I had to go to my local warehouse club to exchange a pair of shoes that were too small. As I was standing at the returns desk, waiting in line behind others that were either returning or exchanging purchases, three customer service employees were wearing 2-way radios. All of their radios were, as many of you have witnessed before, had their volume turned up to 11. They also had several more radios sitting on a desk behind them, also turned on and turned up. Every time any of the employees in the store had something to say over the radio, whether is was meant for customers to hear or not, came blaring over each and every radio in stereophonic surround sound. I thought, has no one from corporate management ever been to any of their stores and heard what was being said ‘loud, proud and publicly’ over their 2-way radios?

Now, I don’t want to speak out of school here but, in the 15 minutes I was standing in line, I heard enough information that everyone around the store agreed, wasn’t meant for customer’s ears. In fact, they announced sales and information over their intercom system that sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher — why not just announce it over the 2-ways?? At least there were more of them around the floor than intercom speakers.

So, why switch to WiFi VoIP phones instead of using 2-way radios? Besides the privacy issue, there’s also voice channels. While watching the staff drag around their heavy 2-ways, there were employees that needed to ask questions, either for themselves or a customer. The staff would yell a person’s name into the radio, hope they could hear them, and wait for an answer. If there was chatter on the radio, the staff member would wait… and wait… and wait… for the chatter to end, and proceed to call out the name of the person they needed to contact. With current WiFi VoIP phone technology, these issue would be a thing of the past.

For those of us that know how WiFi VoIP phones are used in an office or home, the reason for warehouse use became abundantly clear. The amazing thing was that not only would each staff member have the ability to hear audio that was only meant for them, but they could dial the extension of the person they needed to contact instead of:
‘Sal — Sal — Come In Sal’
‘This is Sal, who’s this’
‘This is Jim at the receiving dock’
‘Yeah Jim’
‘The truck from A&A is here and 2 pallets of flat screens are smashed. What should I do?’
‘Hold on, I’ll be there in a minute’

Nice conversation to broadcast across the building to every staff member and all your customers.

So, besides privacy, no talk over, no waiting to talk with unlimited talk channels, cleaner clearer sound, direct-dial instant employee locating, instant customer service to a customer, no 2-way licensing fees, no scanner eavesdropping, and on a larger scale the ability to call another employee or location direct and at no cost (extension to extension worldwide), and probably so many more reasons than I can’t think of… Why not switch???

In fact, the warehouse club I was in, as most stores do, already had WiFi set up store-wide for their inventory scanners. Most grocery stores have free WiFi set up for customers, yet still use 2-way radios.

The future is now (add your own echo)… Another great use for VoIP WiFi phones.

Fast forward to 2010 and the technology crammed into a 3oz WP04 WiFi VoIP Phone or any of the other VoIP and Dual-Mode phones available. There is no longer any reason to operate an ATA or any style of cordless phone with a built-in ATA. In fact, here’s 5 reasons to dump your ATA or cordless-style phone for a VoIP WiFi phone:

1. VoIP Ends When You Leave The Home or Office — With a VoIP WiFi phone your deep discounted inbound and outbound calling goes with you. Take a VoIP WiFi phone on the road with you and you’re in your VoIP Zone in any open WiFi hotspot like a hotel, office, library, park, hospital, coffee shop etc etc.

2. Pages and pages of VoIP & IP settings — Current VoIP WiFi phones have only a few setting to enter like account, password and VoIP server IP address. Codec settings, echo, etc are mostly automatic and self adjusting. You can be up and running in no time at all with nothing complicated to enter into the device.

3. Only 1 or 2 SIP Providers can be stored — VoIP WiFI phones have at least 4 SIP provider account settings so you can switch from one provider to another as you need them. Use one for inbound domestic, another for free inbound, and another for international calling. Of course you can simply use one provider for all your inbound and outbound needs.

4. All your calls are being converted to analog — Dropping the ATA and going dedicated WiFI VoIP means your digital call will no longer be converted to analog for your home cordless phone. Even if your cordless phone is digital, the digital transmission is between the phone and base. The ATA converts the call to analog and your cordless converts it to digital and back again. Long trip for a cordless call. Switch to ‘all digital’ and you and your callers will notice the difference.

5. One person on the phone ties up others — An ATA does the same job as a single line phone jack in the house. I’ve got a friend who has 3 WP04 VoIP WiFi phones in his house. He set up 3 sub-accounts (for free) with his VoIP provider. Now he essentially can never have a busy line at home. How? Remember, unlike dialtone lines VoIP is setup to work as a path. So he, his wife and his daughter can all be on their VoIP WiFI phones at the same time, they can all receive incoming calls at the same time, and all setup conference calls at the same time. As long as his internet connection (most DSL and Cable lines can handle even more than this) is up and running, it sounds like he’s running a full-fledged PBX at home, but he’s not. Oh, and he’s spending around 90% less than if all 3 of them were each using a family plan cell phone.

If you’d like the best of both worlds such as VoIP and a cell phone, then look no further than a dual-mode VoIP phone with a full login browser. This way, you can use VoIP at home or at the office and when you need to take a call on the road or when you’re not in a WiFi hotspot, you’re still using the same phone.

I’ve had the privilege to spend the last 30 days using the Pirelli DP-SW20 Dual Mode VoIP Phone and what an impression it’s made on me. I constantly move from my office to the car, to a meeting, to lunch and back to the office, and wanted something that would work wherever I was and wouldn’t cost me a fortune. I also am shocked that people still think that a cellphone for $600 and dropped to $199 with a 2 year contract is a deal. Insane!! Heck, you sign a guarantee with me that you’ll pay me $2100 for 2 years of service with a $300 penalty if you try to cancel or can’t pay and I’ll give you a great phone AND watch your kids.

Sorry — back to the DP-SW20 Dual Mode VoIP Phone. First and foremost, why am I calling it a HYBRID? Simple — you can use BOTH GSM and VoIP at the same time!! Scenario: I’m sitting at McDonalds (don’t judge me) and I need to make some calls to both US and Canadian clients at around 1:30pm on a weekday. I launch the WiFi access point display screen and choose the FREE WiFi the restaurant offers. Instantly the browser shows me a ‘login and accept their terms’ screen, I click the center joystick, and my “W” is lit on the phone — I have WiFi ready to go. On the DP-SW20, to tell the phone to use VoIP rather than cell, I dial a ‘#” before the number (eg. #212-555-1212). The phone already had my VoIP account provider’s authentication information entered (did it when I first got the phone) so I dial my number, in this case to Canada and I’m connected and talk for 47 minutes in crystal clear audio for a total cost on my provider 18 cents. I then make 7 more calls (all in the US), chat for nearly an hour on the phone and spend another 10-12 cents. If I made calls like this all day, every day, including calls to China, the UK etc (all are 1c or less like Canada which is $0.0052 – Thats 1/2 a cent!!) there is NO WAY I’d hit what contract cell owners pay per month or a Pay-As-You-Go phone.

Okay, so what if I’m not near a WiFi hotspot and need to make a call. With the DP-SW20 you’re covered. I’ve got a GSM SIM card that cost me $10 a month and gives me 300 minutes to start and 150 more per month for $10. Now I can hear you screaming at your monitor — HEY, I use much more than 300 minutes on my high dollar per month phone. I do too, but 80% of my minutes are now VoIP, not cell. I own the phone so there’s no rebate or contract, and you can add or remove GSM cards depending on your country and network. Absolutely amazing technology. Once you and the person you’re calling experiences the superior sound of VoIP calling, you’ll dread making cellphone calls unless you’re nowhere near a WiFi signal.

Also, the phone will take a MicroSDHC card so it can also be your MP3 player, MP4 Video player, take still pictures or video, receive Microsoft Office Docs, send text and email messages and so much more.

Oh yeah, so it’s a Dual-Mode — but I didn’t full explain why it’s a HYBRID. I’ll explain it like this: you can receive or dial BOTH cell and VoIP calls at the same time. No installing rogue SIP software, no phone jailbreaking and no out-of-contract used phones.

Finally YOU can take control of your finances and your calling. These days with both fast food and casual restaurants having WiFi, hotels, airports, parks, municipalities, your home and office, and virtually anywhere you happen to be in any town, city or country, you can decide how you want to make and receive calls. And there’s nothing wrong with saving hundreds or thousands a year and still being in touch wherever you are.

Check the FULL SPECS of the Pirelli DP-SW20 Dual-Mode Hybrid Phone at Yippz.com

Many SIP phone enthusiasts consider the Locktec WP04 WiFi IP SIP phone a major advancement in SIP phone technology. Honestly, this SIP phone makes the rest look like ancient technology.

Looks That Matter
The phone display, for me, is one of the more important aspects of any phone. I’ve got to face it – I’m not getting any younger and my eyes are the first to give out. Luckily, the Locktec WP04 has a TFT clear color display, plus screen and keypad dimming. This makes a big difference, I tell you.

Aside from this, the Locktec WP04 is light, weighing in at only 3 ounces, and comes in basic white and black cover design.

The Perks
The basic perk of this phone is its long standby time and decent talk time. Standby is at 140 hours, while talk time is at 7.5 hours. These, by far, are some of the more impressive battery power stats I’ve come across when it comes to SIP phones.

A great feature of the Locktec WP04 is its ability to dial SIP accounts, regular phone numbers, and even IP addresses. Thus, two Locktec SIP phones in one network can call each other without using any SIP account credits. This multi-dialing feature also makes WiFi hotspots great hangout places when I just need to check my voicemail or call people within my network – all for free.

Other notable features of the Locktec WP04 are its anonymous call capability, missed call, caller ID, hands-free, mute modes, and HD audio. There’s also a WiFi search function, which goes perfectly with its multi-dialing feature.

SIP Phone Accounts
Now, this really got me swooning – with the Locktec WP04 SIP phone you can have up to 4 SIP accounts configured in just one phone. This is a sweet deal for all those with multi-accounts for US-Canada calls and international calling. In my case, I just love that my phone can do all these things. (I don’t need this feature now because I have an ENN account.)

Check Matt’s SIP Phone Report blog post > http://sipphonereport.com/sip-phone-review-3-locktec-wp04-ip-sip-phone.aspx

Locktec WP04

The Locktec WP04 WiFI IP SIPphone is a massive step forward in mobile communications. The phone weights around 3oz, has a crystal clear color TFT display and provides standby time of around 140 HOURS with a talk time coming in at 7.5 hours. The latest firmware along with dimming of the screen and keypad, as well as the well written firmware increase talk and standby time to levels never seen before. With the Multi-Dialing feature, you can dial phone numbers, IP addresses and SIP accounts directly. If you have 2 or more WP04 phones on your local intranet, simply dial the IP of the other WP04 to connect without using a SIP account. With a SIP account from any worldwide SIP provider, you can make and receive local and international calls from any location with an open or authenticated WiFI signal. I use mine at a local well-known chain donut shop — I walk in, turn on my WP04 and within seconds I’m connected to their WiFI router. I can check my voicemail and make or receive calls at almost no cost, depending on your SIP plan. Compared to a cell phone yearly plan at $39.95 a month PLUS TAXES, my total VoIP bill last year was $60, for the YEAR. We’ll talk about multiple inbound phone numbers and costs in a later post.

The WP04 will store up to 4 SIP accounts, so if you use one provider for US/CAN calls, another for free inbound like IPKALL.com, and an international SIP provider for certain international calls, you’re covered. You also get Caller ID, anonymous call, missed call indicator, choice of ringtones or vibe alert, a built-in hands-free / mute / earphone mode (with the included earphone/mic), g711 / g729 and g722 (HD Voice), a WiFI site search which shows you which access points are reachable in your area with their reception strength and if they’re locked or open, as well as menus in 6 languages.

I’ve found with the number of open and available WiFI access points in my area including libraries, coffee shops, fast food locations, book stores and municipal WiFI (available in many cities across the US, Canada and worldwide), I’ve found that I can be in contact with my friends, family and workplace wherever I am. I never miss a call thanks to voicemail, and sound quality compared to AM Radio (cell phone) is incredible using g711 (FM/CD quality) with the WP04. People on the other end will hear you as if you were on a landline. Since the WP04 uses programmed dedicated VoIP SIP chips, there is no emulation, so even in crowded Muni-WiFI or airport WiFI locations, call get through and sound great on both ends.

The WP04 is available now from YIPPZ.com and includes everything you need to be up and running. If you’ve already got a SIP account, you’re ready to roll when the phone arrives.

Compared to the WiFI phones that arrived on the market over last past several years, there is nothing that compares to the WP04 on price, size, features and reliability.

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VoIP has evolved by leaps and bounds over the past several years, and continues to innovate so keep up to date here at VoIP Up Close.