Philips VOIP8411B cordless phone / VoIP phone

[ Music ] ^M00:00:01 >> Hi, I'm John Falcone senior editor at CNET.com and this is the Phillips VOIP 8411B Skype phone. What's special about this phone is that it's pretty much a standard cordless phone, but in addition to hooking it up to your landline it also plugs into your home network and gives you access to the Skype VOIP service. Previously you pretty much had to do that tethered to your computer or using a USB headset on your computer. And what's really nice about this is that it moves that whole Skype experience into the living room or anywhere else around the home. To set up, assuming you've already signed up for Skype online, you just plug the base station into your home network and also if you'd like into your standard voice phone line. And then you pretty much can use this cordless hand set anywhere else in the house. You can also add up to three more of these handsets as well. And all in all, it was just a really great experience to be talking on Skype without having to use your computer or be tied to the computer with a USB headset. One drawback to the system though is that you can't alternate between calls in real time. For instance if you're on the landline and you get a Skype call you can't put one on hold and talk to the other. You'll loose one when you go into the other. Likewise, you can't do three way calling and alternate between the two lines. Other than that though this is a really solid idea for anybody who likes using Skype and doesn't want to be tethered to their computer while their doing it. I'm John Falcone for CNET and this is the Phillips VOIP 8411B Skype dual mode phone. ^M00:01:49 [ Music ]