Pros: Menu system very user friendly; good customer support from Netgear.
Cons: User manual has many mistakes.
The bottom line: If you are a Skype user and want to be untethered from your computer then this is a good way to go.
This review is about the Netgear SPH200D dual mode cordless phone using Skype. The hardware is Netgear and the software is Skype. To talk about this phone you are talking about two things: the Skype software and the Netgear phone that runs it.


What is Skype? Skype is a program you can download from the Skype site that allows you to talk to anybody for free over the Internet. For a small yearly fee you can now make unlimited calls to land-line phones and also get a local number where people can call you. Calling other land-line phones is called SkypeOut and getting a local number where people can call you is called SkypeIn. They have different calling plans at the Skype site. I am using one of many plans. For $29.95 a year for SkypeOut I can make unlimited calls in the U.S. and Canada and with the amount of time I spend on the phone every night comes out to be hardly anything per phone call. (I find the Skype site a little confusing especially with some of the services I have bought so if you have a question the Skype forum is the best place to go.)



Initially I just used Skype on my computer to talk to other Skype members for free which included family members and then purchased SkypeIn and SkypeOut to save money on my phone bill. I bought this phone because I am a Skype user basically taking the next step in separating my Skype from my computer. The Skype Netgear base station needs to be plugged into your router but your computer can be off. So you should consider this phone the Skype program but untethered from your computer. I bought this particular Netgear phone because Netgear was giving a good rebate on it and the reviews I read on the SPH200D were all basically good ( as compared to the wi-fi version of this phone which reviews were not so good at the time). I have since found Netgear customer service good with answering calls for technical help and so am glad I purchased a Netgear Skype phone.



I would recommend that anyone new to this stuff should first download Skype on their computer and use for a while before taking the plunge and getting a Skype phone of which this is only one vendor of Skype phones. I say that because you should be familiar with the Skype settings before adding an "external Skype" which only adds to the problems if you end up having some problem. For instance my SkypeIn comes with voicemail. I was wondering how come my voicemail was not working and it took twenty rings until it went to voicemail. I had set voicemail to work on my Skype phone so why was it not working? Well I found out that the Skype settings on voicemail on my computer was set to twenty rings before answering. I changed it and a couple other settings for voicemail on the Skype on my computer an everything worked fine with my Skype phone since then.


The second reason for using it on your computer first is that occasionally you lose your Internet connection, I rarely lose it but it happens, and either have to reboot your router or your Skype modem or both. Now Netgear customer service is quite nice about helping with this but it is always good if you are somewhat familiar with Skype on your computer and your router, etc.

Looking at my Motorola C139 cellular phone the layout of the Netgear phone keypad looks similar except that the Netgear phone is about 1 3/4 inch longer and a little deeper, and the screen is a little larger. With my Motorola phone I am not sure how to get to everything, with the Skype phone everything is self-explanatory and easy to find and I believe no one will have a problem with it.


The Skype menu on the phone has the following:

1. Contacts (either Skype contacts or land-line contacts with Skypeout)
2. History ( all calls in and out, voicemail etc.)
3. Status ( you can sign out of Skype and be offline)
4. Add Contact (add either Skype contacts or land-line contacts)
5. Search (for Skype users)
6. Services ( the services you have purchased, I purchased SkypeOut with Unlimited Calling and SkypeIn with voicemail)
7. Settings ( there are many many settings for this phone which is good)


You do not have to go and get the manual out to figure how to get to something with the easy menu system it is quite easy to find your way around as compared to some cellular phones where you have to go look for the manual.

The only thing a person may have trouble with is inputting your password and user-name into the phone for the first time and adding contacts through the phone. You can also add them through Skype on your computer and they will be downloaded to your phone. The star key at the lower left allows you to switch between upper case, lower case, and numerals. If you want to input say a "c" you have to chose lowercase through hitting the star key and clicking the abc key three times. The manual is wrong when they say to use the star key for the special key menu to come up, it is not the star key but the # key which you should use for that.

You will need to download at some point in the future an update to the program on your Skype phone and will need to know that you can access the phone settings through your computer. First you go to Settings on the phone, then Information and it will show you your ip address of your Netgear Skype phone. From there you put that ip address in your browser and it asks you to input a user name and password; after you input those you are connected to your phone through your computer. The manual is wrong when it says admin is for both the user-name and password, it is only for the user-name, for password you input password. You should of course change these but it appears if you power off the phone for some reason-which I have done- you will lose your password and it will revert back to the default. Through there you will also update your Skype program which for the couple of months I have been using it there has been no updates.

So far as the reception on the phone I find it pretty good and have asked others how they are hearing me. If they have a land-line phone everybody I have talked to says my voice quality is good if they have a cordless or cellular phone some people have said that they heard background noise and the volume of my voice varies.

How long does the battery last? I have no idea. After I am finished talking I put it back in its charger and it recharges its nickel metal hydride batteries (two 1.2V 750 mAh) to full strength after a while. Netgear says that it has 12 hours talk time and 120 hours standby time but watching the battery gauge which shows on the phone screen I would doubt those optimistic numbers. I have gone a distance with it and noticed no problem with the reception so I might believe their specs on the distance.

You can add other phones to this and connect them (cordlessly) to your Skype Netgear base station.Why would you do this? Well if you get a call and don't want to walk all the way to your original phone wherever it is, and if other members of the family also want their own Skype phone. It is also an intercom system if you need that.

Before you make the jump you must weigh things in a balance. Phone calls that hardly cost anything sounds good but you have to also worry that if you have a problem you have two different vendors you have to call. If you have a problem using the phone you will have to call Netgear. If you have a problem with the Skype part of it such as paying for the services you have to get in touch with the Skype staff. It can take up to three days for them to get back to you but since I have sent them an email a couple of times I can say they most certainly do get back to you (after three days). They do have a forum where there are many members who are totally devoted to Skype. If you go to the forum and ask a question you surely will get an answer quickly and some members I believe have access to the Skype staff.

My suggestion. First try Skype on your computer. Then get the Skype phone. Do not give up your land-line phone until you are thoroughly comfortable with your Netgear Skype phone.The Netgear Skype base station can also connect to your land-line phone and you can use the phone as you would a cordless phone. After you try it for a while and feel good with it give up your land-line phone. I would suggest you also have a cellular phone if you don't have one. You can get a pay-as-you-go phone if you don't use a cellular phone that much. I had a lightening strike that wiped out my laptop, router, Skype phone and some other things. Yes I should have plugged my stuff into a surge suppressor and battery backup. I moved and hadn't done that yet. I did buy another Netgear Skype phone(SPH200D) because well I like it and they offer good customer support. Also the reason to have a cellular phone if you go this route is that if you make an emergency call with this phone and are unable to give a location they will be unable to find you as they would be with a land-line or cellular phone.

The SPH200D comes with the base station and the phone and a cradle for the phone that is its charging station. And it of course comes with two power supplies to power those two things. It comes with a cd where you will find the manual.
I wish that the phone came with a headphone and mic because it appears to have a jack for it. Also if it came with a way to carry it around that would also be nice. The price of this phone is not cheap so look for rebates on this phone on the Internet before you buy it.

To sum up I like the phone and it has saved me a lot of money using the unlimited calling option from Skype. The phone itself has given me no trouble to speak of, if it does I will update that information on this review. Because technical support is good and there is a skype forum with devoted members I believe I will continue to use this phone as my Internet phone instead of other Internet (VoIP) phone services.

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Update 1:
I made a comment about emergency calling in my review and I found this at the Skype site: "Skype is not a telephony replacement service and cannot be used for emergency dialing."

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Update 2:
There has been a Skype alert symbol showing on my phone screen for no reason that has not gone away since I purchased it. I purchased credit to make international calls yesterday and I saw that the symbol has gone away. I have unlimited calling so the alert should not show but it does apparently because the unlimited calling is something new and they probably have not updated their program.

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Update 3:
I wrote that other phones can connect to the base station and found out that "The Netgear SPH200D allows for only 1 SkypeID to login at one time. Therefore, all additional handsets are tied to the account that is currently active."
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Update 4:
My audio on my phone stopped working today. I could still make calls but could hear nothing and also nobody could hear me. I went to the Netgear site and in my account found they had a firmware upgrade that came out in November that fixes the problem:

"Published Nov 15, 2007

Bug Fixes

1. Fixing no audio issue, which sometimes occur during Skype or Skype-out calls for no particular reason."

To install this firmware upgrade you must:

1. Download the file from the Netgear site.

2.Gain access to the phone through your computer which I described how to do earlier in this review.

3.Under menu item system find the file you downloaded and then hit the upgrade button. You may think the install is taking a long time but wait till it is finished!!! Also do not close your browser!

After I did all that the audio was fixed.