Cingular Go Phone: NETGEAR SPH200D - Cordless phone / VoIP phone - DECT

I've always wanted one of these because I really wanted to give the voip thing a shot and save some cash too, but the initial price tag of these things were crazy, $700 all the way up to nearly $1,000 when availability got tight, NUTS! Now you can get them at about 60% to 70% off those prices and at that, while still not next to nothing, is still much more of a viable option for the masses. The thing to remember is that this is a dated phone, although it still does its job fine, it just doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the newer models. While you can hook it up to your standard phone line and your modem line I prefer to leave it just hooked up to the modem and use it as my Long Distance phone. Some say why bother with it when you can get skype via your cpu for free regardless but just call me old fashioned, I like using the phone. Also I'm on the cpu way to much in my life already, whatever I can do to get away from it I've decided is worth doing. It's really just a phone and that's what I wanted. I would 100% recommend using the setup disk or simply setting up your account online with Skype instead of doing all the stuff through the handset. Once set up the program really does transition flawlessly from your online settings and contacts right to the handset.

I do have one technical recommendation and fix I'll detail here. For the record I found this fix on one of the other reviews on this site but expanded upon it so the very basic cpu user can do it, and this fix is only needed if you have a cpu in conjunction with the phone, because as stated this phone only needs a modem you technically don't have to have a cpu to use it, all the setup can be done right on the handset. But of course if you're on this site I'll just assume you have a cpu. Now you will need a pencil and paper:

1st- On the handset hit the menu button, scroll to the settings tab and press select.
2nd- Scroll to the Network tab and press select
3rd- Press select on the DHCP, write down the IP address (all numbers and dots in exact sequence)
4th- On your CPUs address bar type in the exact IP address you wrote down, NO http or WWW (all numbers and dots in exact sequence)
5th- When prompted use the user name - admin and the password - password.
6th- On the left side of the Blue and White Netgear page select the Network option.
7th- there are two selections, the 2nd, Link Speed, should be set to Auto. It comes factory set to 10M, which is a low quality link compatible for older systems. Even if you have an older system in most cases you pull more than 10M and being in auto means your system won't be held slave to a set point.
Also you should save the IP address for future reference and system tweaks along with status info.

Thanks and hoped that helped.

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Product Description:
Simply plug the Dual-mode Cordless Phone Station into your Internet router (Ethernet port) to enjoy making Skype calls. In addition, you can plug the base station into your phone line (PSTN) wall jack to make landline calls - from the same cordless phone. Up to 3 additional phones can be added - so you can replace your current cordless phones throughout your home with NETGEAR's Dual-mode Cordless Phone with Skype.