Philips VOIP841 review

Netgear's SPH200D and Philips' VOIP841 are cordless Skype phones that don't need a PC.

Rather than use a wireless connection like SMC's WiFi Phone for Skype, both phones use DECT and connect to a base station that's plugged directly into your router. The base station also connects to your standard landline, so you can make calls using VoIP or your current service. As the phones will also ring when you receive a landline call, you don't necessarily need to subscribe to a SkypeIn account so people can phone you.

You can't carry the phones around as with the WiFi handsets, but they're great for use at home, particularly now Skype offers its Skype Pro service, which costs £9.20 for five months. This gives you free Skype Voicemail, £21 off Philips' VOIP841 and free UK landline calls, although you have to pay a 3.3p-per-call connection charge. We prefer the look of Philips' VOIP841. Its rounded edges and glossy black finish make it look a lot more stylish than the SPH200D's square white case. While the phones may look different on the outside, though, they're essentially the same on the inside. We suspect they're made by the same manufacturer, as you can connect either handset to either base station.

As there's no PC involved, setting up each phone is incredibly easy. Once the base station has been connected to your landline and router, via the wired 10/100 port, just turn it on. Both phones take two rechargeable batteries, charged via their docking stations. Once the handsets have batteries in them, they automatically connect to the base station. Philips' VOIP841 has the slightly newer firmware, as it asks you to choose your country from a list and then type in your area code. With Netgear's SPH200D, you have to manually enter your country code, such as ++44 for the UK, and type in your area code.

After that, both handsets are identical to use and give you the option to register a new Skype account or log in to an existing account. If you currently have SkypeOut credits, the handsets will show how many credits are remaining on the LCD screen. However, you cannot top up your credits from the handset; you will have to do this online through Skype's website.

The phones automatically retrieve your list of contacts from Skype. You can also add new contacts, and both handsets can store up to 500. For each contact, you can also store your dialling preference: Skype or Landline. As with the PC Skype application, the handsets display a contact's online status with an icon. The phones have identical low-resolution screens, but they're good enough to make out a contact's status easily. There's no answerphone built into either handset, so you must hook up your old one for your landline. Skype has a voicemail service that costs £3.45 for three months, although this works only with VoIP calls, not landline calls. Philips provides 12 months of Skype voicemail for free, as well as 120 minutes of SkypeOut.

Call quality is surprisingly different. Netgear's SPH200D sounds, at best, like a mobile phone. Calls sounded a little over-processed and fuzzy. Philips has clearly put its Dect experience into its SPH200D, and the quality is brilliant. Skype calls were so clear, they sounded almost as if they were being made over a landline.

While these handsets may be very similar, Philips' VOIP841 has the slight edge. It has better sound quality, comes with free Voicemail, and you can get £21 off its price if you sign up for Skype Pro. If you only use Skype with your PC on, though, you should opt instead for Philips' VOIP 321.