used this phone outside the apartment many times but once or twice that I did, I found the range to be OK. Nothing excellent, nothing bad. Its range is just as good or bad as the average cordless phone. 4/5.
Overall, I find the Skype phone to be immensely useful over the very costly landline and mobile combo. I give the phone a 3.5/5 rating even with the usage faring so low. That is because I chose to compare the phone with a landline and not a mobile. Do you have get all these features with your landline phone? Does the average phone have callerID ? Do you get to call anywhere in the US (and canada) for just $5 a month?
That said, I definitely think the price tag of $130 that I paid for it was a tad too much. It would have been a much better bargain at about $50-70. I hope with time, as usage and awareness of Skype grows, the phones would get cheaper.
Btw, I recently noticed T-Mobile offering a similar service but at a higher price and you’ve got to be its mobile phone subscriber to qualify for the ‘offer’ which for some reason is called TMobile@Home. Duh, who cares as long as we have Skype!
