Tiptel Cyberbox 100
What it is: The Tiptel cyberbox 100 is an easy to use switchbox that sits between your (DECT / 900 Mhz) home telephone, your plain old telephone system (POTS) and your broadband-connected PC or Laptop (sorry, no Mac for now.)
The Tiptel Cyberbox 100 allows you to call anyone on the internet for free using Skype VOIP software and make long-distance calls using your (wireless) home phone at rock-bottom Skype-out rates. If you use a cordless phone in combination with the Cyberbox you are not chained to your PC when making a telephone call.
Setting-up is a snap. Connect your (wireless) home phone to the phone connector on your Tiptel Cyberbox 100. If you have a regular telephone-line you can connect that to the line connector on the Tiptel Cyberbox 100. Connect the supplied USB cable to your personal computer running Skype and Tiptel-Manager and that's it! The whole process takes minutes to complete.
The first time you run Skype after installing the Tiptel manager, Skype will ask you if it is ok to allow Tiptel manager access to Skype. Make sure you select always allow this program to access Skype and you should be all set. It is a real pleasure to call using the Cyberbox. The sound quality is very good and the unit includes an artificial dial-tone for Skype calls so internet calls are very natural and intuitive to make.
Overall we are more than pleased with this product except for the following minor issues:
- The unit does not work with multiple users on Windows XP! This is rather odd, considering Windows XP has been out for years. When two people are logged onto the system, the Tiptel cyberbox stops working altogether. Yes, you can still receive incoming land-line calls but the connection between the Skype and the Tiptel 100 is gone. This problem should be fixed in a future release of the Tiptel manager because it is very irritating and should be easy to fix.
- The unit does not handle caller-id for Skype calls so every Skype call starts with the Hello?? Who's there? This could be a limitation in the Skype API but considering the Siemens unit does this we more or less expected it in the cyberbox.
Conclusion: It is fascinating to see how fast the international telecom world is changing. Less than a year ago we got Skype and used it with some silly headset that made us look like some call-center operator. Then came the VOIP Voice USB phone that added the telephone-call experience to your Skype calls and now the TipTel Cyberbox 100 adds wireless to the VOIP party and blends in perfectly with your existing home phone setup. We can highly recommend this product for home and home-based business and although it has some minor issues we hope these are resolved in a future firmware update. At 49 Euro this beauty will have paid itself back within 2 months on long distance savings alone.
posted by Martijn @ 1:52 AM
8 Comments:
Update: I found it impossible to use the Skype Voicemail service with this device. Since SkypeVoicemail is optional I do not expect many people to experience any problems and maybe a future Cyberbox driver update will address this problem. For now: Do not spend 15 Euro on a SkypeVoicemail subscription if you are a Tiptel Cyberbox 100 user because it does not work. (yet...)
Hello all,
My problem with tiptel cyberbox 100 is that without a working outside line the device isn't working at all. When I use skype no one else is able to use the normal telephone line. Did I miss something because in the comment above is stated that "if" you have an outside line you "can" connect it... In my case it is a "must" otherwise it simply doesn't do anything with skype... Weird...
Hmmm... I have a second Tiptel for my holiday home and there is no fixed line there, just skype and it works without any problems.
The Tiptel Cyberbox 100 defenately works without a fixed line.
The trick is to get the latest driver from Tiptel, set it so that it defaults to Skype. (not PSTN)
When calling through Skype enter 00 + country code + rest of phone number + a # sign to start calling.
It should work just fine then. If it does not, try using ** (press star twice) to switch between the PSTN and VOIP lines.
Make sure you are running the latest skype version by clicking 'help - check for updates' in Sype.
Regarding your other comment. Yes, if someone is on skype, you can not be called via the fixed line at the same time as you are already talking.
Unless you are calling all the time this should not be a problem for most users.
UPDATE: The voicemail works with the latest skype and Skype Manager for Tiptel Cyberbox 100.
No longer will you hear a dial-tone when you want to listen to your voice mails.
To make this work, grab the latest driver from Tiptel and download the latest Skype version.
After a few days after I had up dated skype to version 1.4.084 (previous version. I couldn't use my cordless phone any longer to make skype calls, however I still can receive skype calls. Can anyone help me out?
Try re-installing both Skype and the Tiptel manager software. Make sure you uninstall both products first.
Also make sure you get the latest versions of the Skype Manager and Skype.
It works like a gem over here so it should also work for you. :-)
Life will become very surreal if you use this device and also have a USB sound card.
If you installed the sound card first, then all the tiptel skype manager will send all it's "extra" sounds (like dialtone) through your regular sound card instead of the cyberbox.
Note: problem is with the tiptel skype manager - both the regular audio, and skype (cyberbox) will work correctly.
If you installed the cyberbox first you will never be able to get your soundcard working, as it will take over some settings from the cyberbox.
Experiences with Audigy 2 NX.
Hey there!
I think you are doing something wrong there. I have used the TipTel box for quite some time before I gave it away (I am using SIP for VoIP now) to a friend.
The trick is to tell skype to only use the tiptel audio settings (i.e. not your normal sound card)
Make sure you have the SkypeManager software running too as it will make your phone ring when a Skype call comes in.
If you are still having problems, let me know by calling me on skype "martijnw" and I will walk you through the installation steps.
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