Netgear's Wi-Fi phone cuts the cord for Skype fans

I do a lot of talk on my landline to international destinations, resulting in my over-the-top bills!
250 USD on average a month.
I want to consider switching over to yahoo's pc-traditional service.
Is that a good idea?
Or are there better alternatives?
What budget handset/headset would you recommend, bearing in mind i want to squeeze out as much value out of my dollar?
Thanks and hope some techno-sage would come to my help.
Thanks
Kwamiga

by kwamiga (See profile) - March 30, 2006 1:32 PM PST

it is going to cost too much

by wogboi (See profile) - February 13, 2006 2:03 AM PST

The question of why use skype if rates are cheap already? well having the i730 with verizon I know about rates. I also know if I am at my house or someplace with WIFI service and I am near the limit on my minutes, or if I typically use up all my minutes and I need to make a rather long call time during peak hours, skype works best if you have a pocket-pc enabled phone.
Think about it. Skype is .02 cents per minute, if you used up all of your minutes on your cell plan with verizon then its .40 cents per minute. A big difference. Just turn on wifi on your pda phone, use skype and you can talk for 20 minutes on skype on what would normally let you only talk for 1 minute on verizons additional minute plan. Im not saying drop your cell service completly . Im saying, if your within a network anyway, and you are over your minutes , or nearing it, then skype at .02 cents is a much better alternative. Besides at .02 cents, It takes me about 2-3 months to use up 20 dollars, what I typically add when I need more time on it. At 20 dollars every 2-3 months it surly beats vonage or packet 8 as a home VOIP service as well.

by poese (See profile) - February 3, 2006 10:22 PM PST

What can be done with Netgear's phone is also easily done with a Pocket PC and a Bluetooth headset. I'm currently using a Jabra bluetooth headset and a hx4700 HP. Works great. Gotta love that broadband sound.

Hope frequency response of Netgear's earpiece and mic are better than on current cellphones or landline phones--the more natural sound of VoIP has always been an attractive feature of the technology for me.

Can't wait until someone develops a Pocket PC or WiFi phone with integrated Web Cam--that would be a real step forward into the future of wireless. communications.

by jdenier (See profile) - January 11, 2006 2:51 AM PST

Why would you really care about wifi voice? No mobility other than around the coffee shop. All the national cellular carriers have great coverage and cheap rates. Plus battery drains quickly via wifi... The little dark secret.

by J Todd Smith (See profile) - January 10, 2006 2:31 PM PST

I use Skype only for free PC to PC calls, it's cheaper to use reg. landlines where I live in EU.
However, being a couch wireless phone addict, I recently got the dualphone (€99 from Amazon.co.uk) - a regular POTS and Skype wireless gadget. Would be nice were it a WiFi device as well, at least I would not have to keep the PC running all the time - but as the main desktop runs 24/7 anyway, it's not much of a problem.
And trying to find a WiFi spot instead of using my cellphone would be a wee bit too much effort.

by googey10 (See profile) - January 9, 2006 6:29 AM PST

Bell Mobility, Rogers, Tellus and AT&T will run to the governments and close down Skype before this happens....the same as Sony, MFM and others from the Music and Video industry feed governments millions in bribe money to stop downloading - the Big Boys will go after Skype or buy them out....they know their loosing millions and until they can figure out how they can get a piece of the action they'll close them down.....watch and see

by iameddy (See profile) - January 8, 2006 6:51 PM PST

I've already dropped my cellphone for Skype with my laptop and a bluetooth headset.. This thing will be a huge hit!

by JRfromGR (See profile) - January 6, 2006 11:46 AM PST

I tryed skype when the first got started. Along the same time FWD (Free World Dialup) was betaring. At that time they were all free calls. Now that the phone and cell companys are crashing there prices to the bottom of the penny jar, the free for all wants to hike the prices from free to the price of the phone and cell phones. I am sticking to my VOIP and calling those with the same software for free and my calls from Europe to the USA for 1,9 cents the minute and all calls in the same country for 1 cent the minute. My laptop plays also with this deal. Even though it is somewhat bulkey. The price of skyper will soon or later be the same that I am paying now or more. And thats not including the price of the skyper it self. Which I could use to pay atleast 2 years of VOIP telephoning. And the priceing of phoneing is still falling without an extra gadget.

by RRobinson (See profile) - January 6, 2006 10:48 AM PST

I tryed skype when the first got started. Along the same time FWD (Free World Dialup) was betaring. At that time they were all free calls. Now that the phone and cell companys are crashing there prices to the bottom of the penny jar, the free for all wants to hike the prices from free to the price of the phone and cell phones. I am sticking to my VOIP and calling those with the same software for free and my calls from Europe to the USA for 1,9 cents the minute and all calls in the same country for 1 cent the minute. My laptop plays also with this deal. Even though it is somewhat bulkey. The price of skyper will soon or later be the same that I am paying now or more. And thats not including the price of the skyper it self. Which I could use to pay atleast 2 years of VOIP telephoning.

by RRobinson (See profile) - January 6, 2006 10:47 AM PST