The SMC WiFi (WSKP100) Skype phone introduces Skype users into a PC-less environment. No longer are you tied to a computer to send and receive Skype phone calls. The next generation of Skype technology is here!
SMC introduces the new compact Wi-Fi Phone for Skype: SMCWSKP100 for users who need mobility and cost effective voice calls over the Internet. The SMCWSKP100 is intended to help users make Skype calls at home, work or campus without the hassle of having to turn on your computer.
The SMCWSKP100 is based on the 802.11b/g Standard so it is compatible with almost all standard Wi-Fi Access Points on the market. With the SMCWSKP100 users can have access to both PSTN and Skype networks as long as users have a Skype account with the relevant services. Once configured, users will not have to remember the SSID or security of each AP as the SMCWSKP100 can store this information and will connect automatically to the closest of your preferred wireless networks at startup.
With SMCs SMCWSKP100 users can enjoy the benefit of free calls within the Skype network, and cost effective using Skypes paid services such as Skype In and Skype Out.
Mobility is enhanced with the SMCWSKP100s interface for making any configuration changes both quick and easy.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Save your money Comment: First phone defective. Battery would discharge promptly. After much time and gnashing of teeth with technicians with heavy Indian accents (forget ever getting customer service to call you despite the message to leave your call back number), got SMC to send me a replacement. SMC sent me a USED phone (still had someone else's login on it), with a broken speaker. Technician (in broken English) said he could not help me, and I would need to contact customer care for a replacement. Customer care was as usual a recorded message telling me to leave my name and number and they would call back (which, consistent with past practice, they never did). To their credit most of the technicians attempted to be helpful. However, the phone is shoddy, and a piece of shoddy workmanship. Save your money! Customer Rating: Summary: good idea but poor product Comment: I bought this item a few months ago. Most of the time I can not hear the other caller. Reception is terrible. Although, my internet connection is excellent I still have a sound problem. Battery dies quick too. Over all this product does not deliver a good service.
This phone needs a lot of improvement. Basiclly, it's an unfinished product. Customer Rating: Summary: a piece of junk Comment: What a piece of junk this is. It doesn't maintain a connection and sounds likes you're underwater even when standing next to my wireless router (my laptop, however, maintains an excellent connection even in the next room, so I know it's not my router). Half a year later it won't even turn on. Do not buy this piece of junk! Customer Rating: Summary: A "beta" product Comment: I bought the SMC WiFi phone thinking of it as a cool "toy" to have. Guess what? It really is a toy and not ready as a consumer product yet.
Some of the problems/issues I noticed were:
- The manufacturing quality is really terrible. Maybe my expectations were too high after all these years of using a cell phone but the casing and keys really look and feel "cheap". I am pretty sure if I had seen the phone at a store I would have had serious doubts about purchasing it.
- A couple of times, I've got missed calls/voice mails even though the phone didn't ring (and the phone was NOT on Silent)!
- You can't save a number as a SkypeOut contact from the list of missed/received calls. Skype tries to recognize it as a Skype contact instead (and the error message it displays is missing text too).
- The sound quality isn't great - my friends have said that they could hear static or my sound was too low.
- There seems to be a problem with some IVRs. Pressing the digits on the phone aren't recognized at the one IVR that I tried at (Skype on the PC seemed to have a little trouble too on this particular IVR but that was easily worked around by pressing the key long enough to hear the "beep" sound")
- No keypad lock feature.
- When the display turns off there is no clock (i.e., there is no equivalent of the "screen saver" mode on cell phones). It is kind of frustrating if you are accustomed to seeing the time on your phone (I should probably get accustomed to wearing a watch instead) ;-)
- If you sign into Skype using the phone, you aren't signed out of other locations that you might be signed in. If you get a call, it would reach all the places where you have signed in from. This could well be a feature but it would be nice to turn it off somehow.
- While charging there is no indication that the battery is being charged. Further, if the phone is switched off the battery indicator shows it as fully charged much earlier than it should be - turn on the phone and the battery indicator usually shows the charged level as "medium".
There are several other small "frustrating" points - maybe I'll get accustomed to those over the next few weeks and won't complain as much ;-)
Update: After using this "thing" for 2 frustrating days, I am pretty sure I am going to return it. I am also going to change the rating from a 2 to 1 (and I know that is being highly critical and I hope that it serves as a fair warning of "buy at your own risk!").
Update 2: I decided to get a Yahoo! PhoneIn number (in preparation of returning the Skype phone as well as cancelling my SkypeIn number). I tested it out a bit by calling from Yahoo! PhoneIn and observed that if the phone had been "idle" /sleep mode for quite a while, then it doesn't recognize the incoming Caller ID (it just displays "00000" and in the Call Log it displays Unknown number). On immediately calling back again from Yahoo! PhoneIn, the correct caller ID is displayed (i.e. the Yahoo! PhoneIn number). I don't have a regular phone so can't test how it behaves with a regular phone.
The SMC guys really need to do a LOT of testing (and bug fixing) before releasing the phone out. I will send their tech support an email with these issues. (FWIW, I was a Quality Assurance/Quality Engineering in my prior work life and I can see that this product has not been tested as rigorously as it should have been).
Finally, if you do end up buying the product, I'll definitely appreciate your feedback here (or on the skype forums)! :) Customer Rating: Summary: Very good solution for freedom at home Comment: This is a great solution for using Skype talk away from the PC/Mac. No chat functionality. Other users get a message that you are using a different version that does not support chat. I have been using it for about 1 week now. The phone is of decent quality. The speaker could be better, especially with the four very limited ring tones it sounds really cheap. I guess they used the cheapest component.
Overall, very easy to set up. I had some initial trouble to find the network at home, as I have the SSID broadcast off (plus WPA-PSK). Once I changed to SSID broadcast, the phone found it immediately. Now that the network is set as a preferred network, I turned the SSID broadcasting off again and it works fine whenever I boot the phone.
Sound quality is the typical Skype quality. Excellent from Skype to Skype (US to Europe, Morocco, India). My parents say it sounds like I am next door. I have issues though with the sound when calling offnet from the US (Skype) to regular fixed lines in Europe. Mobile numbers in Europe are even worse. That doesn't always work as wished, but that happens from the PC/Mac as well. DSL line is 1.5/384. Maybe more speed on this side would help. We also have Vonage for almost 2 years now, but for Skype to Skype the phone is just amazing. I can nicely run around the house and the conversation is fine, even when I might switch from one router to the other (very tube like apartment with two wireless routers for blanket coverage). Using two older Netgear WGR-614 routers.
Got the special on Skype shop for $159 including that FON router which has not arrived yet. I would give five stars if the speaker was a bit better, or if it was a speaker phone. While it has a headset connector, it does not have a belt clip. Otherwise fine. Have not tested it at the coffee shop yet. Happily talking from the couch now with the laptop closed.
