how much does this phone cost?
THANKS
At 05:25 PM 10/24/2015, you wrote:
Hi!
Iâve had the RTX Dualphone for well over a
month now so thatâs 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 wonât
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 Iâve 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 youâre in but I found these changes
easy to remember once Iâd read the layout of
the menu structure and so forth which is clearly
outlined in the manual, as yet I havenât
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 doesnât 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
didnât 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 âSkype-Outâ number was
easily done by dialling the number on the key
pad and pressing the âCallâ button. By
default the Phone prompts the user which line to
use for dealing, the âSkypeâ-out or
âPSTNâ number, âSkype-Outâ 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
youâre not prompted and the phone just uses
Skype or PSTN at the touch of the button.
I also discovered that if the âCallâ button
is held down in âStandbyâ 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 donât know which of your
contacts is online at any time so dialling them
directly using letters on the key pad really
isnât 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
âCallâ 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 âEndâ 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 donât have many contacts so Iâm 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.
Iâve 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 doesnât concern me and doesnât
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 didnât find anything to download.
**********
Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind
will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
