NETGEAR SPH200W WiFi Phone with Skype

I bought this here Amazon.com just got last week. It works well under wireless connection(WEP) on campus as well as with my router, Linksys WRT54G2(WPA2) at home. actually, It delivered to school so tried to use it connected to campus wireless LAN. I was little bit worried but it worked better than expected. I made a call to my sister over the Pacific, voice quality was good and also my sister said it's good like a local call. and i took this phone home and tried to get connected to my router. WPA2 didn't matter. when I powered the phone, automatically it found and showed available wireless connections, then i chose to connect and type password. that's it.very easy to use. cheaper way to have a phone line at home.

I have been using Skype on my Mac for all my work-from-home needs for quite some time. The sound quality is excellent, and the price is just right. So I thought I'd extend that a little bit, and get a Skype handheld - so my phone can ring when my computer is closed. You know - like a real landline.This was a failed attempt.I'm going to try other devices, but this one does not make the cut - at all.* Frequent crashes (4 or 5 per day) that require pulling the battery out to reset* Sound quality so exceedingly poor that it is not usable* Did I mention the sound quality? Words are unintelligible for people on the other end ...So you may be thinking "I bet its your network" ... "I bet you have interference" .... "I bet your upstream is bad" ..No, No, No.First, remember that Skype on my Mac works flawlessly and I've never experienced any bandwidth or sound quality issues with it.Upstream: I'm in a MUD but my upstream consistently gives speeds of over 1.8 meg - which far exceeds VoIP requirements - faster than T1.Interference: I thought there were too many devices on Channel 4 in my house, on my existing router, so I setup a separate wireless network on channel 11 (minimal interference) just for this phone. Nope.Encryption: I thought that WPA/WPA2 may create too much overhead on the poor little phone, and it would benefit from a less processor intensive encryption protocol, so I switched its own separate wireless network over to WEP40. Nope, no benefit.I thought that my friends were just being difficult, so I had someone call me to test the sound quality. I could not hear the first nor last word that the subject spoke, and the ones in the middle were highly compressed.SkypeOut to Europe? My friend said "Oh no. I'm calling you back on a real phone" ... So I said, wait, let me try Skype on my Mac. Worked flawlessly.I also failed to mention that the microphone jack doesn't support any microphone that is currently in production in the US - even those that fit into the mini-jack ... don't work.In general, save yourself the hassle, and select a different solution for your Skype needs. (There's a reason the most recent version of the firmware was compiled in 2007).

I think a lot of any opinion depends on what you expect out of a product. I simply expect it to work and do exactly what is advertised. This phone does that... and does it well. You must keep in mind that since this is a WiFi phone, in order to get the best quality in performance and sound you absolutely MUST be within a solid wireless area and have a great signal. The lower the signal (obviously), the lower your quality. It does not operate like a cell phone. Cellular signals are compressed in such a way that even with a very low signal, you might still retain good quality calls. WiFi is very signal dependent.That said... I think this phone is great. It feels a bit cheap, but most phones do these days. It also takes quite a while to turn the phone on, connect to an access point, and sign in to Skype but once you're in it's very responsive.If I had to make any changes, they would be better quality materials in the physical phone, more features, and a quicker firmware.Oh and as a side note... if you purchase more than one, or even different types of Skype phones... you can make simultaneous calls (outbound only I believe) from a single account! This worked perfectly when I called my brother with the SPH200W and my wife called a friend at the same time using the same Skype account. :) This is a bonus for families with teens! :)

I wanted to love this phone, I was excited to receive it. I am switching away from two land lines to two Skype accounts. In our home, it only works adequately when it is within 15 feet of the wireless router.People on the other end can barely hear my voice. Range is improved a bit if you use a wired headphone, but that is a bit of a pain to do.I tried using it at a local bookstore, but their wireless system requires a web browser in order to sign in and pay, which this phone does not support. So, not much use unless you are close to a router and have the security code for it.As a phone to replace a wired or wireless setup, this does not make the grade for me. I subsequently bought the similar IPEVO phone, the IPEVO has a bit better range, and people can hear at the remote end better, but they complain of an echo where they hear their voice again.The best by far for me so far is the GE - SKYPE - Dect 6.0 Cordless phone, it is not really portable outside the home because it has a base unit, but the call clarity is excellent, range is excellent. It is a real phone for every day use.I also set up one of our Skype and land lines on a Eforcity Phone Adapter for Skype, and it is now powering our old Panasonic cordless phones, and working really well, with two caveats - the base unit must be plugged into a running PC, and the newest rev (4.x) of Skype does not allow it to work (or most other USB phone adapters). I went back to an older version of Skype, and it is working flawlessly.