Netgear SPH101 Skype Phone

Posted by T3 Online on Fri 5 Jan 2007

Just not your Skype

Most skype handsets need to be hooked up to a PC to work. Like the hauntingly similar-looking Edge-Core phone (T3 131, 4/5), the Netgear lets you VoIP away to your heart's content with only a Wi-Fi router/modem and
a broadband connection.
If you've used Skype before, you'll know the audio can be patchy - your chums will occasionally drop out for a couple of seconds and you get the time-lag effect familiar to anyone who's watched an overseas correspondent talking to Jeremy Paxman by satellite link. However, when you're getting calls for free you can't complain too much.
This handset is like a ten-year-old PAYG mobile in terms of features and interface. It's not possible to use it on a public hotspot with any kind of security (ie: all of them) and Netgear, for some unfathomable reason, has removed the ability to send instant messages from it.
With that, the usual Skype quibbles and the fact that the Edge-Core phone is 35 quid cheaper, this is perhaps not quite the bargain it at first appears.