While I was searching for a dual dect phone for my house, I came across this niche device,
Vosky Call Center for Skype. The good points about this device is it can perform outgoing call forwarding from Skype to an ordinary phones (landline or mobile) and vice versa, accepting incoming call forwarding from an ordinary calls to skype calls.
So why do I consider this device? A few months ago I was trying to setup my own VOIP service using
AsteriskNOW. There are a few other options out there that is free (as it is opensource) but I ended up using
Truphone. You need to download
Truphone software sisx file for your nokia phone with wifi function(that's why i'm using Nokia
state-of-the-art outdated N80) before calling to 40 countries landline (including Malaysia & Singapore) and some countries mobile (including Singapore) for free (extended until Feb 08). Do expect some lags.
This is how Truphone work
As Truphone only works with wifi (only at home & McDonald) and free calling will end by Feb 08, I need to find a cheaper better solution than calling card (Cherlyn & I been using when away from home). Vosky sound like a good solution. My idea is get 2 of these devices, 1 for UK and 1 for KL (sorry my SG friends) so that all our KL family & friends can get in touch with us by calling a local landline number (cheaper than mobile). Now depends on Vosky capability, the outgoing calling function might only support 1 number, meaning the device cannot intelligently distinguish to whom i'm calling.
Logically thinking, it is a 1 way ticket. All KL friends -> KL landline -> Vosky forward to 1 skype contact -> Vosky receive call -> Vosky outgoing forward to me. I can't call all my friends in KL since I cannot call my friends in Skype list as Vosky in KL is connected to my parent house (unless all friends has Skype & Vosky device). So I can only call my parent. Nevertheless, this means my sis in London can call my parent too. This might not be a good solution for us but it does mean we can are reachable at local (KL) landline cost (if they also understand not to call us when we are sleeping, 7-8 hours difference).
With several plus point, here comes the minus point. You need to hook it using USB to your PC. So, you need to turn on your PC to use it. While I have no problem with it in UK, my implementation plan will not work in KL as my parent house always exposure to power surge caused by lighting. Just 2 weeks ago the PC used by my dad was spoilt by the surge.
Idea aside, the nicest looking dual dect phone that support landline and skype is Philips VOIP841. This phone doesn't need to connect to the PC.. aha, all it needs is to connect to the ADSL router.
To eliminate redundancy, I will consider buying either Vosky or VOIP841 or other cheaper solution.
