Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)The prices of Skype-certified phones or other VoIP phones are expensive. This is one of the lower-priced phone you can get your hands on.
The convenient feature about this stand-alone wireless Skype phone is that you don't have to be tied to your computer to make calls. In fact I use it as my house phone for outgoing calls and it works just fine. The sound quality is more than okay as expected from internet calls.
Set up is straightforward. No need to read the manual as the screen will guide you sign in, if you already have a Skype account, or sign up, if you are new.
If you are an existing user, it just carries over all the contacts to the phone. Give it time to update from the internet and your contacts will appear. No need to type all over again.
However, if you are a new user I strongly suggest signing up and entering or importing your contact from your computer. That way you have your contacts from your address book or email account ready to be imported. If not, it's easier typing from a full keyboard. Once updated, this will also carry over to the phone.
Pros:
1. Free up your computer resources and electricity by using a stand-alone Skype phone.
2. Good design in a light-weight package loaded with user-friendly controls. Normal and advanced features are readily accessible on the phone menu. Just read thru the display and navigation will be straight-forward.
3. Relatively cheap compared to other Skype-certified wireless phones.
Cons:
1. Battery life is horrible. A few hours of use and it will need charging. If mobile phones can last more than a day of normal use, this should be able to as well. Linksys will need to investigate and release a firmware update on this issue.
2. NO SPEAKERPHONE! Despite the iPhone having a loud speaker that announces it's own boot up, this phone surprisingly does not have a speakerphone. This is definitely a design flaw and needs a software update.
3. The time and date resets itself to 01-01-2006 and 00:00am whenever the phone is shut off. While all other settings are saved. That's plain stupid. Furthermore, you have to manually set the correct time. While all internet devices are able to connect to the...umm...internet and sync with any server for correct date and time. This phone - that depends on the internet for functionality - is not able to sync with any time server at all. Mwahahaha! Seriously, Linksys has got to do something about this feature. In fact I have to set my own Daylight Saving Time whenever it is in effect. This has got to be updated.
4. Relatively slow response time. A few milliseconds of lag when won't hurt. But it is there and regular users will notice it. And I don't know if this is due to the nature of internet calls, Skype structure or the device itself having a slow processor.
All in all it serves its purpose of making wireless internet calls without the dependency for a computer. But it is an apparent version 1 product that seriously needs firmware and software updating if it wants to be known as THE iPhone rather than be trumped in name by Apple's iPhone.
By the way, my household is all Mac and this phone connects flawlessly to my Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (b/g device, not the latest n model) without any wireless disconnection at all or interference from other wireless base station in my apartment building. I have been on calls for as long as 30 minutes and I have not encountered intermittent audio quality or drop signals. I am using WPA authentication and this phone was able to detect and join to the router without any problems.
So despite it's shortcoming, it's still a respectable phone and enables me to make free and cheap calls.
UPDATE:
Feb 23, 2007 - The phone has twice been returned and I just asked for a refund. I haven't patronized a Linksys product in a long time and I was hedging on the fact that any kinks on the phone and further customer feature request would be quickly incorporated into the phone. As it stands, the phone hasn't received any software revision AT ALL. The phone is still at hardware version 1.0 despite numerous flaws mentioned here and especially at Linksys' own customer feedback forum.
I have spoken to their customer and technical support with great disappointment. I was on hold for most of the time for issues they are aware of, but have no solution. In fact when I complained about the lack of speakerphone function despite pointing out that this has been explicitly mentioned on their website the solution was the easy fix - REMOVE ALL MENTION OF SPEAKERPHONE FUNCTION FOR THE PRODUCT. Good thing I saved the web pages mentioned about it so I could show the Tech what I'm talking about. She did see it herself in her own documentation. Then a few days later Linksys' position is "what speakerphone?" This is what ultimately turned me off. They were releasing a first generation product, but providing no future support and cheap-shot fixes to customers. If this was how the company is monkeying with the patrons, I don't want to even be their customer. So product has been returned.
UPDATE 2: MAY 26, 2007
Linksys has FINALLY issued a firmware upgrade as of May 24, 2007 which is version 1.1.0.16 (from the only existing previous version of 1.0.0.0). Among the long list of new feature, bug fixes and enhancements - A SPEAKERPHONE. After months of silence they only decided to provide their first ever firmware upgrade. This may come a little too late as lots of customers have jumped ship by now to other brands. Damage to phone reputation has already been done. Evidence is the drop in price.
I'm surprised Linksys/Cisco has allowed this to happen to them. Hopefully they have learned their lesson and will focus their attention back to the customer.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Linksys WIP320 Linksys Wireless-G Skype iPhone
The iPhone WIP320 is part of the iPhone family of handheld devices which harness the power of the Internet to deliver more than talk, uniting the familiarity of the telephone with compelling Internet services, access to personal content, and integration with the home to create complete communications solutions. iPhone - More than Talk
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