did someone once say you could control a polycom phone through usb on your
computedr
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hank Smith, and Seeing-eye dog Iona" <hank.smith...@gmail.com>
To: "PC Audio Discussion List" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2015 8:04 PM
Subject: Re: RTX Dualphone: Good For Skype And more
will this work with sip?
if not what cordless phone or usb hand set would you recommend?
Hank
On 10/24/2015 5:25 PM, Dane Trethowan wrote:
Hi!
I’ve had the RTX Dualphone for well over a month now so that’s given me
plenty of time both to use and explore the system, find its strengths and
weaknesses which I present for your evaluation and comment.
I use 3 different cordless phone systems in my house and I do wish that
all the features and functionality of all three systems could be combined
into one but the fact is this won’t ever happen given that the price of
such a system would be one very few people would be willing to pay.
The RTX Dualphone is the system I most often use as it gives me
connectivity between two Skype accounts and my PSTN line as well as a few
bonuses I’ve found along the way.
The first is that the Dualphone works very well with Hearing Instruments
whether you wish to connect them externally through the 3.5MM headset
jack or use the T-Coil of your instruments if applicable, the sound is
very loud and has quite a wide dynamic range, something to be expected I
guess given the phone is to be used with Skype but such a dynamic range
makes a great deal of difference when talking to people via a standard
landline call which the Dualphone handles quite nicely.
The layout of the phone is simple enough, to soft keys left and right of
a navigator key with, a call end end key above a standard numeric key
pad.
The Soft Keys change their function depending on what mode you’re in but
I found these changes easy to remember once I’d read the layout of the
menu structure and so forth which is clearly outlined in the manual, as
yet I haven’t experimented as to whether the number buttons will act as
shortcuts in the menu system.
Setting the Dualphone out of the box is the hard part as this device
doesn’t come with a HTML Interface so setup will have to be done with
someone who can see the screen but the steps are in a logical order and
easy for anyone to follow.
The Dualphone first asks for information about the country it is to be
used in along with a matching country code. The code determine the
structure of outgoing numbers when using a Skype account or PSTN line.
The Phone then prompts for a Skype Username and password and its here
that I found things get a bit tricky. The password is easy enough to
enter using the key pad however the password must be 10 characters or
less in length and I didn’t see any reference to this in the manual, I
only found out about this by trial and error.
Once all the user data is entered and saved the phone logs into Skype
though you can choose if the phone automatically does this upon startup.
Making calls using my “Skype-Out” number was easily done by dialling the
number on the key pad and pressing the “Call” button. By default the
Phone prompts the user which line to use for dealing, the “Skype”-out or
“PSTN” number, “Skype-Out” is highlighted as the default so pressing of
the left soft key has the phone use Skype for dialling, you can change
the default behaviour in the settings menu of the phone so that you’re
not prompted and the phone just uses Skype or PSTN at the touch of the
button.
I also discovered that if the “Call” button is held down in “Standby”
mode the phone by default will use the PSTN line for dialling which is
handy to know for emergency situations.
One of the small annoyances with this phone is that you obviously don’t
know which of your contacts is online at any time so dialling them
directly using letters on the key pad really isn’t an option but this is
trivial for me as I bought the phone really to be able to answer calls at
those times when I was away from my computer and this is easily done by
pressing the “Call” key as you would with any other cordless phone when
you hear a call come in.
At this point the left Soft Key acts as a toggle between the
speakerphone - which is quite reasonable - and the earpiece.
An Apple compatible headset can be connected to the Dualphone thus
allowing the use of an external microphone built into the headset and the
use of the “End” button found on the inline control to answer/end calls
on the phone.
Ring Tones can be selected to personalise the phone for both incoming
Skype and PSTN calls.
The phone has a good range of tone selections as well as flexible tone
configuration options such as turing on notification tones to alert you
of changing Skype conditions such as contacts coming online, a missed
call, a voicemail left etc.
I can scroll through the contacts though this is really an exercise in
memory more than anything else, I don’t have many contacts so I’m able to
remember in which order they appear in my contacts list given that it is
sorted in alphabetical order. The Contacts list can be further
customised depending on what contacts you wish to view such as just
online or all contacts.
I’ve been able to play voicemail messages and the hands free speakerphone
function works in the playback voicemail.
to sum up I think the RTX Dualphone is a little beauty even though there
are a few functions that a person without sight cannot make full use of
but this doesn’t concern me and doesn’t actually prevent anyone from
making good use of the phone.
Sound is detailed and this does distinguish the Dualphone from most other
cordless phone systems around.
I like the styling of the handset which is slim and short making the
handset easy enough to slip into a shirt pocket but not small enough to
make the handset impractical to use.
Keys are big and well laid out on the front below the display but they do
require a firm press, the keys can be programmed to beep when they are
pressed. Keep beeps are fairly low in volume but do have a
distinguishable low frequency beep sound so its unlikely they be confused
with any other phone or appliance you may have around the house.
The RTX Dualphone runs Skype software and a firmware update facility is
provided though upon checking for a firmware update when the phone was up
and running I didn’t find anything to download.
**********
Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of
the halfwits in this world behind.
