Linksys WIP320 Linksys Wireless-G Skype iPhone
by Linksys
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Linksys WIP320 Linksys Wireless-G Skype iPhone
Customer Review: Great, but be patient...
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the WIP320 last week from Amazon at a great price. I tried the more expensive Belkin WiFi phone but the sound was awful and the lag horrendous so I returned it. I bought this with trepidation. Here is my experience:
Day 1 - Awesome phone! Great sound quality - better than using Skype on my computer or my cell phone. Absolutely no lag in conversations (connected to cable broadband via Linksys wireless router). Everybody thought I was on a landline. Phone looks and feels a little cheap. Battery life of 1-2 days after downloading firmware update (had to buy a cable at $25). Very happy.
Day 2 - When I try to view any of the History menus, the phone crashes and must be rebooted. Linksys customer support AWFUL! Found the answer in a community forum - Reset All on the phone. It worked. Happy again.
Day 3 - Skype logon keeps getting disconnected. Don't know why. After a couple of days problem seems to have fixed itself. Something to do with the timeout settings I have to show as Skype Away?
Day 4 - Battery wouldn't hold a charge. Reset the battery position and all well again. This also seems to have solved the problem of logon stability. I'm happy again.
I have used this phone for hours with excellent call quality. The bugs were driving me crazy but all seems fine now. I have to recharge every night but the same with my cell phone so I'm fine with that. I don't plan on traveling with this - I use my cell phone for that. It is great for me to use at home and save my cell phone minutes (just got off the line with Blue Cross where I was on hold for 20 minutes!). I recommend this phone for call quality using Skype, but be patient to work out the bugs.
Customer Review: Finally, no more PC!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
I got this phone at a steal!!! First and foremost, as soon as you receive this phone you must go to linksys.com and download the firmware update. Even new phones aren't shipped with it. This fixes tons of bugs and adds new features like speakerphone. You'll need a mini-usb cable that isn't shipped with the phone but most digital cameras come with one. Overall, I'm very satisfied.
Pros:
Excellent range and clarity. I only get 2-3 bars (out of 5) since I "share" my neighbors internet and I have only experienced excellent call quality.
I can hold the phone with my shoulder and it doesn't affect the signal. I can't do this with my Sprint Cell phone. Sprint sucks.
Overall the user menu and software is good.
No more PC! Once the firmware update is done you won't need a PC again to make a skype call (unless you want to add credit)
Cons:
Battery life is terrible. Wifi usage is a huge battery hog on any device so far. I don't think this thing can last 12 hours on standby on a fully charged battery. However, if you're constantly using the phone it gets decent usage life, but terrible standby. So I just keep it plugged in and unplug it when I need to make a call.
Cheap plastic look and feel. It looks like a cell phone but doesn't feel like one. However it is very light. I don't know or want to know how durable it is.
Having to dial +1 for US/Canada calls. Not a big deal, you get used to it, but annoying at first.
Customer Review: Very cool, with some issues
Summary: 4 Stars
As a Skype phone, the WIP320 is pretty dang nice. It's much smaller and lighter than I thought it would be. The menus are reasonably well laid out. The audio quality to cell and landline phones via SkypeOut is quite good.
After reading one of the reviews here, I checked and my microphone input via the headset jack also doesn't work, but I haven't contacted Linksys support yet. I may not do so, since I almost never use a headset.
The clock has the annoying habit of resetting to midnight on 1/1/2006 whenever I power the phone off and back on. Booting the phone is pretty slow as well. These two together mean that I rarely turn the phone off, but leave it on even when charging. I also haven't figured out how to use the "Wi-Fi Finder", despite actually reading the user guide. :-) The regular network scan is easy enough to use.
I haven't pushed the battery life to its limits, but I have left the phone on my desk all day and still had charge left at the end.
Customer Review: phone is great but had to be replaced
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this phone, but unfortunately it was faulty. The phone shut itself off instead of going into stand-by mode, defeating the whole purpose of the phone - it is supposed to stay connected to the internet and skype so you can receive calls even when your computer is not turned on. I returned the phone, and have purchased two others exactly the same. Both work fine. It's just like having a landline house phone. The connection is good and clear. The only problem I have had is with voicemail. It never seems to pick up... though this may be a problem of the skype software. I have had no luck finding a solution. any suggestions?
And the battery life (when connected) is about a day, if you're lucky, which is something to consider if you want to use this phone while travelling..
Customer Review: LinksysWIP320 Skype phone.
Summary: 4 Stars
Nice simple packaging. Limited printed instructions on how to operate the phone but the accompanyiong CD has all that is needed if you wish to ptint out the 80 odd page user'e manual. I charged the phone for the required 16 hours or so and it was then easy to use but I didcovered that there were no simple instuctions about how to turn Skype off and by not turning it off over night I discovered the battery flat the next day. It took me a while to realise what the problem was when trying to use the phone while the battery was flat. Once plugged into a power socket is was soon up and running.
I have not had any oportunity to use the phone in many free unlocked Wi Fi locations as yet so I cannot really provide comments on the value of the phone outside my own household wi fi signal