Philips have made some pretty good Dect handsets and they have now followed Linksys in making the 1211 unit VOIP compatible by adding a USB connection to the side of the base station. This USB connection to a host PC running the supplied Philips voice centre software allows the DECT technology to dial out or receive calls via Skype running on the PC.

We quickly had the DECT base station plugged up to the mains and the handset sat in its dock on charge whole we set about installing the software on our test machine. Instructions are very thin on the ground for the system and we had to resort to a bit of Googling to find out more than the absolute basics. Once the software was loaded Skype popped up and asked us if we wanted to let the voice centre software to connect (which we did). Soon the PC client software was showing that it was connected and this was backed up by the display on the 1211.

The basic operation of the DECT phone is much the same as the rest of the Philips range. There is a 10 name and number phonebook which seems a bit on the small side and the handset supports caller ID so you'll be able to see who's calling providing your network provider enables this feature on your line. The ringtones are quite limited although nice and loud and call quality using a BT line was very good even when halfway down the garden. Top this off with around 100 hours standby or just under 10 hours talk time and you have a strong performance as a Dect phone.

However when your PC is powered up and on the web you can use Skype to cut that pesky phone bill. Receiving calls in simple enough with them ringing the handset as if you landline had taken the call. In fact had it not been for a slightly lower audio quality and a bit of an echo you'd not have known the call was actually using your broadband connection as opposed the BT line.

Making VOIP calls is a bit more fiddly and you can only call numbers stored in the quick dial positions on Skype, to do this you enter the QD position followed by has twice, this tells the PC client to connect to Skype and call the number (or Skype ID). It's certainly not anywhere near as good as the Olympia Dect phone which shows you the online status of your Skype friends and miles off the Linksys and Belkin Skype WiFi phones. But it does work and for basic Skype integration at an amazing £20 we can hardly complain when Skype WiFi phones are five times the price.

All in all the Philips 1211 VOIP Dect phone is a solid performer that despite its need to have a PC switched on a fiddly use in VOIP mode the £20 price makes it an absolute steal.

Published - 27/01/2007

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