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ZyXel P-2000W VoIP WLAN Phone Reviewed
prostoalex writes "MSNBC reviews ZyXel's P-2000W, a VoIP-over-WLAN phone that supports 802.11b and 802.11g. Gary Krakow tests the $200 phone with a VoIP account from T-Glo (his phone came pre-programmed with that). Looks like a pretty decent solution for anyone who's on the go, but has consistent access to Wi-Fi networks: 'I took the phone with me to a number of friends' homes and tried it there. All I had to do is ask the phone to find nearby networks and join them. It was even able to find others' WiFi networks as I walked though Manhattan (no, I didn't try connecting).'"
War Talking!
Maybe someday we'll have small portable phones we can take anywhere without worrying about needing 802.11b access! I can't wait for that to happen!
"So far everything works perfectly - fluctuating summertime electrical services haven't affected my phone service at all. "
This guy is talking such shit. If he did have a proper power outage, I'm sure his VoIP is going to break.
When we had our big power outage in the NE of N. America a couple of summers back, my land line carried on flawlessly. My internet went down and stayed down longer then the power was off. That would definitely break a VoIP phone, methinks.
What ever you have to say about the baby Bells, they've had to maintain higher standards than other alternative providers of telephony. Or at least that how it seems here in Canada.
It's pronounced "Zy-Sell". They're the worlds largest maker of VDSL CPE and DSL routers. Also have a new consumer line you can buy at CompUSA. A version of the phone featured in the article is currently available through Office Depot stores.
and funnily enough it failed, why ? lack of connection points (it was relativly cheap too)
BBC story about it , would be wise to read it before praising Wifi phones just yet
Wow! How revolutionary! A phone that doesn't need wires, that you can use almost anywhere, that doesn't have long distance charges! Honestly, who cares if it's VOIP? People still complain about quality of regular cell service. I can't imagine VOIP over 802.11x. It brings new meaning to, "Can you hear me now?"
That's kinda' like geeks who buy a powerful PC with a video card so that they can watch TV on their PC's.
I don't respond to AC's.
I have one of these and while it is pretty neat, it still is pretty clearly a first generation product, despite being version 2 of the model.
The largest problem is that you can't use these phones in places where you have to log onto a service provider in order to use the wifi connection - for example at a Starbucks. You can only use it on wifi access points that are wide open or for which you have the WEP key. Both 64 & 128 bit WEP are supported though.
The firmware is still a little flaky. Once in a while, it randomly reboot itself. Also, it sometimes has trouble connecting with access points that use MAC address filtering, even if the phone's MAC address is correctly entered on the allowed list.
The phone is easy enough to configure via its web interface. There appear to be a few features that are only configurable via web interface and a few that are only configurable via the phone's menus.
The phone can hold only one set of SIP settings (i.e only one VOIP provider account) at a time.
Battery life sucks. The manual suggests something like 20 hours standby and 3-4 hours talk. I'm guessing that the real numbers are around half of that.
I bought mine at an Office Depot office supplies store (US$199), and it came with a sticker on the box promoting tglo and promising a $50 rebate if you signed up for tglo service. The phone is NOT locked to tglo and I have tried mine on Freeworld Dialup and SipPhone among others.
The Zyxel website provides firmware downloads and a fairly comprehensive manual.
Other than that, it pretty much works as advertised.