will this work with sip? if not what cordless phone or usb hand set would you recommend? Hank
On 10/24/2015 5:25 PM, Dane Trethowan wrote:
Hi! I’ve had the RTX Dualphone for well over a month now so that’s given me plenty of time both to use and explore the system, find its strengths and weaknesses which I present for your evaluation and comment. I use 3 different cordless phone systems in my house and I do wish that all the features and functionality of all three systems could be combined into one but the fact is this won’t ever happen given that the price of such a system would be one very few people would be willing to pay. The RTX Dualphone is the system I most often use as it gives me connectivity between two Skype accounts and my PSTN line as well as a few bonuses I’ve found along the way. The first is that the Dualphone works very well with Hearing Instruments whether you wish to connect them externally through the 3.5MM headset jack or use the T-Coil of your instruments if applicable, the sound is very loud and has quite a wide dynamic range, something to be expected I guess given the phone is to be used with Skype but such a dynamic range makes a great deal of difference when talking to people via a standard landline call which the Dualphone handles quite nicely. The layout of the phone is simple enough, to soft keys left and right of a navigator key with, a call end end key above a standard numeric key pad. The Soft Keys change their function depending on what mode you’re in but I found these changes easy to remember once I’d read the layout of the menu structure and so forth which is clearly outlined in the manual, as yet I haven’t experimented as to whether the number buttons will act as shortcuts in the menu system. Setting the Dualphone out of the box is the hard part as this device doesn’t come with a HTML Interface so setup will have to be done with someone who can see the screen but the steps are in a logical order and easy for anyone to follow. The Dualphone first asks for information about the country it is to be used in along with a matching country code. The code determine the structure of outgoing numbers when using a Skype account or PSTN line. The Phone then prompts for a Skype Username and password and its here that I found things get a bit tricky. The password is easy enough to enter using the key pad however the password must be 10 characters or less in length and I didn’t see any reference to this in the manual, I only found out about this by trial and error. Once all the user data is entered and saved the phone logs into Skype though you can choose if the phone automatically does this upon startup. Making calls using my “Skype-Out” number was easily done by dialling the number on the key pad and pressing the “Call” button. By default the Phone prompts the user which line to use for dealing, the “Skype”-out or “PSTN” number, “Skype-Out” is highlighted as the default so pressing of the left soft key has the phone use Skype for dialling, you can change the default behaviour in the settings menu of the phone so that you’re not prompted and the phone just uses Skype or PSTN at the touch of the button. I also discovered that if the “Call” button is held down in “Standby” mode the phone by default will use the PSTN line for dialling which is handy to know for emergency situations. One of the small annoyances with this phone is that you obviously don’t know which of your contacts is online at any time so dialling them directly using letters on the key pad really isn’t an option but this is trivial for me as I bought the phone really to be able to answer calls at those times when I was away from my computer and this is easily done by pressing the “Call” key as you would with any other cordless phone when you hear a call come in. At this point the left Soft Key acts as a toggle between the speakerphone - which is quite reasonable - and the earpiece. An Apple compatible headset can be connected to the Dualphone thus allowing the use of an external microphone built into the headset and the use of the “End” button found on the inline control to answer/end calls on the phone. Ring Tones can be selected to personalise the phone for both incoming Skype and PSTN calls. The phone has a good range of tone selections as well as flexible tone configuration options such as turing on notification tones to alert you of changing Skype conditions such as contacts coming online, a missed call, a voicemail left etc. I can scroll through the contacts though this is really an exercise in memory more than anything else, I don’t have many contacts so I’m able to remember in which order they appear in my contacts list given that it is sorted in alphabetical order. The Contacts list can be further customised depending on what contacts you wish to view such as just online or all contacts. I’ve been able to play voicemail messages and the hands free speakerphone function works in the playback voicemail. to sum up I think the RTX Dualphone is a little beauty even though there are a few functions that a person without sight cannot make full use of but this doesn’t concern me and doesn’t actually prevent anyone from making good use of the phone. Sound is detailed and this does distinguish the Dualphone from most other cordless phone systems around. I like the styling of the handset which is slim and short making the handset easy enough to slip into a shirt pocket but not small enough to make the handset impractical to use. Keys are big and well laid out on the front below the display but they do require a firm press, the keys can be programmed to beep when they are pressed. Keep beeps are fairly low in volume but do have a distinguishable low frequency beep sound so its unlikely they be confused with any other phone or appliance you may have around the house. The RTX Dualphone runs Skype software and a firmware update facility is provided though upon checking for a firmware update when the phone was up and running I didn’t find anything to download. ********** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
