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  • Overall Rating
    2 stars 2 Star Review
    Reviewed by:

    Updated:09-06-08

    Duration of ownership:2 Months

    Strengths: Compact, Nice Styling

    Weaknesses: Buggy. Base Station requires frequent resetting. Base station crashes and I miss calls. Cannot conference with landline. Poor instructions. Poor tech support.

    Overall Evaluation: I purchased this phone with two additional handsets. I had trouble registering the additional handsets because the directions are wrong. I called tech support and the 1st repair tech told me to return the phone. I got another replacement phone and it had the same problem... So I called support for a second time... This time the told me the "secret" trick to getting the handsets paired.Now that I have had the system working for a while... I find that the base station frequently crashes in a state where I cannot receive any SkypeIn calls. Also... When it does work for an incoming call only some of the handsets ring. Then I have to reset the base station to get all of the handsets to ring. It's now failing about 1-2 times per day.I am ordering another system. (The GE system.) I would never buy another Netgear product because the tech support is horrible.

  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: FStones

    Updated:07-23-08

    Duration of ownership:2 Days

    Strengths: The best marriage with Skype I ever saw.

    Weaknesses: I would like one in black.

    Overall Evaluation: This device comes from fabric configured with 10 Mps. To change to auto detection 10/100 Mps you follow these steps: 1) In your handset go to menu/ settings / information. Write down its IP address (it is something like 192.168.1.###. 2) In your computer (connected to your homenetwork) go to IE and type the IP address of your device: http://192.168.###. 3) It will appear a box asking for user and password. In user type ?admin? and in the password type ?password?. 4) On your left click ?Network? and in the box Ethernet Setup Link Speed choose ?Auto?. That is it.

  • Overall Rating
    4 stars 4 Star Review
    Reviewed by: apostle418

    Updated:05-27-08

    Duration of ownership:2 Weeks

    Strengths: Easy to use and setup. Clear sound. Love the speaker phone and ear piece features. Works just like a regular wireless phone.

    Weaknesses: Weak manual, but phone is easy to use so not big deal.

    Overall Evaluation: This is my first Skype phone but I'm having a great time with it. I have lots of family outside of the US and the calls are loud and clear. It's really cool how if people call my Skype account from their PC that the phone rings and works like a real phone. I can?t emphasize how clear the sound is, no difference or better quality than if I was using my home phone to call out of the country. Not to mention it's a fraction of the cost of going through the regular phone company. There are lots of features I have yet to explore and if need be I can use this with a regular phone line also. This phone was a breeze to setup, just plug the stuff in to power and cat5 for internet and the phone synced by itself, I didn?t have to do anything but login through the phone. One of its weaknesses is probably the screen and the way you have to type in it, but once you get all your contacts setup it?s a breeze to use. However, this is not that expensive one, it?s only $100. It resembles the style of an old Nokia phone which is totally usable and practical. I would recommend this to anyone who need a Skype phone. On top of everything else you can buy extensions for this phone and have more than one phone set unlike some other major brands.

  • Overall Rating
    4 stars 4 Star Review
    Reviewed by: arpitdpandey

    Updated:05-09-08

    Duration of ownership:3 Days

    Strengths: easy to setup, sharp screen, great voice quality, one of the cheapest Skype phones out there in its category(Skype cordless-no computer), web interface to base station, Skype certified

    Weaknesses: the default setting for the speed is 10mbps instead of auto with which one can get upto 100. this can be changed by going into the web interface for the base station.

    Overall Evaluation: I was just looking to buy the cheapest Skype cordless phone that didn't need a computer and so I got this one. Its not just the cheapest phone but is also a great phone. I am very satisfied with it expect for the 1 weakness that I mentioned. Right when you take it out of the box, it has the appeal of being a quality product and you can set everything up in as less as 5 min without any guide. Overall, I rate this phone very highly.

  • Overall Rating
    4 stars 4 Star Review
    Reviewed by: bevsgreen

    Updated:05-01-08

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: save me alot of money

    Weaknesses: signal drop sometimes

    Overall Evaluation: very easy to use, setup was like 1, 2, 3,, very easy.. sound great, very clear, love the fact that i can add my contacts by just using skype on my desktop computer.. i would recommend it to friends...

  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: qinsy

    Updated:01-19-08

    Duration of ownership:3 Weeks

    Strengths: great sound quality

    Weaknesses: none

    Overall Evaluation: I used Actiontec VoSKY Skype Call Center before, I works pretty well, but I don't want to leave the PC on all the time. This phone is everything a skype user wanted in order to obtain pc freedom. I have been very satisfied because it really feels like a regular phone. The voice quality is excellent. However, the manual has quite a few mistakes. But this is nothing to do with the phone itself. I bought 2 sets, and registered both the handset to the same base, I have a phone with 2 hansets so I put into different rooms. Highly recommended.

  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: kasidid

    Updated:10-04-07

    Duration of ownership:1 Weeks

    Strengths: No computer need.

    Weaknesses: Can't find at present

    Overall Evaluation: I used to have the skype phone that requires computer, Linksys CIT300. It lost connection with computer very often. When I got this Netgear SPH200D, the connectivity problem is gone. The voice is very clear, especically more clear than my T-Mobile cell phone.I use Sanyo Eneloop batteries instead of the original ones. The standby time is at least 2 days (+2 hours talking). Like many reviewers said, the LCD backlight is always on when a phone is on the charging cradle. Also, I think it takes long time to charge batteries, may be 8 hours or more. So, my suggestion is to charge it overnight.Please note that the AC adapters coming in the package are for 110V only. I need to buy another adapters for 220V in order to use it at my home country.

  • Overall Rating
    4 stars 4 Star Review
    Reviewed by: wavek9

    Updated:09-27-07

    Duration of ownership:9 Days

    Strengths: Sharp screen and very similar to Philips VOIP841 from screen to size.

    Weaknesses: No bonus minutes like other pc-less skype phones. Didn't like the color, is it a phone or an Ipod?

    Overall Evaluation: I have actually purchased all 3 popular versions of PC-less Skype phones which are the Philips VOIP841, GE 28310EE1, and of course Netgear SPH200D. All three are very similar to each other so it is hard to really say which is better but first thing I noticed is the GE 28310EE1 is a little bit washed out in the screen (not as vivid), so that made this phone rank higher than the GE. Now the nice thing about the GE it turns the screen off eventually in the charger while the Philips and Netgear only dim down the backlight so for those who plan to have the phone in their bedroom might prefer the GE. Though the light isn't that bright but I prefer to sleep in pitch black environment so it would drive me insane. BUT the phone does turn off the screen when NOT IN THE CHARGER. As stated before all 3 phones seem to have the same features, so once you have used one the other will be pretty much exactly the same at least I felt they were. So the next thing that truly separated the phones was the GE and the Philips gave you bonus Skype out minutes and voicemail, while I couldn't find anything in the Netgear's box. The voice quality seems the same on all three and I am not sure if it is Skype or the phones but every now and then the quality would get degraded when getting a Skype in to landline or Skype out to landline call but for how cheap the service is I can't really complain. As for physical attributes I prefer the Philips because I love the sleek glossy black design VS the white Ipod feel of the netgear. But both phones and base units to each phone are actually smaller than GE's bulky silver phone so that was a plus for Netgear and Philips. Finally the technical aspects is the firmware upgrade which the Philips and Netgear have an Auto Update feature (so set it and forget it) and seems to be quicker than the GE's 15 minute manual update. Quick Summary: + Small Size + Standard AAA NIMH Batteries + Auto Software Update - No Free Minutes - White - Screen dims when in charger This pretty much sums up my review which I know didn't go into great detail about the phone itself but everyone else seems to be covering that information. I felt I would give my view of the 3 I have tried so far and their strong and weak points. As stated all three phones seem very alike so it is hard to pick the best but I know what I prefer and if I had to buy any of these phones again I would go with the one that sells for cheapest to be honest since they hardly differ. Their may be a few minor things but overall if one of them is $20+ less than the others then get that one because you really can't go wrong with either of them.

  • Overall Rating
    5 stars 5 Star Review
    Reviewed by: jd_e

    Updated:08-29-07

    Duration of ownership:3 Weeks

    Strengths: Good quality, efficient use, very easy to set-up, lives up to professional reviews

    Weaknesses: None so far

    Overall Evaluation: PC Mag recommended the SPH200D in a recent review article, and consistent with their review, this phone meets my expectations. It was remarkably easy to set-up, and adapted to my SKYPE account immediately. Voice and listening quality are on-par with my regular cordless phones, and I am inclined to convert all of my land phones to this dual-mode system. BTW: additional handsets may be purchased.If I have anything to critique, it is that I anticipated that such a new phone would offer a bit of style. Unfortunately, while not unattractive, Netgear could put a bit more into the exterior design of their phone.

  • Overall Rating
    3 stars 3 Star Review
    Reviewed by: tonytangcom

    Updated:08-06-07

    Duration of ownership:90 Days

    Strengths: Standalone unit doesn't require a PC to work, speakerphone, expandable, small charging unit, good battery life

    Weaknesses: Doesn't auto negotiate to 100 Mbps full duplex (defaults to 10 Mbps half duplex when connected to Netgear switch), Muting when using Skype Out causes clicking noises on other end

    Overall Evaluation: Overall this is a great standalone Skype phone that doesn't require you to connect it to a PC. The speakerphone is good for conference calls or hands-free operation.The big downside to this phone is that when you use Skype Out and use the Mute button, the other people will hear a sporadic clicking noise while you are on mute. You will not hear it yourself, but others will. This is extremely obnoxious if you need to use this phone for conference calls and need to mute your line. I would not recommend getting this phone if you intend to use the Mute feature. This is the reason for a 3-star rating because I intended to use this phone for conference calls.I've worked with Netgear support (up to third-level engineers) on this issue. I've exchanged units, and still have the clicking noise. Although they have not been able to duplicate it in their labs, I am convinced that it is the fault of the Netgear Skype phone. I do not have problems using mute on my Skype softphone on my PC on the same home network.

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Netgear SPH200D Cordless Phone w/ Skype
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