Netgear SPH200D Skype/DECT phone

The handset comes with a useful selection of language settings and 16 ring tones, none of which will win any awards. Incoming VoIP and landline calls can each be assigned different tones, though frankly we were at a loss to see what useful purpose this serves. Netgear quote 12 hours of talk time or 120 hours on standby per full handset charge, which we suspect is a little optimistic. There is no built-in voice mail system so you need SkypeIn voice mail for Skype and a regular answer phone machine connected in-line, or an off-board service like BT Answer for your landline.

To check on call quality we made calls to a mobile phone and a landline both in southern Spain via both Skype (BT being the ISP) and a BT landline and then received calls from the same to my SkypeOut and BT numbers. As you would expect the calls made to and from the landline sounded clearer, but there was little discernible difference between the same calls made via Skype or BT, either outgoing or incoming.

Of late we've heard some folk mutter that Skype ain't what it used to be; getting too big too fast, poor sound quality, poor connectivity, etc. But it all sounded fine, and we had no problems getting a first time connection via SkypeOut. A further SkypeOut call to a friend currently on holiday in Thailand who was using a local SIM in a Motorola F3 also sounded just fine.

It's worth noting that the wireless link between the base unit and the handset operates in the DECT 1.9-GHz band, thereby avoiding interference with nearby Wi-Fi networks, something to keep in mind in light of recent articles on Wi-Fi clutter in urban environments, clutter that can hamper the performance of VoIP-only "Wi-Fi handsets" such as the SPH101D.

The base station supports four handsets in total, which can be used as an intercom system, and has a quoted effective range of 275 metres, which seems more than adequate for most uses. The handsets come with a headphone jack and can also function as speaker phones for hands-free use. The sound quality in the speaker phone mode came as a very pleasant surprise with both the incoming and outgoing audio quality being more than acceptable.

Verdict

It is very hard to find serious fault with the SPH200. It's well made, decently styled, easy to use, reasonably priced (at between £95 and £110 for the main unit and around £65 each for additional SP150D handset judging by a quick shoofty on Froogle), pretty fool proof to set up, and possessed more than decent call quality via both VoIP and landline - though, of course, to get the best out of it you do need to subscribe to both SkypeOut and SkypeIn or SkypePro.