Re: Wi-Fi phones, any good?

divoch wrote:
> I am not using VOIP yet so please bear with me.
>
> I came across NETGEAR SPH101 Skype WiFi Phone, UTStarcom UTS F1000 WiFi IP
> Phone Wi-Fi phones. Use of Wi-Fi phones seems to me potentially useful
> development but I am rather unsure about
> a] compatibility of these or any other similar devices with current VOIP
> services. What do I need to look for to ensure compatibility or would these
> work with any VOIP provider?
> b] how do they actually connect. I have a home network with Wi-Fi router,
> desktop PC with cable modem connection and a Laptop that connects via Wi-Fi
> c] has anyone used one of these and could he or she recommend any of them?


I have experience with the UTStarcom F1000 and the Zyxel p-2000W WiFi
phones.

They both are 802.11x compatible and connected to my Dlink DSL-G604T
fairly painlessly. They both handled my WEP key without any problem.
They both use SIP and handle NAT ok. I found the phone interfaces on
both of them to be very cumbersome and immature when compared to todays
current crop of mobile phone interfaces.

Call quality was acceptable but even with the volume turned up they were
a little on the quiet side, this was also true for the ringer. Battery
life is not brilliant again compared to mobiles but then again WiFi
takes more juice to run.

One major problem I found was that they tend to lose registration which
is not good, the only way to sort it was to reboot the phone.

I had both of the phones on evaluation but after testing i wouldn't buy
one myself.

HTH

Jon