SkypeGear Roadtest: DUALphone 3088

By Stephen Pinches on November 23, 2006 in Cordless phones, RTX.

Cordless phones such as this new offering from RTX offer the best of both worlds. On the one hand, you have the advantages of a handset which doesn't require a PC to make Skype calls and which you can take anywhere around the house, and on the other, you still can make calls using your landline if you don't want to use Skype the whole time.

So could the DUALphone 3088 seriously replace your old landline? I got one to test this week.

Out of the box

First thing I noticed: this is one heavy box! What can it have inside...?

Hmm...not much there, just a small phone. Ah hold on, there's a few things underneath...

I have to say, serious congratulations to RTX on three levels:

getting all of this kit into such a tiny box
providing every lead you could possibly need
providing a manual that has so many languages in it it runs to 401 pages!

The overall design aesthetic can best be described as 'Scandinavian functional'; the phone looks solid and no-nonsense, and the buttons are designed to give a feeling of sturdiness.

One thing that I immediately warmed to was that RTX provide you with two rechargeable AAA batteries to power the phone, which are automatically recharged by the cradle. This is unusual; most rechargeable phones (including the DUALphone's older brother) have some kind of proprietary battery. Using good old AAAs means when the batteries start to get a bit tired you can easily pick up a couple of replacements cheaply from your local electrical shop.

Setup

Setup was fairly straightforward. RJ45 lead from the basestation (a flat, black box with a red light on the front) to my Wifi router, phone lead from the basestation to the phone socket in the wall. According to the manual the 3088 can be used with both wired and wireless network hubs, routers or switches.

The manual very sensibly advises you to wait 6 hours for the batteries to charge on the handset once you've plugged in the basestation. I didn't, and soon had to stop as the batteries ran out. My fault.

The 3088 powers up super-fast compared to other Skype handsets I've used, and once you've logged in with your username and password, you're in business.

In Use

In use the phone is responsive. It has some neat features such as being regionalised, so once I've entered details of my local and international code I can type a local number into the phone without having to enter the international code etc etc. This is a critical improvement in my opinion for these types of phones, which need to be quick and familiar in use. The range seemed pretty good, and according to the blurb in the manual (which I did eventually read!), it looks as if there will be DUALPhone extenders available if you want to go beyond the quoted 50m range. Frankly here in London if this were an issue you're probably rich enough to just have a butler make the call for you. Edit: apparently the phone doesn't at this stage have compatible extenders, but there is a wireless telephone line extender available, so that you can position the phone away from the phone jack which is useful if there is a large distance between the phone jack and your router.

Conclusion

We're seeing more and more of these cordless phones come onto the market, and this DUALPhone offering is certainly a worthy contender. The phone is small and light but still sturdy, and it gives you full access to many of the Skype functions you would want, such as:

SkypeIn and SkypeOut, so you can call other Skype users for free, but also call regular phone numbers using Skype
Skype Voicemail
Profile lookup (just the basic info - no pics)
Skype status

Whilst it doesn't offer chat from the handset, which is something I know some Skypers have been holding out for, the DUALPhone 3088 is a good, workhorse phone which will let you make Skype calls without even really realising you're doing it.

The DUALphone 3088 will be available in the Skype EU Store from December 1st. Check out a short video on the DUALphone here. Recommended retail prices are E159, £99, 1,199 Danish crowns, or 1,321 Swedish kroner.

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Comments

Pack Skype WiFi+ SMC WSKP100 Une arnaque

Si j'ai pris le temps d'écrire c'est pour avertir tous les consommateurs pour faire attention a ce qu'ils achètent de chez accessories.skype.com vue que on a aucun recourt ni garantie du moins en Belgique où les animaux son mieux protégés que les consommateurs.
Le 16/11/2006 j'ai commandé sur le site

http://accessories.skype.com/item?SID=723d9ebc23ed4def89b6854f409755a746b:4530&sku=WSKP100PROMO

Reçu le 19/11/2006 c'est normal j'ai payé le service express

Un pack Skype WiFi Contenu de la boîte:

Téléphone Skype WiFi SMC WSKP100 made in China commandé avec un software en français envoyé avec un software en anglais autonomie 10 minutes les deux premiers jours et en panne a partir du troisième jour jusqu'a présent
Routeur FON (Votre routeur WiFi FON Gratuit sera envoyé séparément de votre téléphone WiFi SMC ainsi que tous les autres produits inclus dans ce pack. Si vous avez des questions concernant l’envoi du routeur, contactez directement FON.) Que j'attends toujours
500 minutes d’appels SkypeOut en réalité 10 euros
Répondeur Skype gratuit pendant 12 mois
Des Écouteurs un gadget te fabriquée en chine avec un bouton ne sert a rien
Câble USB ne vous sert a strictement rien pas de drivers du téléphone
Batterie à charger pendent 12 heures pour parler pendant deux jours 10 minutes a chaque fois puis elle a rendu l'âme
Alimentation made in china
Manuel
J'ai écris a skype et sur leur site pas moyen d'envoyer un email pour recevoir une réponse automatique du serveur une requête d'assistance de la Boutique Skype Accessoires TCK4515-00226 10 jours plu tard j'attends qu'on me répond pour m'envoyer un numéro de ticket pour que je puisse leur envoyé leur merde et espérer d'être rembourser.
Je vous copie tout:

Wow this looks weet, cant wait to have one of these. anyone got it and tested it yet to see if the threes do indeed grow into heaven

And what about its sound quality for both Dect & Skype calls!?

Yes, sound quality is critical... But even more critical in my opinion is call latency. Does this phone suffer from the same latency problems as the SMC Wifi phone? I'm currently getting a 2 to 3-second delay when making SkypeOut calls with the SMC phone, No lag when calling from the PC. Very strange. It's this latency that prevents me from going 100% Skype as I already have a local SkypeIn number.

Found a review here. Says Audio is excellent

http://www.redferret.net/?p=7922

I got one of these RTX 3088 things I am not a techy but always trying to stay switched. Hence it was essential that this product was user friendly and easy to set up. Well Guess what after one night of charging and 10 mins of setting up I was ready to go (SKyPEOUT SKYPEIN and SKYPE!! Really good and really easy which is not what I have heard about all the wifi PC'less versions. Great stuff I bought it directly from the supplier as SKYPE seem to be a bit slow and making it available. chop chop I have ordered one for my granny thats how easy they are to use! Sound quality was A1 even on loud speaker with a friend in Thailand on his mobile. Happy cheap and easy and PC'less phonning.

I bought the RTX 3088 in "Bilka" shop in Denmark this week for approx 110£ and it is really cool. The MMI and display looks bright and straight forward - nice!

The range of RTX 3088 is actually better than my Beocom 6000 in suburban environment! Speech quality is also very nice compared my earlier DECT phones. Of course if the Skype connection is not the best quality this will be reflected to the sound quality in the RTX 3088.

Until now I am fully satisfied with my RTX 3088 and I will also use it as a present for my family

I got this phone for xmas, it was working fine i missed a call and sat it back in the charge. approximal 1hr later i look at it and the arrow in the right corner is flashing white I then take the phone up and the display is gone there is only a blue line down from top to bottom in the right side.

Any idea what could have coursed this problem or even better how to fix ?

Thanks in advance
borsmose

Hi this looks great, 2 questions:

Does this phone work on the Australian PSTN with the right plug?

Will it have a second handset in the future, to make a pair etc?

Hi!

I've also bought that great product! It works pretty fine and I'm really happy with it! This morning, I could even experience an automatic firmware update! I was really impressed!

The only thing that's not working properly is the landline caller id (or CLIP).

Instead of displaying the caller's phone number, the DUALPhone 3088 displays my own PSTN phone number...

I do live in Switzerland and don't know if it's related to my country.

Did anyone experienced the same problem? Or is CLIP working fine in your countries?

Cheers,
srobyr

Hello,

I too live in Switzerland and had the same problem with CLIP working. However, with the new firmware version (v109) it works well and the phone ring tones are louder too...

Hi,
I'm torn between getting the Philips VOIP841 and the Dualphone 3088. What would help me to decide are these two points:
1. I need the longest operating range possible. These two phones give the same figures, but is one better than the other?
2. I have two DECT Philips landline phones at home. I wish to dedicate the VOIP phone to ethernet, no landline connection. What happens if I receive a landline call to my old DECT phones - will the VOIP phone ring? I hope not...in other words, I want to get sure that the two systems are completely independent.
3. I don't understand why these phones don't have built-in adress books. Does that mean [in the case that the VOIP phone is plugged to RJ11] that I won't be able to place a call from the skype's address book in landline mode?
I'm completely puzzled and don't know what to get.

I bought the phone 6 months ago.
- I immediately noticed very pour audio quality. I hear my voice back in the earphone.
- After a few months the buttons starts loosing colors. The main button was black, now has turned white. Very bad quality of the material used for the keyboard.
- Not easy to press the buttons.
- Very bad software usability

So, I suggest you NOT TO BUY this phone.

bye

Andrea

I want to buy a Dualphone 3088, please could anyone help me with some advice. The main question that i need help with is it possible to tke this phone along with you during your travel and uses it in different countries?

the quistion is this pnone RTX DUALPHONE 3088 is available in all countries or not?