Linksys Debuts Cordless Skype Handset

An anonymous reader writes "A new cordless Skype-based VoIP handset will hit Internet and retail stores next week. According to Linksys, the CIT200 handset will allow users to make VoIP phone calls as easily as today's cordless handsets make conventional land line calls. The device uses DECT wireless protocol, claimed to eliminate interference with 2.4GHz phones or devices. It comes with a DECT dongle that plugs into a PC's USB port. It's expected sell for around $130. Initially, Linksys is requiring that the PC run Windows XP or 2000, so no Linux yet."

Comments

Can I use the Dongle with *any* DECT-enabled phone

[webperf]

I've got some spare 'regular' DECT phones.. can I use them instead of the linksys one? and if so .. does anyone know if you can buy the USB dongle seperately? TIA

Haven't these been around?

[THotze]

I can seem to remember Skype selling phones (one corded, one cordless) that would work with a PC via Windows and USB - but I think the cordless one wasn't available in North America.

Still, although WAY to expensive for me to pay for a handset, I might actually consider buying one - especially as Skype adds more countries for SkypeIn. Two things, though:

1) how hard would it be to make drivers for Linux and Mac OS X?
2) Isn't this a problem just WAITING for Bluetooth? I mean, couldn't you make a Bluetooth handset? It wouldn't be very different from a bluetooth hands-free device, all you'd really need to add would be some kind of communication for the caller display and the dial pad. And then you wouldn't need the USB dongle - saves a USB port, makes it more practical for laptop users, etc.
      The obvious limit of this is the highly limited range of Bluetooth - much less than a 2.4GHz cordless phone.

Tim

Use real VoIP and this has been around forever

[terminal.dk]

If you use real VoIP, for which there is a provider on every corner, and ones like Sipphone.com, Vonage etc operates in the USA, there IP wireless phones has been around forever. And with voipbuster.com european phone calls to real telephone is free.

And if you like most people using VoIP is having an adapter box, you can talk even when the computer is turned off, and you can use a standard $20 DECT telephone with the box. And I had the "skype in" equivalent from before skype announced it.

I do not understand this wow about skype. It is bloatware (requires the PC to be on), quality supposedly sucks etc. I looked at it, and dismissed it as a closed network of old technology. But again, I want things that works, is cheap, and I do not care if 15 year olds can use if for filesharing.

Re:Wireless Radio

[Anonymous Coward]

Cable TV commonly uses RF (radio frequency) over coaxial. Wired radio right there.

Re:I hate computers

[ReformedExCon]

I have a tablet that I can pick up any time and just start writing or drawing or doodling. It costs less than a dollar. And it doesn't require my computer to be on. But that's besides the point.

If you really think that you need a computer to surf the web, or need a PC to use a tablet, or ought to be locked down to a single site in order to use a phone, you are either part of the problem or are significantly behind the times.

The goal should not be to require this 300W heating unit to be the focal point of your computing needs. As I said earlier, I don't want to be tied to this box. I don't want to have to wait 5 minutes for XP to boot up just so I can make calls; I want to pick up the phone and dial.

The PC as a computing device is a lot like the horseshoe crab. It's been around forever, it'll be around forever, but it's way past its evolutionary prime. The problem is that people think "Computing == PC", so they don't see the possibilities of breaking away from that dead-end paradigm.

It's a dead end because it relies on being stationary. Even laptops require that you be stationary for limited amounts of time. Palmtop devices go a long way to removing that restriction, and cellular phones do the same. These small devices pack a lot of computing power into very small, low-power units that you can take with you anywhere. This is the new paradigm.

Re:VOIP is still not worth it.

[eclectro]

Yeah, I used to pay $35 a month for POTS (and that's as low as it got) and I get a skype-in number for a YEAR for what it cost me ONE month with POTS.

So I am saving $385 dollars plus I don't get all the crap calls I was receiving before.

VOIP is VERY worth it.

I call *baloney* - better phones available already

[B747SP]

Methinks this doesn't exactly count as news. Wireless telephones and wireless PC audio devices (what this product really is) have been around in assorted shapes and forms for quite a while.

A company here in Sydney, Australia is selling (to Australia and NZ only, sorry) a combination cordless telephone (ie: it works on the telephone network) and USB PC audio device with drivers that speak Skype. Apparently you choose whether you want POTS (plain old telephone system) or USB audio (and thus, I suspect, not just skype but any voip thing you want to run on your computer) from the keypad on the handset. For the same price as the Linksys one in the Slashdot story (those dollars on the Australian web site are Australian dollars), my money goes with the one that is actually a telephone! :-)

They also have the ZyXel Voice-Over-IP Wifi Phone, a device that speaks 802.11b and SIP out of the box - no proprietary Skype restrictions, it's the real deal. The Zyxel device has been around for quite a while IIRC.