Netgear SPH101 Skype WiFi Phone

An awesome idea that was not well implemented.

Posted Sep 18, 2007 - Overall, this phone is pretty cool and is great if you have people frequently calling you using Skype while in range of your home router. However, it had some major cons that caused me to make the decision to return it to newegg: handoffs between routers happen successfully rarely, contact list downloaded successfully once out of many many tries, have to relog yourself in sometimes to Skype because it forgets your information(even with a charge), battery life is actually quite awful. You may ask why I didn't complain about the web based authentication: I figured out a way around it. I cloned the mac address of the phone and logged onto my college network using my laptop's web based authentication. Once logged in, I turned my laptop off and then turned the phone on and wall-la, access. Overall, it is a cool idea, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone due to the fact that it has not been well developed.

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Netgear SPH101 Skype phone has one very big flaw

Posted Aug 21, 2006 - NetGear! This is like designing a fantastic car that can do everything ..but run on most fuels! This thing won't even work at many Starbuck's and Most Airports! We need Web-based login & authentication!

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Netgear Skype WiFi Phone

Posted 1 year ago - I purchased two units, one for myself and the other for my parents abroad. It's convenient between skype users, but a little bit pricey. Battery life is so short that it lasts less than 24 hours even when it's not used at all. So I need to hook it up to power all the time. Network automatic login function sometimes fails to work and I have to do it manually. When I called to landlines abroad, the sound quality is bad and sometimes it's hard to keep talking due to noise. I don't think it is a good idea to pay $200 for this phone.

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Netgear Skype Phone

Posted Jan 4, 2007 - I purchased this phone to use as a better option than using Skype on my computer. I had found that when using Skype on my Computer I would get disconnected often. Using the new Netgear phone though the connection does not drop and the quality of sound is pretty good. I did try the headphone jack thinking it would allow me to use a mic as well, but did not have much luck with that. The USB charging is easy, fast and convenient. It would be nice if for the $200+ that a stoarge case for protection was included. The biggest drawback I found was that it can only be used via an open network or secured networks with the passkey. This really does not allow it to be used in too many places for convenience since most free public open networks require browser authentication. It would be grand if Netgear could come up with a way around this and offer a firmware upgrade for existing users. This would make the phone very usable at hotels, airports, coffee shops etc. Right now it is basically a phone to use around the house with ones own wireless network. To top it off Skype has been advertising other similar phones (they look identical) for as low as $150 that is about $80 less than the Netgear phone and you also can get hours of free skype calling with them. All of my networking gear is Netgear and I am very fond of their products, but this one has a way to go to make it truly useful.

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Nice phone - great not having to be tied to my computer!

Posted Jan 17, 2007 - I am pleased with the SPH101 Skype WiFi Phone, and it has lived up to my expectations. I've found the call quality to be at least as good as using Skype on my computer or with my Linksys CIT200 (which requires connection to a computer). As soon as I plugged it in and turned it on it was picking up wireless networks. We've been using Skype as our primary phone service for some time now and phones like this not only complement Skype's cost effectiveness but also eliminate any hassle of being tied to a computer. Would-be-nice-to-have's: Charging cradle, web browser authentication to connect to wireless networks that require it, ability to text message via Skype Chat.

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The product we have all been asking for!

Posted Sep 2, 2006 - I have one on order, and I have read everything that has been printed so far. Can't go wrong with this one, until they make a web browser, and text capable phone, and how about a TV tuner built in also? Hey, that's marketing, and it keeps us coming back and spending more money.

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NETGEAR SPH-101 Skype Phone

Posted Jun 29, 2007 - I bought two of these phones and send one to my girlfriend in Austria so we could talk to each other unlimited for free over wi-fi. As long as you're not expecting a $500 smart phone, this is a very handy gadget. It connects extremely easy, and gets a better signal than when I use Skype wirelessly through my laptop. Using one of these you can travel around the world and call US numbers for extremely low prices, and as long as you have WI-FI access that doesn't require HTML authentication, you're fine. I use it with my WEP at home and it works great. One other bonus is that the resale value of this phone is decent, so if you can purchase one for around $100 after rebate, you can get your money back when you're done travelling, or whatever.

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Netgear SPH101 Skype phone

Posted Feb 27, 2008 - This Skype phone works very well with my WEP wireless network and serves its purpose of making wireless VoIP calls without the dependency for a computer running Skype software. The setup is easy with my Netgear router, but can be difficult sometimes with public wireless network. I had less number of dropped calls using this phone, compared with the combination of a PC and bluetooth headset. Most of time the calls are clear. The phone has a large LCD, but the buttons are not as good as those on a regular phone. The overall material and quality is sub-par, not comparable to a good cell phone. I wish it had a much better build quality. The battery get warm quickly. The clock does not work well.

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