Great untethered calling convenience, but tethered to Window$.
Pros:
Marvelous coverage. Seamless integration with Skype. Fast/simple to use out of the box.
Cons:
NO Linux/MacOS support! Pricey for modest sound quality. Connection flakey. Support doesn't know product.
The Bottom Line:
Definitely a good product with potential to be a killer product. Brings Skype closer to a family phone product. 3 stars because it is tied to window$.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Having been a long time Skype user and fan of its great quality and innovation, I have long awaited a cordless phone solution to get me away from the computer and truly bring Skype into the realm of a home phone system. Consider that nail hit squarely on the head.
It has just marvelous range. It works around my house/property just great (unlike other wireless routers and cordless phones). The integration with Skype is pretty seamless and straightforward. The menus could be a tad more user friendly, but with such a tiny screen, it does quite well. And I find it pretty easy to use overall. It is a good plug and play setup out of the box (assuming all goes well, which seems to be the consensus of other postings). I love the fact that it can accept 3 additional phones. Should the pricing 40% or so I will definitely do this.
The sound quality for both mic and speaker is fair. Good volume, but not nearly the sound quality that a far cheaper headset plugged into the PC yields. Skype sound quality is amazing. I can only assume that the price point is higher because they focused on terrific range and ease of use (arguably the right choice).
Installation was pretty straightforward although at the very end it gave an "EAccess" error message and ultimately failed to install. Reading other postings I imagine this is not the norm. However the call to support was quite frustrating for a while as they seemed to think it was a Skype problem. It ultimately got fixed but it was definitely a joint effort - tech support is not comfortably familiar with this product yet.
On the down side, I have had connection problems where the phone will become disconnected (unregistered) from the base and is not able reestablish it on its own. For anyone experiencing this, the trick is to go to the base unit (the bit that plugs into the USB port), press the button on it until the blue light starts blinking, then have the phone register with the base (the default passwd is 0000). All will be fine then, but it's dead annoying. This could be a "feature" of Windows as I've seen similar wireless problems.
A huge disadvantage of the CIT200 is that it does NOT work with Linux nor MacOS and in fact tethers one to Windows. A huge advantage/feature of Skype is that it works great on several operating platforms: Linux, MacOS and Windows. I can only hope that Linksys will follow its parent company's lead and make this available cross platform SOON! Tying what seems to be a potentially killer product to an OS notorious for problems, high time/maintenance cost, and numerous security issues does not seem to be heading in the right direction.
More of a nit, is its small size. Now I do have large hands. But this job is closer to the size of a cell phone that is nice if you're carrying it everywhere. I have to use both hands because it's so small. Also seems like it could easily slip down into furniture, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I like the product a lot and certainly enjoy the freedom/convenience it affords. I will be watching for better sound quality wireless products at a lower price point AND that at least work with Linux.
