Customer Reviews

SMC WSKP100 802.11G Wireless Skype Phone

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I have seen a lot of mixed reviews on this product, some good and some not so good. I was a bit hesitant about purchasing this, but after having done so, I have no regrets. It works as advertised. It was easy to set up and works pretty well.
Pros:
1. It gets you away from the PC.
2. The battery life is sufficient for about an hour or perhaps more (they say 3 hours talk time). If you talk more than that, plug in the charging cord when the battery appears to be weak, even while you are on the call. It is very similar to a cell phone in this respect.
3. It's easy to pack around, as is a cell phone.
4. The display is bright and buttons are easy to operate.
5. You can store all of your Skype contacts as well as your Skype OUT contacts for quick access.
Cons:
1. Upon occasion it may be sluggish, perhaps leading to a freeze. Just pull off the battery and snap it back on and you are good to go again. This phenomenon is rare, however.
2. It does not have a web browser for inputting passwords to access wireless networks though a browser. If you are lucky, you can usually find an open spot and it will auto connect to that.
3. No cradle for charging if you buy the product in Japan (Logitec) or in the U.S. (SMC).
4. This unit seems slow to update the status of on-line or off-line users. My PC is very quick, but this unit takes a while sometimes. Upon occasion you must initiate a call to an off-line user for them to appear on-line.
5. No speakerphone function. It comes with a i-pod type of earphone/microphone that includes a mute button, but a speakerphone function would be nice.

Overall no real complaints. However, I do strongly suggest that you buy the Edge Core version of this product from the U.K. as it has a charging cradle with it.
Skype WiFi Phone CRADLE and WIRELESS ROUTER WA4101-Cradle AP.
Also, take some time to update your firmware through your PC before using this product. This will make a difference in performance.

I have read reviews complaining about this phone. I disagree. It serves its purpose very well. I have not had problems getting over 2 hours of talk time from this phone. I made sure my initial charge was 12 hours before I used it the first time. Since then, I can use the phone all day without any problems. I use skype a lot as I have family in Europe and South America. I wonder why this phone is not readily available in large electronic stores.

It is an excellent phone I highly recommend it. I bought mine from Amazon via Beach Audio and the phone arrived on time and in good condition.

I use an 802.11G router with wep128 encription and have had not problems with linking. True it will not work at hotspots that require web based identification, but the truth is hotspots are still not ubiquitous enough to consider it a realistic option. As a skype phone at home that does not require you to have the computer on, I find this a very impressive first attempt. SMC should be applauded, and place this phone on more retail shelves.

Dr. Houman Javedan

This phone works great for me. The only negatives would be that the volume does not go very loud, and the battery time should be longer. Also, there is no web browser, so there is no way to authenticate on networks that require it. It supports Open, WEP, or WPA Personal authentication types however.

I took out the wire cutters, opened a bottle of beer, and with a primal vociferation, I clipped the phone line! It felt good. Real good! Therapeutic even. :)

Update: I updated the firmware to the latest version which fixes a number of bugs even though I wasn't having any problems, I did it anyhow. It was easy. I also ordered the charging cradle. The only way to charge the phone without a cradle is with a USB cable, so order the charging cradle with it for home use. The USB cable charging is very useful when the battery runs out, you can still use the phone while it is charging.

This phone has promise, and does work. It shipped with a software bug that made it look like no connection was made, when it really did connect wirelessly. I had to research it, download, and update the phone with almost no tech support. Fortunately I do this sort of thing for a living.

This is currently a geek item, not for regular users. Next generation may be more user friendly. On the plus side, it does work, does call anywhere just like my laptop, and with the headphone jack has good sound. That means the built-in ear port is too hard to hear, btw.

The phone seemed to work ok with SkypeOut calls. However leave the phone unattended for a few mins and the phone times out, and will not receive SkypeIn calls. It did not have a reliable connection either. I am using WPA-PSK, and the phone would often drop the connection. If your looking to receive incoming calls use a landline, or Vonage.

This small phone device is pretty cool, I like it,you can take it with you any where! you don't need to have a pc or a laptop to use the skype service, you can connect easily to the wireless network even if it is not an open network you can enter the password, unlike the other devices which only permit access to the open networks.

We got this phone to call to landline and cell phones in the US with SkypeOut. A few months later, we've learned to avoid using it whenever possible.

It constantly shuts off in the middle of calls, despite having nearly full battery. Throughout the day we hear its "swoop" sound indicating it was disconnected from Skype, for whatever reason - yet none of the computers on the network have any problems staying connected.

The echo is so bad that nearly everyone we call mentions it - with the included headset, it is better but still a problem. And even at full volume it's difficult to hear the person you're talking to.

The phone interface is unintuitive in many ways. Often it's hard to tell whether you pressed one of the plastic keypad buttons or not - or whether the phone is just frozen temporarily.

I bought this phone through Skype store and then returned it. It would automatically disconnect from the network. I could not hear the other person every other call. It reacts very slow to the keypad. The few available ringers are awful and not loud enough. It's a nice toy, but it cannot replace the land line. I instead bought Philips VOIP8411B and it works nicely.

This product does indeed let you make wi-fi Skype calls. BUT, there are many problems. Probably the biggest is the fact that you can only talk for 20 minutes before the battery dies. In addition the screen is very slow to respond to keyboard inputs. This phone in no way lives up to the expectations created by comparably priced cell phones. Skype should not have endorsed this piece of technology.

Oh yes, my prayers have been answered! A wonderful phone. Not a single complaint. When my Verizon contract runs out; Skype and WiFi all the way. I pick up open systems all around neighborhoods where I work with the built-in WiFi finder. The big boys, Verizon, Cingular are gonna have to put a halt to this. How they do it will be a fascinating spin show over the next few years. Of course I am early in my euphoric state, but honestly believe it will be years befor this product hits my junk box of once new fangled tech toys. By the way, I now spend what was once all my beer money on fun and productive toys like this. No hangovers too.. Maybe a slight problem will be explaining to the technical inept what's going on with this thing...and how they might benefit. Fortunately I lived through the vcr programming era and lifelong tutoring, and will maybe just stick a fake looking verizon sticker on it so I don't have to go there.

Update 01/02/2010 - just successfully flashed firmware update to my phone.........sweeeeeet............ still lovin it... with gizmo5 coupled with google voice, i am so close to kickin virgin out the door along with verizon from a few years ago.... yeeeehaaaaa