Using Skype without being at your computer

Feb 11, 2005

Author: Michael Gough

As I use Skype almost daily and host this website and several others, I get lots of information about various equipment that can be used with Skype, VoIP and Video Calls. 

Being a regular user of Skype and other Video Call solutions, I get calls daily if not more from my family, friends and people seeking advice or just an opinion.  This had me running to the computer every time someone called me and  became annoying very quickly, so I decided to find a solution.

I looked at USB phones, but they were limited to a cord and so a USB phone did not offer me any freedom.  What I wanted is a way to use a Cordless telephone.  I am often asked "Are there wireless headsets for computers ?" and the answer is basically "No", none that are cost effective anyway.  The only real solution was to find a way to use a cordless phone so I can have extensions anywhere and therefore able to pick up an incoming call and make an outgoing call anywhere in my home or office.

USB to RJ11 Gateway - PhoneConnector

I first purchased the PhoneConnector USB to RJ11 Gateway for around $35 US + s&h.  This device only has one RJ11 port so the cordless phone I connected could not be the same cordless phone I use for my regular telephone calls.  I really liked this device as I found it solved several things for me.  The main improvement was It freed me up from having to answer and make Skype calls while sitting at my computer.  Now I could be anywhere in my home and receive or make Skype or SkypeOut calls without having to touch my computer in anyway.  The PhoneConnector software once installed required nothing from the user to work.  When an incoming Skype call rang - I just picked up an extension and talked.  If I wanted to call someone via Skype or SkypeOut, I just picked up the phone and pressed the speed dial number followed by a '#' and pressed talk and it connected.  If I wanted to make a SkypeOut call I just dialed '00-123-456-7890' and '#' and the call was made.

Computer answering machine

During the time I used the PhoneConnector I was also testing and providing feedback to the Skype Answering Machine (SAM).  SAM is a add on for Skype that provides you a software based answering machine.  Now when someone called me and I didn't answer, they could leave me a message.  Now Skype was starting to look like a regular telephone.

I learned two things while using the PhoneConnector that I did not expect, one obvious, one not so obvious.  The first is the answering machine integrated with my cordless phone worked when I received a Skype call.  This meant I did not need SAM any longer on my home PC.  The second thing I found was that I could use my other Video Call solutions with my cordless phone, mostly to answer an incoming Video Call.  I feel your hands should be free for a Video Call for showing pictures, reading stories etc. to my daughter for example.  Holding a telephone is not an acceptable option.

Freedom from my computer and more

Now I was realizing the benefits of hooking up a cordless phone to my computer.  First - freedom of not having to be at my computer to make or receive Skype calls.  Second I added an answering machine so now people could leave messages and I could even Skype into my computer and retrieve the messages.  Third, I could use the same setup to answer incoming Video Calls anywhere I was in the house.  Now I only have to go to the computer when I actually need to and not every time the computer rang.

After a couple months of this configuration I decided having two cordless phones in the house was impractical.  Yes, it provided lots of spare parts as my two cordless phones are identical, but they take up space and the average person would not want to have two cordless phones on each desk, table or in the kitchen. 

Since I host SkypeTips.com and VideoCall4Free.com that inform and recommend solutions that fulfill what we all want and really need, I figure the solution we would want to use on a daily basis should be easy, work without having to know much about computers, be reliable, practical and cost effective.  So I looked for a better solution.

USB to RJ11 Gateway - Actiontec Internet Phone Wizard (IPW)

Now that I had a working solution I decided to seek out a better solution that was more practical for the average person "Skype for the rest of us" was my goal.  When I received information that ActionTec came out with a device that specifically supported Skype and allowed you to hook up BOTH your home telephone and computer to the same unit and had call waiting, I was very interested.   So if you are on a regular phone call you can also receive an incoming Skype call and visa-versa.   If it worked as advertised I could retire or eBay one of my cordless phones.

Well the device worked as expected.  I called my home from my cell and had a friend call me on Skype and I was able to switch between the two calls easily by just pressing '##'.  When I am on a Skype call, just as when you are on a regular phone call and someone else calls you on Skype - it returns a busy signal which is fine by me and it even worked with my cordless answering machine.

So now I have one cordless phone with an integrated answering machine that works for both regular telephone calls and my Skype calls.  The only thing I lost was the ability of receiving my Video Calls on my cordless phone as the IPW is specifically written to work only with Skype and does not act like a standard USB device for SightSpeed for example.  Since I use Skype for the audio portion of many of my Video Calls, this is not a big deal to me.

More improvements coming

As I write this article, I am working with an OEM version of a Gateway that hopefully will do everything the IPW does and gives me back the use of receiving my Video Calls on my cordless phone and works with SightSpeed and my other applications, not just Skype.  If your only need is to use Skype, then the ActionTec IPW is perfect for you.

Conclusion - Freedom from my computer !!!!

I am now free from my computer and have what I consider what everyone looking at Skype or VoIP wants.  They want Skype or any VoIP application to look like, feel like and act like a regular phone call and the configuration I just described does just that.  In addition the cost is only around $50 to add this functionality keeping all your existing equipment and adding significant functionality.  Even non-computer users in your home, even grandma could use this configuration.  Pick up the phone and dial as you usually do for a regular phone call, or press '##' to switch to Skype and dial your speed dial '11' or the SkypeOut number '00-123-456-7890'.  It is much shorter and easier than a Calling card and cheaper too!