Great Introduction to Skype VOIP

First of all, I got a great deal on this phone. I paid just $29.99 plus shipping (for a total of $38 and change for shipping in the US) for a refurbished unit from TigerDirect.com.

The refurbished CIT200 seemed to be not quite as ‘refreshed’ as I have seen other refurbished units from other manufacturers, but overall, out of the box, it was received in a very acceptable condition.

My first impression with the phone was that it seemed much like a $20 candy bar prepay phone you can get at Walmart. Nothing super fancy, but oh, so 2005. Other items included in the box were the USB-powered base station, AC adapter charging stand, belt clip and two NiMH AAA batteries.

Quick side note – anytime power is provided by a non-proprietary source, that can only be a good thing! AAA NiMH batteries can be found anywhere for cheap and can be charged on any acceptable charger, thus being able to have a standby set of batteries available at any time. Also, since the box recommended 14 hours of charging before first use, I just used some alkaline stock to get started, and it worked great.

A charging stand that is separate from the USB base station is GREAT plus. Everyone who has any sort of accessories at their PC station knows that there is only so much room for another block power adapter in your power strip. The charging station is completely independent from the USB base, so you can have it anywhere in the house.

Installation was a bit of a challenge. Big letters on the CD said “Install software before plugging in any cords.” I complied, but apparently Vista doesn’t like the install CD software. I wound up downloading the driver from the Linksys website, ran it, plugged in my base and that was that. I think I had at least one reboot and one reset where the base became virtually unplugged from the system. Pulled the cord, plugged it back in, the installed driver was used to identify it, and that was that. Opened up Skype and told it to allow my device to interface with it, and I was home free. Ease of installation – about a 7 out of ten. Time to install, about an 8 out of ten.

Tried a couple of calls to my folks in Japan. First did Skype to Skype. No problem. Then went SkypeOut to their landline. No problem there, either. Went back to Skype to Skype and then my dad (with 512 MB onboard RAM) turned on his webcam and that was that. He had to reboot. May sell him some of my RAM that I just replaced. The SkypeOut quality was phenomenal, both on the headset and on speaker phone. There was no discernable loss of quality noticed by my folks in Japan, either. Keep in mind that a lot of the quality has to do with both YOUR computer, memory, and broadband and of the person you’re calling.

Now to functionality. As mentioned before, dial out calls to landlines require a SkypeOut account. Every call, whether it is around the corner or across the globe requires you to dial 011-country code-area code-number. So, yes, to order pizza, you have to dial 14 numbers. That being said, the 011 and country code are incorporated into the number automatically when you set up numbers on your Skype account.

Range from the base unit was excellent. I am in a 3000 sq ft house and I had no problem with the phone being in the opposite corner of the house from the base.

Now about that Skype account. Your phone will only bring up the contact list that is in the account of the person logged onto the computer that the USB hub is on. You cannot alter your contact list from the phone. However, you can store up to 100 numbers on your personal phone and an additional 20 on the base unit, but these numbers don’t transfer through to your Skype account. Not a big deal, but worth being aware of.

Other features that the phone has are related to Skype account limitations and functionality so I won’t go into detail here. For the most part, the phone is very easy to use and the quality is quite fine. I will certainly consider picking up a SkypeIn account so that more people can call in to my CIT200 rather than use up my cell phone!

One final word – this VOIP phone can not be registered with emergency services, nor can it call a local 911 number (unless you know the full 14 digits to dispatch). It’s a great supplement to an existing land line or cell phone. I would NOT recommend it as your only home phone.

Finally, I wouldn’t recommend spending $80 for other units over the $30 for this refurbished model. Even $50 or so for a new CIT200 is not a bad price. There are some nice phones with extra features out there, but unless you get a non-tethered (ie: Wifi or Ethernet based Skype phone), this will certainly fill the bill.