Design
Netgear's SPH101 Wi-Fi Skype Phone looks just like ... well, it looks just like a phone, to be honest. Rather similar to many of Sony Ericsson's cheaper phone lines -- if you took the W200i and dunked it in a tin of iPod paint, you'd end up with something not dissimilar to the SPH101, in fact. It's a rather plain and (subjectively speaking) ugly design, but there's no mistaking that this is a phone, and not in fact some kind of tool for removing stones from horses' hooves, for instance.
Features
So it's a phone - we've got that far. Specifically, the SPH101 is a Skype phone . They're not particularly rare, given Skype's dominance of the VoIP market internationally. What makes the SPH101 stand out is that it's a Wi-Fi connected Skype phone that requires no PC connection whatsoever for making and taking Skype calls.
Set-up of the SPH101 is very simple indeed. Once it's charged, via the supplied USB AC charger, or a mini-USB cable if you've got one handy, it's a simple matter of powering the phone up. It'll seek out nearby Wi-Fi networks, and automatically try to connect to any unsecured networks unless you tell it not to. It's got inbuilt support for WEP and WPA authentication, although any network that requires a Web login - as you'll find for a lot of public area wireless pay networks -- is beyond the SPH101's abilities. Once you've got an IP address, you just enter your Skype username and password, and it'll keep you logged in for as long as its batteries last. It supports SkypeOut calling, although you'll have to do your financial management from a PC - there's no way to add credit directly from the SPH101.
Performance
Netgear rates the SPH101 as having up to 20 hours standby time and two hours talk time. In real mobile terms that's quite low, but then we can't see too many users taking the SPH101 with them everywhere the way you would with a regular mobile -- well, not unless you know of a lot of unsecured wireless networks and have a terminal addiction to chatting on Skype.
Voice quality is always a highly subjective matter when it comes to assessing Skype; some days it's great, and other days it's decidedly adkshlal;;;;;;; hisssss..... five dollars!....zzzzzttt... if you know what we mean. If you are in fact hopelessly addicted to Skype, we're sure you are. In our tests the SPH101 worked well with a nice clear speaker for our conversations, both local and international. The quality of both your broadband and Wi-Fi connection may change that, however.
At an asking price of AU$369, the SPH101 is a somewhat expensive gadget; there's no doubting that a 10 dollar set of headphones will technically do the same trick. Having said that, the SPH101 delivers a very simple and easy way to keep in touch with your Skype contacts without the need to install additional software or hardware, as is the case with many other Skype phones.
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david
23/08/2008, 11:23 PM
rating
9/10
skype phone also giving challenge to Mobile Phones.
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amit
23/08/2008, 11:17 PM
rating
8/10
Netgear Skype Phone also provide advance facilities to make Free Calls across over the world.VoIP plays major role in this.VoIP PBX also play role .
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fars
21/05/2008, 09:14 AM
rating
5/10
frfr
Pros: frfr
Cons: frfr
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netgear_sux
23/02/2008, 07:44 AM
rating
2/10
Netgear sux, I'm never buying anything from them again....NEVER EVER!!
Pros: -cool idea (but not really 'ground breaking')
-small, looks nice
-good quality audio (as long as the battery isn't flat or it isn't randomly rebooting).
Cons: -Buggy, unreliable (random reboot, short battery life).
-Worst customer support ever! You'd never guess that Netgear are a well know company. I've had better product support with dodgey Chinese stuff bought off eBay!
-I think its criminal that such a POS product is still on the market for such a high price.
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Fenix
03/09/2007, 08:40 AM
rating
8/10
Having used the Belkin Skype Wifi phone (and also the SMC model) before the Netgear SPH101 I found it to be a big step up in terms of audio quality. The interface is much more responsive on the sph101 and the display is also better. The SMC skype phone is also very similar to the Belkin model.
Due to a recent price drop on the sph101 there is just no point in looking to the Belkin and SMC models since the price doesn't differ much at all. The Netgear model is superior in almost every aspect aside from slightly shorter battery life than the Belkin.
Pros: * Good display (compared to the Belkin)
* Good audio quality
* Higher quality feeling compared to other (cheaper) models.
* No stuttering audio during longer calls (Belkin had this problem)
Cons: * Battery life
* No fon support (like the SMC updated Fon-firmware)
* No text chat
* Gets very warm during longer calls.
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nerds r us
07/06/2007, 12:30 PM
rating
2/10
Did nintendo make wi-fi before these guys i think so. so y is it such a (BIG) step to have a phone with it and the keys are to damn small like you would have to have like baby fingers to work the damn thing.
Pros: it looks kind of nice i guess... but the shape dont suit me.
Cons: wi-fi oooh a big step is it ha u wish buddy and um the price kind of like the nintendo wii can do more for that price they have no chance of sellin many of these things like come on
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phil
06/06/2007, 02:17 PM
rating
8/10
Fantastic product. For everyone having problems make sure you update to latest firmware. Since update i have had no problems with this phone., great quality phone calls and perfect skype phone for the price and size.
Pros: Easy to set up, easy to use. small, looks good
Cons: Battery life average
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Jason Matthews
07/02/2007, 08:32 PM
rating
4/10
Battery life is poor, phone reboots all the time. Netgear support were helpful when I called them about problems connecting to my Pre-N Router, but ultimately were unable to solve the problem. Spent 1/2 a day on the web and found some information relating to connecting UK mobile phones and PDA's to Wireless networks. Adjusted the QOS and ACK settings on my router and bingo the thing came alive. Netgear never returned my call despite the promise to escalate the call to their techs!
Pros: Small, looks good and saves me a load of $ instead of using the normal land line.
Cons: Rebooting all the time, battery life, gets very hot, constantly disconnects from network and has to be manually reconnected.
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Anonymous
11/01/2007, 07:44 AM
rating
4/10
Find a wifi phone from a serious company
Pros: Decent Communications
Cons: No proxy support whatever netgear says
Clock changes randomly
Heats your ear quite a bit
No web identification
Absolute lack of support or bug fixes from Netgear
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brianegge
04/01/2007, 11:34 AM
rating
2/10
Support from Netgear is close to worthless. I hear inverter whine whenever the backlight in on. The phone randomly reboots - which is really bad when your on hold with Netgear.
Skype no longer lists this phone on their website, so it's been pulled after being sold for less than three months.
Pros: Small form factor, bright screen
Cons: Software is buggy, hardware is just as buggy.
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