I signed the FedEx hand held. Slit open the package. There was the label I needed to see: Skype Certified. What a relief. I know Skype serves millions of free minutes every day, but I think an equal number of minutes are wasted by users testing pre-pre-close-to-beta Skype add-ons!

Thanks, IPEVO. IPEVO is a US sub of Taiwan Skype Partner PC Home.

The name means IP every where and helping you evolve your IP experience.

Free.1 is beautiful...

The user manual is in perfect English! Very professional!

Installation and set-up was a dream. Like Skype it just worked. I called my Skype buddy Neil,

“If you didn’t tell me you were testing a new USB phone I do not think I would have noticed you were not on your Plantronics Headset.”

Guess what Neil, ‘Free.1’ has a 16 KHz sampling rate! Many USB phones do not have that because the Skype’s high quality 16 KHz sampling rate is not an industry standard. IPEVO had to design their own chip set. Expensive; but a smart move if you want to be Skype Certified.

Very sharp design. It is more than a USB handset. Yes, I am tethered to my desktop with wires. But Free.1 frees me from my keyboard. Nice With the “S” key I select the Skype Application, scroll down my contacts list using the Scroll key, find Skype Test Call (Echo 123) and then hit the Call button. The test is echo and noise free!

To do a SkypeOut Call I just hit the + key and dial the number.
To send a Voice Mail I use the list key and select the right function key. Dead simple.

Look at this: a call comes in. I hit the hang-up button and it sends a “busy” signal to the caller. I love it.
$29.99. You can’t beat the price.

Skype Certified. Stylish. Functional. A great Christmas gift!

Richard Zhao Liang and Bill Campbell.

Although the worldwide VoIP market is booming and Skype has wooed millions of users, its road to China is not so bright as in other parts of the world, especially for revenue.
There are four kinds of VoIP services: phone to phone, phone to PC, PC to phone, PC to PC. In China, the phone to phone and phone to PC are clearly defined in law as the basic telecom services that no one besides these six services providers can provide: China Mobile, China Telecom, China Netcom, China Unicom, China Railcom, and China Satellite Com.).

The Ministry of Information Industry (MII), according to the notification no. 413(2005) on July 18, will continue to ban commercial PC-phone VoIP services, except for a trial at four cities countrywide: two for China Telecom at South China (Shenzhen and ShangRao, Jiangxi Province), while two for China Netcom at North China (Changchun, Jilin Province and Tai’an, Shandong Province). During the service trial by Shenzhen Telecom (a subsidiary company of China Telecom), the price of VoIP phone is about 2.5 cents (US) for both domestic and international calls.

A joint venture with TOM Software will not help Skype generate revenue in China. Skype would require a joint-venture with China Telecom or China Netcom. But without clear commercial benefits to those two fixed line carriers such a joint venture is unlikely to occur.

Skype’s only source of revenue from mainland China will only be from SkypeIn and SkypeOut originating from outside of China. And none of that revenue will flow to Skype’s Partner TOM Software. So the marketing approaches shown below might be suitable for Skype into China:

First, continuously fight for an increasing market share at IM and PC to PC market, competing against QQ, MSN, YIM, Google Talk, Sina UC, and NetEase PP.
Second, cooperate with those smartphone/handset/pda hardware vendors for solutions like USB-plugable PC phones.

Skype’s competitive advantages come from its voice quality, encryption, and ease of use.

See original post here.

Do you want to make internet telephony easier to use and more accessible? Do you want the option of taking Skype calls on your home cordless phone (or any phone)? In my case I want the family to make cheap calls to New Zealand without messing with my PC and yet having simple access to SkypeOut.

Perhaps you are not yet ready to splurge on a DUALphone, although those SkypeOut minutes to global destinations are saving you a bundle.

Introducing UConnect, another great product from VoIPVoice. Now one device brings all the features of Skype and Internet telephony into the cordless phone you have on your desktop. UConnect brings all the neat features VoIPVoice has programmed to work with the CyberPhoneK and lets you use them on your cordless phone.

If you have a recent cordless phone with an LCD, UConnect will enable:

• Skype Caller ID for inbound calls for phones with an LCD.
  
• Easy access to both Landline or SkypeOut or easy dialing out.
  
• Easy buddylist dialing with voice activated confirmation
  
• Voice announcements of who's calling optional.
  
• Skype voice mail notification
  
• Second or third line (or more) with SkypeIn numbers.

UConnect is one of those devices that you look at and say... that's different. There's some sense to the design with its integrated USB connector (also comes with an extension cable) which makes it easy to travel with (use those non digital phones where still available in hotels) or simply press it into the back of a desktop PC. UConnect will work in both USB mode connected to Skype and or just connected to your landline.

Your computer has to be running for Skype to function. Don't expect the sound quality to be Skype headset like. This is not the fault of the device rather dependent on your cordless phone. However, PSTN quality (what your handset was designed for) will be perfectly adequate for the times you want to move and sit out on the deck talking.

UConnect is on the first Skype certified products. That means it meets Skype's quality charter and has met the requirements of Skype's certification program.

UConnect will be released shortly, at a price of US$59.99 which is competitive with competing devices which currently don't offer the same slick Skype feature integration. Watch the VoIPVoice store for more details.