EnGenius SI-680H Wi-Fi VoIP phone VoIP may be revolutionising the telecoms industry by allowing us to make free calls with little more than a broadband connection and computer, but it's also tying us to our PCs. If you'd rather spend more time talking than being tied to a machine, a Wi-Fi phone like the EnGenius SI-680H will help you cut the cord. EnGenius …
Although I wanted to write something mean after reading the first 2 paragraphs I thought I'd read the whole review to see if their is anything at all interesting about this phone.
Sadly this just looks like a crap version of the cheaper Siemens gigaset IP phones that have been around for a while.
Why are you bothering to review this old technology? I want my 4 minutes back.
Apparently it is 802.11b only, not g; IIRC that means that the speed of your whole wireless network will be limited to 11 Mbits. Presumably this thing has to be always-on so that it can receive calls, so this limit will be continuous not just while calls are in progress. I think.
However according to the solwise website, there is a nother model, "awaiting delivery date", that is not much more expensive and is "b/g" as well as having a colour screen and looking a bit more 21st century. I look forward to a review of that one when it's available.
Why spend a hundred quid on this, when you can spend 50 quid more and get yourself the Toshiba Protege cellphone.
Its got build in wifi and supports VoIP and SIP. You can also load skype on it and use it as your wireless skype phone at home.
Just like any laptop, you can set it to connect to the network automatically when it becomes available.
I use one of these phones, and is extremely happy with it.
Perhaps when the product under review is so poor, el Reg could do it's readers a favour by pointing similar but better products, otherwise the review is pretty much a waste of time. I'll start the ball rolling with:
- Siemens C460IP: DECT handset with SIP client + ethernet/PSTN ports in the base station. Obviously no use outside of your own home or office, but far better coverage and battery life than a SIP+WiFi handset.
- Any number of Nokia handsets with integrated SIP client: Reviewed here by el Reg, and you'll probably get them for free or very little on top of your existing mobile contract. With the integrated browser, you can log onto WiFi hotspots too, further increasing it's utility over the EnGenius.
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