Is the Jawbone JAMBOX the ultimate portable speaker-phone?

 

I was anticipating great things from this little speaker, but have been somewhat disappointed when using it as a speaker-phone; although I suspect it wasn’t all the fault of the speaker. I blame the Bluetooth spec, and the marketing team for over-hyping the advantages, and not explaining the disadvantages. As a portable speaker, it is excellent.

I bought it to do three things

1. Provide better audio volume/quality from my laptop/phone when travelling - to watch videos/music via the high-quality EDR bluetooth connection.
2. For use as a speakerphone on VoIP conference calls (Microsoft Lync or Skype) from my PC.
3. For use as a speakerphone via bluetooth on my mobile in the case when I can’t get a reliable VoIP connection

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Skype phone - RTX DUALphone 3088

Updated on 15 Sep 2009 by Andy Bryant

Updated on 19 Aug 2010 by Andy Bryant

Back in late 2007 I bought the Philips 841 Skype/POTS phone, and have been using it sucessfully for a couple of years. It is one of the class of phones that have connections to a land-line, and wired ethernet - plus have the ability to connect directly to Skype’s servers - and use DECT to get the signal from the base station to your handset. I find this to be a good model for use at home. All of the devices in this space seem to use a very similar user interface, making it look like they’re based on a reference design from Skype.

Unfortunatley the headset connector on my handset started acting up, so I tried a touch of contact cleaner, forgetting for a moment that this was a bad idea with the batteries still in. Needless to say I’m now getting a nasty buzzing sound when I use the headset - making it time for a replacement.

I tried to find an extra handset, but it seems Philips have discontinued the phone, and I couldn’t find one on any of the retailers I could track down.

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Philips VoIP841 Skype DECT phone

Just bought this phone from Skype. Great! I did a search through a couple of reviews, and it seemed to be the best of the bunch out there as a home-phone that runs on DECT. I decided this would be a better choice for my use at home, as most of the WiFi phones don't work well in a hotspot (no browser), and I've got a windows-based GSM/PDA anyway.

It works fine... with the only minor downside being that you can't have a head-set connected while the handset is on the charging station.

I looked around for the best supplier in France, but couldn't find one that wasn't over-priced vs the US or UK. In the end, it turned out that the lowest price was Skype themselves, and they bundle it with 5 months of SkypePro.

Update: I've just checked Amazon.co.uk, and can't find the exact phone, but the Philips VOIP3211 looks similar.

Edge Core - First WiFi Skype phone in the UK

Belkin and Netgear have been promising us wireless Skype mobiles since Christmas, and now they’ve been punished for their tardiness – Edge Core has announced that its model will be the first Wi-Fi Skype phone to go on sale in the UK.

Linksys SIP Phone with browser WIP330

Wireless-G VoIP Phone (SIP) with internet browser on-board. Finally a standalone WiFi phone, with the capability to log-on at hotspots requiring a credit card. Sure - it isn't seamless. You still have to use pocket internet explorer, but at least it will work, and you don't have to get out the laptop.

If you're tied to Skype, I think the only option today is the Netgear phone, but this doesn't have the capability to log-in to a hot-spot. (Unless Skype broker some deals for free Skype access at hotspots, which I think I heard that they'd been doing. I wonder if this will work from the Netgear phone.)

Sources:
Linksys.com - WIP330

Net gear announce standalone Skype WiFi handset

Another development I've been anticipating is an integrated, standalone WiFi Skype phone. Netgear have just announced one for 2Q06. You can tell from the wording below that they've not worked out how to enable it to log in to paid hotspots. As there are so may different systems for this, I can't say I'm surprised. (Mind you - this might be a good idea for one of the companies involved in hotspot provision - hey QuiConnect - any thoughts?)

Press Release Detail - NETGEAR: "The NETGEAR WiFi phone will make mobile Internet telephony a reality for Skype users. Unlike other devices that must connect with a PC, NETGEAR’s Skype WiFi phone will work wherever a consumer is connected to a wireless Internet access point — be that in a home, office, cafe, open public hotspot, or any open municipal wireless access point being deployed worldwide."

I also note that from back in June05, there were examples SIP/GSM based phones on show in Taipei: Skype, VOIP handsets on show at Computex. There was no mention of UMA integration, making we wonder if these really just 2 devices in one package (like a smart phone running SIP or Skype software). Check VoipUser for reviews of more VoIP phones

Sources: Press Release Detail - NETGEAR The Standard
Tags: Skype VoWiFi

VoIP: SIP Clients & Cheap calls

I'm starting to get somewhat overloaded with SIP & IM clients, so I've been looking for a better all-in-one solution. Multi-network IM clients have been around for a while such as the popular Trillian, or the more recent GAIM, however neither of these works with Skype or SIP. PhoneGaim looks interesting, but it seems to be tied to a specific SIP operator.

Recently I've been using pulver.communicator 0.94.4 for FWD (free world dialup - SIP), MSN, ICQ and Skype. This works well, however I've had some issues maintaining a good connection to MSN. It also requires that you have Skype running in the background.

I've just signed up with Call1899 for low cost UK & mobile calls. This service is accessed via a dialled prefix from a normal phone line. It also provides a SIP or IAX service for outgoing calls, with no line-rental!

So now I need a SIP phone that works for FWD and Call1899. The only one I've come across so far is Xten. This gives me access to my FWD account for incoming calls as well as the Call1899 account for outgoing PSTN calls. It has no IM capabilities & doesn't talk to Skype.

So at the moment I'm using MSN Messenger, Skype & Xten. If anyone can suggest a better solution, please add a comment.

Update: Ok - getting closer. I've just found the '3rd party version' of Firefly, which can access the firefly service, or 3rd party SIP/IAX services. I've configured it to make calls on FWD, or Call1899, however I can't seem to get it to receive calls on FWD. Settings required for FWD were SIP: 5060, RTP: 8000, Use Stun, Server: stun.fwdnet.net:3478. Network: SIP, Server: fwd.pulver.com, Username: 459107, Use STUN.

I, Cringely - VoIP doom and gloom

A little doom and gloom on VoIP from Bob Cringely. He points out that the telco & broadband operators won't have to take the unpopular step of blocking competitive services such as Skype. They could simply tag their own VoIP services for high quality of service, and leave the rest in the best-effort space. This will effectively degrade Skype by simply 'making their own services better'. It will be difficult for the customer, or regulator to argue with this.

Sources: PBS | I, Cringely . Archived Column

VoIP: Skype on a normal telephone - RapidBox

I’ve just installed a great little Skype assisted device. It is a small box that connects between my phone line, DECT (cordless) base-station, and PC. It also comes with a small driver that provides a link into the Skype application. It is basically a hardware USB sound card, with the extra hardware required to connect to a phone, and a phone line.

I can now pick up any DECT handset in my house, dial *, then dial a short code (e.g. 12), then #, and have it make a call through Skype to one of my contacts. I can also use it to call SkypeOut (*0044……#), or just ignore it and call using the PSTN (just dial normally).

When I get an incoming call from Skype, or from my POTS line (the Plain Old Telephone System), my phone rings and I can pick it up as I would a normal phone call. The quality isn’t as good as it is for Skype-Skype through a quality headset, probably because it is being limited by the DECT bandwidth.

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VoIP and WiFi

Silicon.com have published an overview of the voice aspects of the Triple Play Plus segment.

The idea of juggling a headset and soft-phone plus laptop on a coffee table in Birmingham without spilling the cappuccino just to make a phone call does initially sound somewhat daft, until you consider the typical business traveller waiting for a flight at a European airport. He could easily setup his laptop to download his e-mail, and then while connected make, or receive calls using a headset. This easily avoids the huge GSM roaming charges. (I've done this myself with Nortel's MCS system in a number of airports, and hotel bars.)

The next step in the evolution of this idea is the introduction of standalone VoIP/WiFi handsets, however whilst these are becoming available today (such as the Pulver Innovations WiSIP phone), they have a number of problems.

At the moment, most deployments are low-volume hospital or enterprise deployments, so the hardware has not reached the economies of scale required for consumer use. Leif-Olof Wallin, analyst at Meta Group, says: "The cost of these handsets is still way too high. 2006 - that is when we expect to see some initial uptake and 2007 is when we expect to see some significant rollout. That is when it will get some place in the consumer space."

SIP phones work fine when configured to work in a private enterprise wireless network, but in a hotspot you have to be able to log-on & somehow pay for your access, and then you may also have to get the SIP protocol working through NAT.

Other points addressed in the article are the need for QoS support and for roaming between hotspots.

Finally, there is currently little integration between current systems and SIP systems. For instance, I currently have a cell-phone number, fixed-line number, and both Skype and SIP identities. What I need is one number that routes to whichever endpoint I'm available on, and costs me the least. A dual mode handset addresses the issue of having multiple devices, but it doesn't help a PSTN user contact me on my SIP phone when I'm in a hotspot.

One of the companies working in this space is BridgePort Networks, who have built the NomadicONE™ Network Convergence Gateway (NCG). This provides a bridge in the operator's network between the user in the GSM network, and the same user when connected via a VoIP network.

Kineto Wireless is another providing an IP Network Controller function to sit between GSM and IP networks. Kineto Wireless are part of the Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) alliance, who are working on providing access to GSM and GPRS mobile services over unlicensed spectrum technologies, including Bluetooth and 802.11.

Another UMA member Nortel is involved in the space, and would seem ideally suited to succeed, with strong SIP and cellular portfolios. However there isn't a lot of commonality between platforms or teams involved on each side. They also have significant organisational inertia slowing down any attempts to integrate.

Sources: Wireless: The new hotspot for VoIP - silicon.com
Tags: VoIP UMA WiFi