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Exactly. Dualphone is good stuff and delivers pretty much everything what is promised. The major drawback is (as usual) no linux support, no plans for that. I got it working with some pains in linux+vmware5.0+win2k guest (damn me if i'm going to have this pile of stuff running just for dualphone). I'm hacking the thing to make it work in linux, that mostly includes reverse engineering of the control protocol used over USB between the base station and the dialer daemon ( the architecture is pretty straightforward:
PHONE BASESTATION DIALER SKYPE). Once the device works as USB audio and control protocol is known, the rest is next to trivial - matter of writing a dialer using Skype API.

I hope Linksys will do better with support and features. There are always some to wish for, as seen in the linked article. By the way, how about compiling a feature list of a perfect wireless Spkype phoneset?

Anyway, the future Linksys product seems to be in the same price range. I guess that thing being expensive is mostly due to the DECT technology (ASICS, speech coders, patented silicon IP, etc.).

cheerz,
t

P.S. Another thing that ppl miss when comparing DECT skypeware with WLAN/Bluetooth/blah is that DECT has built in encryption, which is not problem free tho. For other DECT features see the primer at
http://www.dectweb.com/dectforum/aboutdect/whatis. htm

Speaking about siemens M34 - it comes with customised version of Skype. Just look at it: a customised version of proprietary software, how much worse it can get? As of v.107 of sw/drivers dualphone works with standard skype, making use of its API.

Clicky

In UK, there is a ONEPHONE service, which is supposed to provide such a service. If it dectects your home DECT basestation, it switches over to it, away from the cell network. Here's a link.

Rabbit were one of the other major operators.

The idea was sold as 'second generation cordless' where you used the same phone at home with a base station on your land line, but it would work within 100m or so of a public hotspot - normally near payphone banks as these had the infrastructure and were in obvious places.

Never really took off as it lost a fight against the improving analogue mobile phone coverage and handset technology. Also if you took the handset with you when you were out, what were the other members of your family meant to use?

BT over here in the UK sold a similar product recently that was a GSM mobile, but with a DECT (Digital European Cordless Telephone originally, now Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) air interface as well, called Onephone. The idea being you could register it as a cordless handset with you DECT base station as well as have it on a GSM network.

When you made a call out it tried DECT first for lower call costs, and of course if you are in range of your landline it would ring as any other handset. It couldn't handover a call from system to the next as this was technically impossible and I have no idea what it did if it got a DECT call during a GSM call or vica versa.

To make it really useful BT sold a personal number service that would try you landline first, then try GSM to get through to the handset so you could give out a single contact number - but it was fairly expensive to rent.

Suprised that this idea hasn't been tried more often. But this is getting offtopic so a discusion for another day methinks...

Well if you were a swanky UK'ian you'd be using a digital DECT phone which is encrypted, and operating on the European 1.8ghz ISM band this means it will co-exist with your 802.11b 2.4ghz network perfectly.

Check out dectweb.com. It is by far the best site I have found. DECT is a really cool standard allowing for multiple base stationsand multiple handsets plus a host of other features. The downside of DECT of course is that it is european only. It's also right in the middle of the sprint PCS band. I purchased one of these phones in holland (I believe it was holland) real cheap but it gets interference in the states, heh...