Philips VoIP Dual Dect Desktop Phones Kansas

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This month, Microsoft launched the latest version of its Messenger program. Along with a number of other innovations, it now offers a feature called Windows Live Call. This allows you to phone any other Messenger user for free over the internet and also make cheap internet calls to land lines and mobiles. Microsoft has teamed up with Verizon to offer calls to land lines in most of the world at only 1.4p per minute.

The Philips VoIP Dual Dect Desktop Phone kit is specially designed for use with this new Messenger service. It consists of a USB base station, which also connects to your telephone line, and two cordless handsets. With your normal cable plugged into the base station, you can use the phones to make calls over your landline, just as you would with a normal phone. Plug the base station into your PC's USB port, however, and the phones will automatically configure themselves to work with Messenger - you don't have to install any drivers or do any fiddling around. Once the phone has been properly detected, you can use it to make free internet calls to other Messenger users or to take advantage of the cheap rate calls to landlines and mobiles.

Using the phone to call over the internet is hardly any different to using it over a land line and your Messenger contacts are displayed on the phone's screen. To make a call, you simply select a contact and hit the dial key. Press the # key and you'll then be offered the choice to dial over your landline or the internet. Sound quality was good, though it took a few moments for the phone to dial out. The phones are well designed, but they'll only be useful if your landline connection is right next to your PC, or if you're using a laptop that you can move.

System Specifications

TYPE VOIP phone kit REQUIRES Windows XP, Pentium III 400MHz, 128MB RAM, USB port, stores 100 contacts on base station and 20 on each phone

Verdict

A normal phone that can also make free calls to broadband PCs and cheap calls over the internet. This VoIP phone can be fiddly to use, but it's a great add-on for Windows Messenger users.

Author: PW

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