USB Phone Adapter for Skype MSN Yahoo VOIP Interface
by Eforcity
Our Price: $23.99
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $20.00 (click here)
Category: CE
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Customers in the UK,
buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: EforcityProduct features:
- Fully integrated with Skype for making & receiving calls.
- All incoming calls to your Skype phone number will be forwarded to your regular phone and will ring just the same as your regular phone call.
- Just pick up the phone and dial, SkypeOut will be automatically detected and used for long distance call.
- PC running Windows 2000 or XP. 400 MHz processor or higher 128 MB RAM or higher Free USB port Package
- USB Phone Adapter Box USB cable Telephone line Driver CD Instruction Manual
- Compact and unique design.
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of USB Phone Adapter for Skype MSN Yahoo VOIP Interface
Customer Review: Skype + cordless phone + this adapter = not tied to PC!
Summary: 5 Stars
As background, I had to quickly set up a home office a few weeks ago and was looking for a way that I could let my wife (actually, her business) have our more-reliable landline. I got a Skype-in number and set up my Google Voice number to forward to it. However, I lamented that I wouldn't be able to use my nice Plantronics headset with my PC. Or could I?
I Googled around to see if I could find some sort of adapter and that led me to a USB to RJ-11 (the standard phone jack) adapter. So it looked like that adapter would connect my cordless phone (with my nice headset) to my PC and I could then take calls from anywhere in the house, instead of being tied to the PC. Awesome.
I'll apologize in advance for the long review here, but I want to make sure that anyone who cares to know exactly what they're intending to buy doesn't make the same mistake that I made initially. (And this is actually my first review on amazon.com, but I was so happy that this inexpensive device let me do exactly what I wanted that I felt the need to share that with others who might be in the same boat that I was.)
Here's the mistake that I made: I read the "...it works with Vista, you just need to install the latest SkypeMate..." review here and assumed that the reviewer's comment about it working with Vista applied to *all* similar USB/RJ11 VOIP adapters, so I went ahead and ordered the other *non* USB Telbox adapter from another site for a couple bucks less.
Well, I got that *non* USB Telbox adapter, connected it to my Vista PC, and after an hour or so of trying everything I could think of, wasn't able to make it work. (That vendor has live chat tech support and the tech support guy's conclusion was "it doesn't work with Vista".) Great.
I then realized my error -- the review here about it working with Vista only applied to the USB Telbox adapter.
So I crossed my fingers that even though this USB Telbox adapter also says that it's for XP and 2000 only, that it would really and truly work with Vista, trusting the reviewer's comment. Order was placed.
Okay, on to the actual review. Standard shipping (via USPS, it turns out) was nice and fast; I expected a longer trip time, given the holidays, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I got it today. The brief manual is written in some choppy English, but is easily followable, so I connected the USB/RJ11 adapter to my PC (with the included USB cable), connected the adapter to my cordless phone (with the included phone cord), and did not connect it to my home phone line (since that belongs to my wife's business). Shortly after the USB connection was made, Windows alerted me to the need to reboot my PC and I did so.
I downloaded the latest SkypeMate program I could find (it's version 4.something) and after rebooting, that installation went fine. (I figured that the CD which came with the adapter would only have SkypeMate version 3.something on it, so I skipped it entirely.)
The SkypeMate system tray icon wasn't showing that it was ready for action, so I opened Skype and at the top, saw that it was asking for my okay to allow SkypeMate to work with my Skype installation (similarly, I'm running the latest version of Skype). I gave it the thumbs-up and headed over to Google Voice to make a test call. (If you don't know how Google Voice works, it doesn't really matter; it's just a service that I use to make calls and have incoming calls ring on multiple phone numbers.)
Since calls to my Google Voice number would heretofore ring my cell and my Skype number, I was very pleased that the arrangement was still functional (as opposed to that *non* USB Telbox adapter I bought earlier, where I simply could not answer a call on Skype), but I was a little disappointed that my cell was ringing a couple of rings before my cordless phone was.
Anyway, I pressed Talk on my cordless phone and sure enough, I was connected with the party that I'd called (via Google Voice)!
I had my wife test it by calling my Google Voice number and I was able to answer her call by pressing Talk on my cordless phone.
To be crystal clear, to pick up the incoming call, I did not have to do *anything* on my PC like I would have had to do if I was answering a normal Skype call. (Skype's normal Accept/Decline dialog box still pops up like always, but when I press Talk on my cordless phone to pick up the incoming call, the dialog box disappears -- I believe that is a (proper) function of the SkypeMate software.)
I dug around in Skype's Options and realized that the option which tells Skype which device(s) to ring when a call comes in was set to ring "Speakers (USB audio device)" which, as I understand it, is the cordless phone. I don't know if that's why my cell was ringing before my cordless phone was ringing, but once I changed it to "Ring on All Devices", they now both seem to ring at about the same time.
I knocked off a star on features for no caller ID. As it stands, I have to glance at my cell phone to see the caller ID. It would be nice if CID also showed up on the cordless phone's display and I'm not sure if that's a Skype limitation or something missing with this adapter, but I'm not complaining. Well, not a lot, anyway.
In conclusion, a week or two ago, I wanted the ability to connect my cordless phone (and nice headset) to my Skype account so that I could receive calls and it looks like the second time is the charm! :)
Oh, I must add that I do not have the ability to *place* calls via Skype, so when I pick up my cordless phone and press Talk, I get nothing. As I mentioned above, I *do not* have our home telephone line connected to this adapter, so I don't know if that's the cause of this inability or it's that I don't have Skype-out credits or what, but if *making* Skype calls through this adapter is important to you, you might want to read other reviews or contact the vendor or something else to ensure that it'll fit that need.
Update: I just (temporarily) connected my wife's landline to the "Line" jack on the adapter and when I pressed Talk, I got a dialtone. I then pressed ** (that's star, star -- I think it's just star for Windows XP or 2000) on my cordless phone and Skype was poised to do it's thing. (I did the Skype test call, which isn't really a true test of placing a call.) So I think that the answer to an inability to *place* calls via Skype is that you *must* have a landline connected to the adapter. If you don't, it seems like you'll need to use Skype on the PC to place your calls.
Description of USB Phone Adapter for Skype MSN Yahoo VOIP Interface
Now you can use your regular home phone for Skype or any VOIP interface! When your regular phone is connected with this adapter, you can dial and receive calls via Skype/VOIP without the need to buyer a SKYPE phone. This adapter allows any desktop/cordless phone to operate as a dialer and speakerphone for Skype!Digital Cameras and Photo Categories
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