Netgear's SPH101 Skype WiFi Phone available for pre-order

You wouldn't guess it from that conceptual looking pic, but Netgear is all prepped to start shipping their standalone WiFi Skype phone on June 30th. Amazon.com is accepting pre-orders now, with the phone going for a fairly steep $250, but at least it's marked down $50 from the $300 list price. If you missed it the first time around, Netgear's SPH101 Skype Phone can make Skype calls wherever you can finagle a WiFi connection, with no PC required. The phone can also manage your contact list, and forward calls to your mobile, landline, or other Skype account. Keep reading for a couple of more realistic pics.

[Thanks everyone who sent this in]

[Jason Kim @ Apr 20th 2006 6:55PM]

The design reminds me of a Sony Ericsson w800.

[HL @ Apr 20th 2006 6:58PM]

Are you sure this one doesn't also belong to the Keeping It Real Fake series?

[Kei @ Apr 20th 2006 7:03PM]

Hello T630

[Andrew Rahimi @ Apr 20th 2006 7:10PM]

Is it too much to ask for to have a phone with BOTH SIP and Skype? D-Link has SIP and Netgear has Skype, now can we get both in one WiFi phone?

[pupkick @ Apr 20th 2006 7:46PM]

Glad to see Netgear entering the phone fray, now give me a nice netgear desktop + expandable cordless vonage phone!

[js @ Apr 20th 2006 7:47PM]

Keepin' it real fake: iPhone.

[Rik @ Apr 20th 2006 7:49PM]

great, expect a lot of the places you'll want to use it (away from home and your pc) will have a web based authentification system..

[Q @ Apr 20th 2006 7:51PM]

I used skype in my PDA connected to wireless. It worked but the quality was just so poor. Wondering about this one......

[des @ Apr 20th 2006 8:04PM]

It would be nice for ZPhone to work with Skype, then we could have easy portable encrypted phone calls

[ThePete @ Apr 20th 2006 8:22PM]

I'm not sure why it's so pricey. $250?? It better have a browser on it, too, or else I'll just spend that money on a Sidekick III when they come out--or hell, I'll just find a used PocketPC on eBay and throw Skype on it.

[A Gupta @ Apr 20th 2006 9:35PM]

Someone call Sony Ericsson's design team... this is pretty ridiculous. If it weren't $250, I might think twice and actually consider it.

[coolty @ Apr 20th 2006 10:51PM]

i bought my nokia for that much, and a voip client is coming soon. wifi and bt ;) PLUS LINUX

[Wayne @ Apr 20th 2006 10:54PM]

I already have a Zyxel P2000 Wifi SIP phone... And while its useful in my house and in certain situations, it completely fails when I'm in a Wifi environment that requires registration or agreeing to a TOS on a webpage before accessing the Net. So the phone has very limited usefulness it turns out. (Also the battery life is crap.)

The Zyxel was originally $200+ and was eventually marked down to $50 after a year on the shelf with almost no sales. I don't see how Netgear plans to avoid the same fate with this phone, though it is a much more attractive device.

[Balagan @ Apr 20th 2006 10:56PM]

None of these gadgets are worth more than $100 dollars. Anything above that is just a waste! Maybe if they combined EVDO and or bluetooth so you could use an EVDO service via your cellular carrier. You are very limited to where you can get coverage. Curious how this will work at places like t-mobile hotspots which require you to login to there web portal before getting access. No I will probably wait. You can buy a Sprint or Verizon phone which have wifi, BT, and EVDO, get your email, more features and install Skype!

[Santiago @ Apr 20th 2006 11:59PM]

$250 is a good price for a cell-ish phone without a service plan. the last cell phone i bought without a contract cost me more than that.

[Nogami @ Apr 21st 2006 12:29AM]

I agree with other posters above - most public access wifi locations use web-based authentication to enter username and password. Even if this phone supports that (and there's no indication that it can handle fancy webpages that are commonly used for entering this info), it would be annoyingly difficult to enter the info via the small keypad.

It would perhaps be a much better plan to buy a (relatively) cheap pocketpc with wifi, then you could browse the web, make skype calls, and handle the web authentication with reasonable ease (not to mention playing movies, listening to music, taking pictures/video, etc). Sure it's a bit bigger than this, but it does so much more...

[william @ Apr 21st 2006 5:30AM]

To #7: Skype calls are already encrypted. A third-party evaluation of their security is at www.skype.com/security/files/2005-031%20security%20evaluation.pdf.

[Martin Woodward @ Apr 21st 2006 6:02AM]

Folks are missing an important factor - the Wife Acceptance Factor.

While the price is a little steep, I'll probably be buying one as I have to travel a lot and will save the money by being able to Skype home. I of course will use my laptop or smartphone - but I need something that looks, feels and smells like a phone to convince the wife to use it. Leaving a machine switched on just so I can call home and use on of those DECT jobs that connect over USB has been seriously considered but the interface to use Skype from the phone has allways put me off.

[Matthew @ Apr 21st 2006 6:52AM]

I'm gonna buy one cheaapskates ... LOL

[FireWall @ Apr 21st 2006 7:46AM]

Is it possible to use skype's text messages?

[sekss @ Apr 21st 2006 8:03AM]

So this would work only where you have Free WiFi, but if there is a password protected Hot-spot - no calling from that?

[tracy @ Apr 21st 2006 12:08PM]

yeah that price bumms me. but i might do it. i totally agree with #16(martin). i done want it dependant on the home computer being on and it needs to be very phone like in order to get used.

[Andrey @ Apr 21st 2006 1:16PM]

I got my t-mobile sda for 50 bucks with rebates from amazon.
It has built in wifi.
I put skype on it.
Works like a champ.
Check online forums for that.

[Balagan @ Apr 21st 2006 9:05PM]

You will see. By Christmas the other big vendors will have wifi Skype phones. Linksys, D-Link, .....Price will have to drop. I will still wait till it is $100.00. I can afford it but I will not let Netgear tell me its worth 300 just because they think it is! Wifi cellphones are coming and I don't mean PDA Phones. I mean small smartphones running Mobile 5.0. They are already working on a skype client for that. That means instead of having a home phone, a skype phone, and a cellular phone, you can buy one phone and have both cellular and Skype connectivity.

[wayne @ Apr 22nd 2006 12:14AM]

@20... You can use these phones with password-protected Wifi services, but only ones that are using WEP, WPA, etc encryption which is supported by the phone. Most public Wifi "captive portal" aka "click here to agree to our TOS and login" type Wifi networks will *not* work with these phones, as they don't generally have web browsers built in.

[Randy @ Apr 28th 2006 12:20PM]

I would like it to have the ability to use the wireless wifi mesh and talk from phone to phone without using the internet.

[Nghia @ May 6th 2006 2:11AM]

I am using my laptop for international calls and most of them are free or just few cents per minute. I like to have one looks like a cell phone and can have the sound quality as the laptop that I am using now, and can connect to another websites such as Yahoo messenger...(not only skype)with the Webcam built in from that I can send the picture to the other phones. I hope this phone can do all.

[Jim @ Jul 13th 2006 3:03PM]

Yeah, what's the deal? How old are all of you guys? Its called "get a job". My flippin cell phone and contract cost me a flip load more than $250. Like almost $1400 by now. In a few years there will be easily accessible wifi across the entire flippin country, and phones like these will rock the casbah.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5116960.stm

[aproche @ Aug 1st 2006 1:58PM]

I totally agree with Randy.
The next big thing is wifi mesh Skype phones.
Maybe we can update the firmware for that ?

[Tunin @ Sep 19th 2006 5:18AM]

Finally, whre can I buy this item?