All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

Months ago, I spotted the USB Skype Phone Adapter. I printed it out and kept it in my someday/maybe file. Last week, I finally ordered one.

Why?

My mom is the primary Skype user. I set her up on the $2.95/month unlimited calls to US & Canada plan for family and friends here, Canada, and Hawaii. Our AT&T landline costs extra outside our area code, so we use our cell phones for those calls. But, we should be using Skype since it’s unlimited¹.

When she uses Skype, she has a headset and sits in front of my computer. With this doohickey, she won’t have to. Yay!

The USB-RJ11 Skype Adapter lets you make and receive both Skype and regular landline calls, all from the same phone.

Continue using your phone for landline calls as you normally do. But when you want to make a Skype call, pick up your phone and press * to switch to Skype calling mode. Then dial a SkypeOut call to any phone number, or dial a Skype contact, all from your phone’s keypad. Your phone rings for both landline and Skype calls, just pick up the phone and start talking!

The USB-RJ11 Adapter transforms your existing phone into a dual-mode Skype/landline phone, no additional equipment required.

• Use any standard telephone for Skype and landline calls
• Phone rings on incoming Skype and regular calls
• SkypeOut and Speed-Dial integration with Skype
• USB powered, no external power required
• A landline connection is optional, so you can also use your regular or cordless phone as a dedicated Skype phone.

I’m not paying for SkypeIn, so the phone will only ring for standard landline calls.

The instructions are very simple. Once I had it setup, I took a screenshot of my mom’s contact list, had her choose speed dial numbers, then printed out the list and instructions for her.

Funny story — I changed the adapter key switch from “*” to “9” because I wanted it to act like a business phone. You know, like how you dial “9” for an outside line? Anyway, about 10 minutes into testing and making sure things work, we get a knock at the door. (It was about 8:50pm.) I open and it’s the police²!

He asks me if I called 911. I said I hadn’t, because nothing required me pressing that combination. He explained that it was cool³ and that dispatch just heard a phone call from this number, then a dial tone. I gave him my information⁴, then he was on his way. He was really cool about it.

I switched the key back to “*“.

Conclusion — I know, I’ve only used it for less than a day. But, if you use Skype and you’d like to use it away from the computer, the USB Skype Phone Adapter rocks!

Disclosure: I bought the product with my own money and I’m not getting paid for this review

Update 4/24/08 8:45pm: When on a Skype call and multitasking on the computer, the device will sporadically switch from USB to LINE. Then, I need to manually press “*” to switch back to the Skype call. Fortunately, the call isn’t dropped. Does this mean I can’t use the computer heavily while Skype is being used?

I emailed John Morley about this two days ago, but haven’t heard a reply from him yet. Not good.

I’m running SkypeMate 3.0.2.47 and Skype 3.6.0.248.

I just explained Skype to my mom. I setup an account for her, then demonstrated how to dial phone numbers and save them as contacts.

She has family in Canada, Hawaii and the Philippines, but the appeal is the free calling within the US and Canada.

Within minutes, she was talking to her brother in Hawaii using my laptop. She got a few more phone numbers, and called some more people. (I also showed her how to save the numbers she already dialed so she wouldn’t have to look them up again.)

Before I knew it, she talked for over 30 minutes to various people using Skype!

In regards to her family in the Philippines, It currently costs about $0.20 USD/minute. With the calling cards she buys, it’s about the same, but she has to use it up all at once. At least with SkypeOut, “Skype Credit will remain active for 180 days after your last SkypeOut call.”

Even though I don’t have a pressing need to use Skype, it’s still totally cool because my mom can use it and save some money.

Skype for Windows is updated to 1.2.0.41.

Skype Answering Machine is updated to 1.0.4.0.

“Log into Skype in multiple locations. Have a chat. Notice how the chat is mirrored in both locations? [Now] does this mean that someone could eavesdrop on your conversation without your knowledge? Yup.” (Golf clap: another_pseudonym speaks)

Skype 1.2 has moved from beta to final.

Like Matt said, I talked with him and Larry last night. My first chat with Larry was set more on helping him a little with his new website. Rather, this session was just about whatever. Testing out the latest Skype beta and the Skype Answering Machine, we didn’t talk for too long, I think. It was past midnight for Matt, and Larry had stuff in the morning (as did I). We had some more problems with this chat session, and it might’ve been because we switched to the beta version. (more…)

I’ve installed the Skype Answering Machine. This looks sweet! I’m using the generic greeting for now. Leave me a message and let’s see how it sounds! (I’ve limited it to 2 minutes for now.)

My good buddy Larry Jackson needed some help with HTML, and asked if I could give him a call. Seeing how he’s in Texas and I’m in California, and we don’t have the same cell phone provider, it was the perfect excuse to try Skype for my first time. (more…)