* USB to RJ-11 adapter: Candidate for cool product of the year
Last time, we discussed the Personal Phone Gateway from CuPhone. Although PPG is a “premiere” product for CuPhone, the company has a candidate for what may be a cool product of the year. The other product is a USB-to-RJ-11 phone converter. It’s optimized for working with Skype, and here’s the story.
Last time, we discussed the Personal Phone Gateway from CuPhone. Although PPG is a “premiere” product for CuPhone, the company has a candidate for what may be a cool product of the year. The other product is a USB-to-RJ-11 phone converter. It’s optimized for working with Skype, and here’s the story.
One of the most frustrating parts about using Skype is that you have use the service “on purpose.” That is, in order to make a Skype call, you must use a headset that plugs into the speaker and microphone jacks on your computer. And even though it looks a lot like the headset that you may use on your traditional phone, it’s not the same. So you likely end up with two headsets – one for your phone and one for your computer – on the desk. (And some of us even then feel the need to hang up the real phone when the Skype call ends.)
CuPhone’s USB-to-RJ-11 device is simplicity itself. According to CuPhone, you load its Skype-optimized software onto your PC, plug the device into a USB port on the PC, and plug the POTS phone into the RJ-11 side of the device. Whenever you have an incoming Skype call, you simply pick up the phone. And if you want to make an outgoing call via Skype, again, you simply pick up the phone and “dial” using your traditional phone.
The company suggests that this is great for use with a cordless phone – unteethering you from the PC while chatting away on Skype. And, as an additional feature, CuPhone even delivers the incoming Skype username as the caller ID.
But we see an even cooler application for lots of SOHO workers. Many of us already have multi-line phones sitting on our desks. How cool would it be to take an unused line that’s looking for an RJ-11 and make Skype “line 4” on your four-line phone? All of a sudden, your soft phone becomes integrated with your traditional hard phone.
We’ll be testing these products in a few weeks and we’ll let you know what our real-life experience is. But if this works as advertised, it definitely is a “cool product” candidate, especially considering that the price of the adapter is $44.
Disclaimer: As always, don’t use Skype to make 911 calls!
