Linksys CT200 Skype Phone

This phone is sexy. Sounds funny doesn’t it? Cordless phones are supposed to be boring, black or gray, and for the most part, featureless. The CIT200 looks like a slightly oversized cellphone—it even has a color screen and easy-to-use menu options. Once you’ve juiced up the phone and installed Skype and the handset’s drivers, you can plug in the phone’s USB transmitter and you’re good to go.

When you’re ready to Skype your aunt in Idaho just select Contacts, scroll to her name, and if she’s signed into Skype, you can click Call. The phone held a solid signal around our office, which has plenty of walls, and the voice quality remained good within about 85 feet of the transmitter.

We have one bone to pick with this phone, however—it doesn’t have support for typical analog phone lines. If you’re going to use this in conjunction with the line already running into your home, you’ll need a separate phone for that. Unlike the stand-alone Skype phones(which are much more expensive), your PC must be turned on to use the CIT200. And while you can make and receive land-line calls to and from normal phone numbers with it, you’ll need to subscribe to the SkypeOut and SkypeIn subscription services to do so.

Month Reviewed: October 2006

+ GI JOE: Easy to use; color screen; sleek look and feel.

- BARBIE: Doesn't work with land lines.

VERDICT: 7

URL: www.linksys.com