Netgear SPH101 Wi-Fi Skype Phone User reviews

By Alex Kidman on 30/07/2007

More NETGEAR reviews , RRP: AU$369.00

The good:

  • Easy Wi-Fi set-up
  • No need for a connected PC
  • Good audio quality

The bad:

  • Much more expensive than a set of headphones
  • Bland visual design
  • Battery life could be better

The bottomline:

If you're hopeless Skypeaholic with a home Wi-fi router, the SPH101 is your dream product. If you're a budget minded VoIP fanatic, maybe not.

Buying choices:

Editors' rating:

8.7/10

Users' rating:

5.5/10

Tags:

netgear | skype | sph101 | voip | wifi | phone

cristina
01/09/2008, 02:11 PM

rating
8/10

Skype phones offers us to call internet to mobile phones in cheap rate. This is new challenge for mobile phone dealers.

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feelyou
31/08/2008, 08:04 AM

rating
7/10

I use Skype to make free internet phone callsto usa and canada, and I hope that Netgear SPH101 Wi-Fi also offers free calls

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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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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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