Siemens Sells Skype Adapters For Wireless Phones

prostoalex writes "In a recent Slashdot story on Skype CEO interview some comments expressed displeasure with the fact that you have to be tied up to your computer to make those VOIP calls via Skype. Not anymore - this adapter from Siemens plugs into the USB port of the computer and allows Siemens Gigaset S645, Gigaset S440/445 or Gigaset C340/345 phone models to use the Skype connection instead of landline. News.com has the story."

Re:really missed the point

[DarthBart]

Already built. Grandstream makes the HT486 [grandstream.com]. Plug a phone in one port, one port goes to your cable modem, other port is NATed to your local lan.

Re:What is Skype, anyway? (Credit Card Mystery)

[Sircus]

If you've not used Skype, it's credit card fraud. Call your card issuer, get your card locked and initiate a chargeback/Request-For-Information process on those two charges.

Re:IM through Cell phone...

[spif]

Many new cell phones, especially smartphones, come with some kind of "true" IM capability in addition to SMS. For example I think pretty much every T-Mobile phone and device comes with AOL IM (blech). At least my new BlackBerry 7100t (sweeeet) did, and my wife's new Motorola V300. The 7100t's IM client also does Yahoo Messenger and ICQ, apparently, although I've never used it. So if you're into that sort of thing, it's available. I think Verizon phones have MSN IM capability. Not sure about Cingular or Sprint. Besides that, Yahoo! has a WAP-to-IM gateway (on http://wap.oa.yahoo.com/) and I think they might have an SMS-to-IM gateway as well. Not sure about the other IM services.

Re:Newbie Skype questions?

[ortcutt]

There aren't any spyware concerns. The business model for Skype is based on charging for Skype-to-POTS calls not on spyware like Kazaa. There are always security concerns when you run any network software, but I haven't heard of any exploits.

Re:What is Skype, anyway? (Credit Card Mystery)

[SamMichaels]

This may not technically be on topic, but I'm hoping someone might be able to shed light on what might have caused this, apart from credit card theft/fraud. Anyone? (Help!) Thanks!

What does the name of the charge matter? It could have been from SkippyDoodle. If you didn't make the charge, then your card was compromised.

If you're asking for help on the topic, then I'm not surprised your card number was stolen. Cancel the card, get your money back, and get a pamphlet on credit cards before attempting to use another.

And yes, that email you got from CitiBank and Paypal to enter your information were fake.

Re:Newbie Skype questions?

[Richard_at_work]

Plus the Kazaa spyware was added after these guys sold the origional kazaa on to a third party. Creators != current owners.

Re:This is a story?

[Carewolf]

What on earth are you talking about? All calls in Skype are encrypted, ASFAIK there is no way of turning it off.

Currently it kicks major ass because of the echo-suppression and sound-quality.

The parent post is a troll

[Compact Dick]

- No encryption support now, none planned.

Skype uses 256-bit AES encryption [skype.com], which, if implemented properly, should be secure enough for just about anyone.

- No compression on the audio, bandwidth hog.

The speech codec used by Skype outputs a compressed stream which cannot be compressed further; try zipping an MP3 and you will see what I mean.

- Skype rhymes with hype.

How is this relevant?

The other points can be debunked by those who actually use Skype.

Re:Newbie Skype questions?

[geighaus]

Kazaa was originally developed to be free of any spyware/adware. Only after it got bought by Charman Networks, they had started bundling a bunch of crap with it. If my memory serves me, the original Kazaa developers got pissed off at it, quit the company and founded Skype. So there you go. Skype is free from any malware for the time being. Hopefully it stays this way in the future.

Better than this Siemens...

[freitasm]

There are some companies offering USB adapters for any handset and any computer: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=36 71

The Siemens model works only with a few handset models made by Siemens only... Pretty close I'd say.

Re:really missed the point

[Tony Hoyle]

I hope the linksys one is better than tha sipura branded one...

I bought one, and it had a really annoying background hiss - so loud sometimes it was unusable (this is a common problem with the Sipura if you google for it). I RMA'd it, and the tech guy tried to convince me that this was the *first* faulty Sipura they'd ever heard of (yeah, right...).

They shipped me a new one. Within 48 hours smoke started coming out if it and it died. I never bothered RMAing that one - it went straight into the bin.

Re:IM through Cell phone...

[mobby_6kl]

There is a Java IM client, called Colibry IM [jabber.ru], that supports most major networks, IIRC AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, and Jabber. It should work on most phones with Java and GPRS.

Yet another alternative

[usheletz]

Olymia DU@Lphone [dualphone.net], actually manufactured by RTX [www.rtx.dk]
Allows to do both Skype and land-line calls, implements DECT standard.
Base station intrefaces via USB to PC and RJ-11 to PSTN. Better than Siemens product in the way, that it does not require a separate DECT base station to do PSTN calls.
As well as Siemens Gigaset M34 USB , does not have drivers for anything but Windows. I don't think the drivers will be available, because unlike Siemens RTX does not have a signed partnership with Skype.
Said to be available in December, pre-order ~100euros.

Now I wonder if it would be possibe to reverse engineer the thing and make it work with Skype in linux. Hmm, where do we start...

Does anyone know how the software for the Siemens works in Wondows? Does it involve any userspace soft dialer like all those PC/USB-to-RJ11, or the is a direct interface SkypeSiemens USB driver? I would hope for the later....

Re:What's the problem?

[Gulthek]

Dude, my wife and I use VoIP as our landline. Our regular phones plug straight into the phone wall outlets and in every respect act just like regular phones...except that calls to the US and Canada are completely free. Long distance calls are also dirt cheap, to China for 15 cents a minute! 15 cents a minute! I remember when that was a tag line for long distance in the US!

We use the VoIP service from Time Warner Cable in NC [timewarnercable.com].

It's just a little black box plugged into a dedicated cable line and then into a phone wall jack. With the box hidden away, we can treat the wall phone jacks as if the phone company had set them up.

In case you can't tell, we are extreme advocates of the service. Having family spread across the country (and the globe) makes for expensive phone contact, but not for us :-).