VoSky Call Center Review

Thanks to ActionTec, we got a hold of their product, the VoSky Call Center. The device, about the size of a Blackberry, connects to a USB port and will take your home phone via its RJ11 port. It acts as a switch between the Skype application and your phone system. Currently, VoSky software is only supported under Windows2000 or Windows XP.

In a few words, connect VoSky to a PC running the Skype client and connect a regular phone to the VoSky device. Now you can get Skype calls directly routed to your phone along with your normal phone calls. The same process works for outgoing calls. However, here is where things get interesting. You can also place a call (or get a call) even if you are nowhere near your home phone. Intrigued? Let's get a closer look at how all this works.

I will assume that everyone here is familiar with the service and has a Skype account. The installation is pretty straightforward. Keep in mind that when you set up any type of USB device, always install the software first, then plug in the VoSky device once it's done.

Connection options
Connection wise, you have two alternatives. If you don't want your phone house to be tied up to the VoSky unit, just plug a phone to the back of the device, also called single line mode. That setup allows you to get calls from Skype users directly to that phone. You shouldn't miss any Skype calls because of A.F.K. (Away From Keyboard). Inversely, from that phone you will be able to call Skype users or place a phone call through VoSky. Without SkypeOut services, it is not possible to directly dial a phone number. Every contact needs to be added to your Skype Contact list and assigned a speed dial number. Skype allows up to 99 numbers. It can be painful to try to remember who has what speed dial number set up for.

Good features...
To use VoSky to the full extent of its capabilities, the phone line should be connected to the line port on the VoSky device. That's the dual line mode. With that configuration, it's literally Skype and cheap phone service wherever you are. Here's how. The VoSky Call Center allows three neat roaming features. "Remote Internet Calling" lets you call your home number from anywhere and dial out, to either another phone number or speed dial a contact through Skype. "Enable Call Forwarding" redirects all your Skype calls to a predetermined phone number after a predetermined number of rings. "Enable call return" is useful in the situation where you called a Skype user but the contact is off line. If the option is enabled, you will get notified as soon as that person logs onto Skype.

...with some cons
To make use of all the features there are some sacrifices to be made. First is, a computer needs to be on 24/7 to run the VoSky Call Center software. Second is, that fancy, dandy answering machine of yours, has to be disabled. Otherwise, your machine may pick up before VoSky's “Remote Internet Calling” or "Voice Mail" features can kick in. If you have both setup, you'll get the voice mail after the number of rings you chose at setup. At that point you can just punch in your PIN number to place an Internet call to a Skype user or to a phone number. The Voice Mail provided by VoSky software is very basic, and it is not possible, at this point, to personalize the greeting message. At least via the VoSky software. The default greeting message or any messages for that matter from the VoSky has to be a file played from your computer. Digging in the VoSky program folder, you could locate all the WAV files. Looks like the file C:\Program Files\VoSky Call Center\VoicePrompt\United States\vp15.wav is the, "Please leave a message after the tone" one. Feel free to create your own wav file, copy it into the folder and rename it to vp15.wav.

Usage
To dial out, you have two options. If you're sitting in front of your PC, just select your contact on your contact list and click dial on the Skype client. It will ring on your phone device. The other option is to pick up the phone, and after you get the dial tone, hit "##" (# twice) to use VoSky service. You will be greeted with a recorded message asking to speed dial your contact or directly dial out the number if you use SkypeOut services. For now, SkypeOut is free till the end of 2006, within the US and Canada. However, you can't dial out the number directly from the phone with the free service.

Calls quality wise, it performs better than I thought it would. It's not as good as my SunRocket service (review here) but very acceptable, by my standards anyway. Several calls were placed with through the VoSky to mobiles, home phones and Skype users. We didn't hear any complaints about the communication and we did not experience any dropped calls. To be fair, calls quality, good or bad, can not be blamed on the VoSky device. Call quality depends on Skype services and other factors, like bandwidth, Internet routes, QoS (Quality of Service) configuration and codec used.

Technology
Skype uses a "proprietary" codec. Looking at the bandwidth usage during a Skype call, about 4 to 5 KBs, which it is similar to G.729 codec. For comparison, most VoIP providers stick with G.711. The difference between G.729 and G.711 is, the G.729 is more bandwidth conservative while G.711 is more sound quality oriented. QoS could be tricky due to Skype random port utilization. One option would be to use l7-filter to identify packets based on application layer data. However, I read that the Linksys WRT54GX4 supports QoS for Skype.

I ran into a couple of glitches with the VoSky call Center software. Even though I had upgraded the firmware to the latest version 1.1.2.32, to date (10/30/2006), every time the software starts it insists on "upgrading" the firmware. If you comply and start the firmware update, it will fail to load the application. So to make it run, you need to decline the upgrade. The other issue is sound related. VoSky installed an audio driver, named "VoSky Call Center" that will supersede your current sound driver. What happens is that multimedia applications, such as WinAmp or Windows Media Player lose sound capabilities. To fix that, go to "Control Panel" and run "Sounds and Audio Devices". Access the Audio tab and under "Sound Playback", switch the device back to your on board audio or sound card.

Conclusion
If you have read the review up to this point you should have a pretty good idea if the VoSky is a winner for you or not. I do see an interest for people who are heavy Skype users, those who need/want to place, and also receive, international calls within or outside of the US from anywhere. Before thinking about replacing your phone service with Skype, remember, it is not possible to dial emergency service with it.

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