USB phones

U've_been_framed

Does anyone have experience of usb phones? I am rather hard of hearing; I can usually get by with a normal phone. Cordless phones are a nightmare. My mobile phone is pretty good. I use skype with a microphone and and the speakers attached to my monitor which I can hear very well, but so does everybody else in the house. What is the sound quality like on these usb phones?
:beer:

Aaron

I got one of the rebranded Yealink USB-P1Ks that Tescos were selling at the weekend. I've not yet tried their GBP 5 call credit (I think the software will probably break my current setup) but the phone is working fine. Sound is strictly 8000Hz telephone-quality stuff and it seems like the volume control doesn't change anything, but it's as good as some mobile phones I've used.

If you have hearing problems, I suspect you'd be do better getting half-decent closed-back headphones and plugging them in. If you have two output sockets (which I've seen on some PCs), then you maybe could still have the speakers ring, but take calls on the headphones. I can't remember how clever Windows and Skype are about multiple outputs.

codetown

in Voip applications the phones are the last of the problems (I tried many and found no problems on those). What is important is the line, not only in terms of speed but also lagging and/or traffic prioritasation.

I use at present VoipCheap and sometimes Skype. While calling real PSTN numbers, I found that a better quality is achieved via the call-back function (where VoipCheap connects the two real phones for a small extra fee)