reviews Tes Ted. Reviewed. veRdic Tized
98 MAXIMUMPC october 2006
S
kype’s voice over IP (VoIP) is the
bomb, but wearing a goofy PC head-
set on a Skype call is a bummer. That’s
why we decided to try ditching our traditional
wired headset to use these cordless VoIP
phones. Let’s find out which one of these
phones will keep you best connected to your
Skype-obsessed grandmother in Malaysia.
—Todd HaselTonlinksys CiT200
This phone is sexy. Sounds funny doesn’t
it? Cordless phones are supposed to be
boring, black or gray, and for the most part,
featureless. The CIT200 looks like a slightly
oversized cellphone—it even has a color
screen and easy-to-use menu options like
its cellular cousin. Once you’ve juiced up the
phone and installed Skype and the handset’s
drivers, you can plug in the phone’s USBtransmitter and you’re good to go.
When you’re ready to Skype your aunt
in Idaho just select Contacts, scroll to her
name, and if she’s signed into Skype, you
can click Call. The phone held a solid signal
around our office, which has plenty of walls,
and the voice quality remained good within
about 85 feet of the transmitter.
We have one bone to pick with this
phone, however—it doesn’t have support for
typical analog phone lines. If you’re going to
use this in conjunction with the line already
running into your home, you’ll need a sepa-
rate phone for that.
Unlike the stand-alone Skype phones
(which are much more expensive), your PC
must be turned to use the CIT200. And while
you can make and receive land-line calls
to and from normal phone numbers with it,
you’ll need to subscribe to the SkypeOut
and SkypeIn subscription services to do so.new TeCH dualpHone
Double cheeseburgers, dual videocards,
Nickelodeon Double Dare. Things that come
in pairs always seem to be good, and the
Dualphone is no exception. Plug in the
phone, hook up its base via USB to your
computer, and plug in the phone line. As
long as you have Skype installed, you can
receive and make calls via your computer
through your Skype connection. Voice qual-
ity is excellent for Skype calls. Most phones
stop at this option, but the Dualphone
keeps going. If you want to make or receive
calls through standard telephone lines, you
can. The phone has two call buttons, both
sport green telephone icons, except one is
labeled “PC”, so you know you’re making a
VoIP call instead of a normal phone call.
Still, we have a few problems with this
phone. For one thing, it’s ugly—really ugly: It
looks like a standard, gray, boring, cordless
phone with a poorly lit monochrome screen.And trying to figure out the menu naviga-
tion is frustrating. Without icons, the menu
is confounding—we found ourselves con-
stantly referring to the instruction booklet.
The good thing is that, unless you’re storing
numbers in speed-dial memory, you’ll only
need to use the menu to contact friends on
the Skype list. If they’re online, their names
show up, otherwise they won’t be on the list.
The manufacturer advertises a 1,000-
foot talk distance for the Dualphone; we
were only able to receive a clear signal up
to about 90 feet in our office, but the sound
quality was noticeably better on this phone
than on the Linksys CIT200.
It’s hard to fall in love with something
so hideous, but the phone works as both a
cordless phone and a Skype phone, which is
pretty attractive.Skype Phone Scuffle
Two VoIP phones get turned on
sexy like a cellphone, linksys’ CiT200
lacks support for plain-old telephone
service.$130, http://www.linksys.comlinksys cit200gi joe
Easy to use; color screen;
sleek look and feel.barbie^7
Doesn’t work with land lines.$120, http://www.skype.comnew tech dualphonegui
Clear reception; supports
land lines and Skype VoIP
calls.
dui^8
The dualphone is ugly, but it sounds bet- Ugly; confusing menu.
ter than the linksys and it works with our
standard telephone service.