Philips VOIP841 PC-Free DECT 6.0 Wireless IP Phone
by Philips Accessories
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Our Price: $499.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $123.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Philips VOIP841 PC-Free DECT 6.0 Wireless IP Phone
Customer Review: My Best Purchase in Years
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the best purchases I have made in the last 10 years. I did not expect that Philips could produce such a well engineered and easy to use product. The VOIP8411B telephone is very simple to setup, especially when you have a DSL router and a Skype account. Just connect a network cable to the router, optionally another cable to the standard telephone jack, select language, local zip code, time zone, type your Skype user name and the password and the phone is ready to use. You can use your contact list imported from Skype or dial a number in the US or international 011... At rock-bottom prices you can call people around the world with no contracts, no monthly fees, no expiring calling cards with deceptive policies, same rate any time - a real money saver. I still keep a landline with a local unlimited plan for $20 just to have a telephone number and 911 emergency option but long distance and international calls are made via Skype. This is more expensive than purchasing a phone number from Skype at $60 per year. You do not have 911 emergency calls but you gain a better control over your phone (you can block unwanted numbers) or move from state to state and keep the same number. Voice quality is adequate, slightly better than through an inexpensive computer headset and definitely better than via a non GSM cell phone. The phone displays your current balance on the main screen. When you select a number to dial, the phone asks if you want to use Skype or a landline. The telephone can also handle incoming landline calls. There are a few shortcomings. (i) The display is narrow and the contact list shows only 10 characters - it is not enough most of the time. (ii) Handling busy lines is weird - the phone does not generate any audible "busy" signal, it momentarily displays the "Busy" message that you cannot see, then goes back to the main screen as if nothing happened. (iii) You can only use Skype voice mail but this is a paid service (the first 12 months is free with this phone or a Skype phone number). For some customers a better option would be to store messages locally from both local and Skype connections. Otherwise this product cannot replace a traditional phone completely if you decide to keep your landline. One reviewer mentioned that volume cannot be adjusted in this phone - this is not correct - after the connection is made up/down arrow keys can be used for this purpose. All in all, I am quite impressed with this phone and decided to purchase an additional handset. Maybe it is time to get rid of a landline phone and save even more.
UPDATE: I purchased an additional handset for VOIP8411B but it did not work. The handset could not find the base station. I also noticed that the connection quality is not consistent: connection to China is excellent, connection to Europe is generally good, calls to Austin, TX had unacceptable quality (after a few attempts I felt so embarrassed that I would not use Skype to call destinations in the US).
Customer Review: I love it but one important caveat
Summary: 5 Stars
I actually got this for someone else who has cable internet (1.5MB/s) and who lives in an area where the local I've-never-heard-of-them phone company is rather expensive. I set it up for her.
1. We both like the way it looks. It is physically smaller than I expected though.
2. Set up was easy except I found entering the Skype password was a pain because * is substituted for each actual characters - this is intended for use at home so who's going to see?
3. Nice, obviously-Skype interface.
4. For the caller, quality comparable with landline except one instance where the person on the other end wasn't even sure I was speaking English. Normally, the quality on the receiving end is better than landline.
5. Unbelievably cheap! Getting a local phone number $60/YEAR for SkypeIn, free calls to all US/Canada $30/YEAR and really cheap calls overseas with SkypeOut.
Now, the caveat. Skype make it quite clear that you can't call 911 for emergency calls. However, I figured that since the call centers are on the phone network, they must have regular 10-digit numbers but 911 acts like a speed-dial number so the 10-digit numbers are never actually used. With the 10-digit number in hand, I thought I could set that up as a Skype contact and assign it speed-dail #91. Obviously you would have to identify your position - as you've had to with cell phones until recently.
I was wrong. I contacted the City of Charlotte (NC) and after several emails got the following response from someone high up. It is possible, though probably unlikely, that the system in your area may be different.
"The 9-1-1 system does not work on 10 digit numbers. It is a system built specifically for 9-1-1. We have direct connection to cama trunks at AT&T. It enables us to get your calling number and address. So even if you can't stay on the phone we can get to you. The federal government has mandated that all VOIP providers upgrade their networks to provide 9-1-1 service. I don't know how Skype gets by that mandate. We do have 10 digit numbers coming into the center for outgoing calls and to receive non emergency calls. These numbers are not manned 7X 24, may not be answered or may be busy. I want to repeat we have no emergency 10 digit numbers. Our non emergency police number is 3-1-1. Do not expect to get emergency service by dialing any number but 9-1-1. If you put any number in your system but 9-1-1, that 10 digit number may get eliminated, changed or could be out of service. I want to make sure you do not have any false hopes or information because the last thing I want is for you or your family to need an emergency response, dial a 10 digit number and get no one."
One minor annoyance: There was a power failure and I was surprised that the password had to be re-entered when the power came back on and the internet connection was re-established.
Customer Review: Excellent dual Skype/landline phone at a good price
Summary: 5 Stars
I first have to say that I have no association with Philips or Skype and am not paid to endorse this product. I had heard about Skype a while ago but never paid too much attention to it; but when I recently moved to Europe and was looking for a cheaper way to communicate with family, friends and business associates in the US, I finally tried it out and was very pleased. The problem was getting other family members to sit down in front of the computer to make these "strange" Skype calls. I therefore decided to get a Skype phone - and as our old cordless phone was not great quality anyway, decided to kill two birds with one stone and get a dual system. After reading a few reviews here on Amazon, I took a chance and ordered the Philips dual phone and after about 3 weeks of heavy usage am very pleased. I have yet to identify a feature I would want and can't find on the phone (I noticed some other reviewers had complained about features they thought were missing, but with a little investigation and reading of the user manual, I found almost all of them on the phone). The only feature I'd like it to have that it doesn't seem to is the ability to forward Skype In calls to another number from this phone. I still have to do that on my computer. Otherwise, it seems to have everything. In addition, the sound quality is absolutely fine (I agree that the speaker phone is a slight bit tinny, but not enough to bother the average user), and the phone has a great look. It worked first time straight out of the box. The only problem I had was that when I tried to register the extra handset I had purchased, it didn't seem to work. I had to contact Philips customer service, and they resolved the problem immediately. (Turns out you have to hold down the button on the base station for 4 seconds, while the base station is disconnected from the internet.) I also had a small problem after a power failure from a lightning storm. Once the power was back up the phone kept cycling through its "start up" mode, and I had to disconnect the base station and take the batteries out of the hand sets to reboot the system. But it worked fine afterwards and none of my stored numbers were lost.
Considering that I was paying a fortune for calls to the US - and having a hard time dialing toll-free numbers in the US from Europe - the combination of Skype and this phone has been one of the best investments I've made all year. I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy another base station and extra hand sets, since the base can only accommodate up to 4 hand sets.
All around, it's an excellent product and I recommend it highly.
Customer Review: The cost killer
Summary: 5 Stars
When I moved in the US from France, I didn't want to pay 30 or 40 $/month just to have a line. I analysed the skype and the vonage offers and I deducted, as I am never stuck to any phone, it was the less expensive plan.
I use this phone with the same login as my PC's one and I spent less than 30$ in 5 months. I call Europe (fixed lines or mobile ones) and the US. My first call was from a friend in Dubai. She saw that I was connected on skype, but it was late in the night for me.
The pros :
- cheap
- user friendly except the contacts
- no need to have the computer open
- works with a fixed line, but I don't have one
The cons :
- you can't see your outlook contacts on the phone, you have to duplicate your address book even is on the PC's skype these contacts are mixed with your skypeout contacts
- sometimes you can't access to the skype informations; you have to try 3 or 4 times to press on the history or contacts buttons
- once (5 months ago, but the first one), I had to take off the batteries for 8 hours to reset the device
Quite 1 year later:
I had this phone for a few months now. It worked enough for our needs. I amortized it many months ago. I sometimes had to take off the batteries for a few hours when the system didn't want to work anymore. You have to wait 15 seconds to access the contact list, idem for the history. You have to change the batteries every 7 months. But for this price (except the fact that Amazon places the price at $400 instead of $110), I don't care about these 15 seconds.
But this last month, it has been really awful. Anybody can reach us. We receive voice mails 30 minutes later. I was ready to buy a new one. The problem is that there seems to be any phone that doesn't have these problems!
So, I will wait a few months for Skype and Philips to have a real update of the software or produce a real phone that works well. I will just buy a new headset because Skype on the internet is more reliable than with this phone. I will cross my fingers for the service to come back properly (even if it is slow). And I will still save a lot of money by not having this expensive $40/month land line!
Customer Review: Phillips VOIP841 Works Well and is Risk Free
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned this phone for a week and am immensely impressed. I've long used Skype for long-distance calls using a headset with my computer. Skype is great because the voice quality is generally excellent and long distance calls are free.
I paid Skype the $30 for a year of service and bought the Phillips Voip8411 B/37. It's wonderful. Now I can pace while talking or sit on the patio. The phone's range extends from my bedroom, through 1 wall and out 200 feet to the front yard or through 3 walls and 100 feet into my back yard. Thus this phone will easily serve a house and yard just about anywhere. The key to this performance is the Dect 6.0 international standard using the 1.9ghz band.
The phone offers numerous setup features much like a cell phone configuration and uses similar type keys to do the tasks. I have mine set to always use Skype for outgoing calls. I can answer incoming calls via Skype or my landline. It even shows the caller ID information and call history.
The phone is attractive and nicely balanced and includes a speaker option plus intercom. It does not feel cheap. It has an attractive color display.
And, this phone is risk free. If you decide to cancel Skype for any reason, the phone can still serve as a wireless extension for your landline system. If you use it in addition to a landline system, you now have a 2nd independent phone line so two people can be using the phone system at once.
I highly recommend this phone. In fact, we're going to use it for 6 months and then may cancel our landline. This would only require paying Skype an additional $30/year to get a phone number. Thus, for $60/year you can get an interent phone with a phone number vs $360/year for a basic landline. (The Skype service does not offer 911 service, but you can program those numbers in as quick-call contacts.) My advice is to get this phone and test if for yourself.
I have Qwest DSL broadband operating at 1.5mb which is more than adequate to support this phone.