BIOS: Technology Means Business

There are plenty of Skype accessories hitting the market that let you use your home phone for free or dirt-cheap Skype Out phone calls. The USRobotics USB Telephone Adapter (USR9620) is different. It’s the only adapter intelligent enough to forward Skype calls to your mobile phone for when you’re not near a PC. You can even make Skype calls from your mobile phone to avoid long-distance charges. The device connects to both your PC for Internet calling and a standard telephone line, and there’s a call waiting feature for both Skype and standard phone calls.

USRobotics’ USB Telephone Adapter (Best Current Price: £24.01/$67.32) lets you make both Skype Internet Telephony calls and traditional PSTN calls via your existing PSTN telephone handset. Incredibly easy to install and use, it even requires no additional hardware from a PSTN or broadband provider. All you need is a typical analogue telephone line and a standard cordless or corded telephone. Your regular phone connects to the USR9620, and then you have to connect the USR9620 to a spare USB port on your computer (USB and RJ-11 telephone cables provided). Finally, you have to run Skype via a broadband connection.

If you would like to use both Skype and your home phone line to make calls from the same telephone handset, the USR9620 is a relatively neat solution. Telephones that can display caller ID are automatically enhanced to display Skype user name, as well as PSTN caller identification. Advanced call waiting handling allows for notification of incoming calls (Skype or PSTN) while the phone is in use and lets you switch between the calls or even link a Skype call and a PSTN call in a three-way conference.

When you have the USR9620 connected to a regular telephone line, you can place and receive regular telephone calls as you normally would - and without your PC being on. The first time Skype is run you need to grant your new kit access to Skype by selecting the appropriate radio button. For established Skype users, who previously worked direct from their computer desktop display, a different approach will be required for making a connection with the telephone adapter. Rather than simply clicking on an entry in your contact list, you will need to assign each contact with a two-digit speed dial number. We’re not sure how those with lots and lots of contacts will cope!

Once the speed dial allocations have been completed you can then call a contact using the phone - but only if you follow a set designated routine. This involves pressing the hash key twice to get the VoIP dial tone; enter the speed dial number before concluding the sequence with an asterisk key press. In time you will get used to this method, but we found it less than user-friendly and had us longing for the point-and-click method used previously.

Forwarding of incoming Skype calls to mobile phones or landline phones and vice versa means you will no longer have to stop using Skype’s low-cost calling services when you are away from your computer. Simply configure the USR9620 to forward unanswered Skype calls to another phone number and the USB Telephone Adapter will forward the Skype call over the PSTN connection. You can also access Skype via the PSTN or mobile network by dialling in to your R9620 to place Skype and Skype Out calls from any remote location.

Audio quality was adequate in our tests, but the biggest advantage is that you get to make standard phone calls from your regular handset. Using any standard telephone you can now take full advantage of the Skype Internet telephony application, while preserving the ability to place standard calls over your telephone company supplied service. The downside is that you still need your computer and making VoIP calls isn’t the quickest. The USR9620 does what it claims, but it may not suit your style of working. [6]

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