Awesome value, the best voice quality
When I moved to the US, I had to find a way to talk to the family back in France.

Phone cards are cheaper, but the quality of the voice is soooo random... I started using Skype.

Same issue as the previous reviewer: my neck got tired of trying to get close to the computer mic. And same here, I have a mac and a PC, and don't want to pay $100 for a usb phone...

At first, I was stupid enough to buy a wireless phone. Big mistake: Skype does NOT do well with wireless at all. I should've read the reviews: wireless Skype phones mean dropped calls every 2 minutes.

Then I stumbled upon this package - decided to get one for me, and one for my mom.

That was the best decision: the voice quality is hard to reproduce. In fact, it's 6 times better than a regular phone, which is why I'm happy my mom and I both have one. This way, we get the full voice experience of what Skype has to offer. The noise cancelation is flawless (and God knows I've called from noisy cafes), and the clarity of voices is truly incredible.

Conclusion: a must-have for Skype.

An excellent and great value piece of kit - that works on my Mac too!
Having got fed up with the irritating echoes on Skype through the computer speakers, plus the fact that talking into a microphone in front of your PC isn't very relaxing, I decided to get a Skype phone handset. I knew what I wanted - a corded handset, nothing too expensive, that worked out of the box. I also wanted - and this was the tricky part - to find one that would also work on my Mac and not just the PC.

When checking around for products I was amazed at how expensive some of this stuff was. Equally there was some very cheap stuff out there but I had no idea if it would work. Fortunately I stumbled across the IPEVO FREE1 phone and various reviews that said it worked on Mac OSX (if you download the drivers) so I ordered it.

Straight away I have to say that this whole buying experience was excellent - Amazon are usually very good for me but this time they excelled; my phone arrived less than 36 hours after I had ordered it and even with Free Super Saver Delivery. It cost me £17.99 which is one heck of a bargain.

When it arrived I plugged it into the USB port on my Mac and it worked as a phone instantly. However pressing all the little buttons on it did nothing so I went to the IPEVO website and downloaded the drivers, realised that I have to run a little separate program as well as Skype, ran the program and off it went. I had a choice of ringtones on the handset (all pretty basic), where the sound came from (I could have it from the computer's speakers or the Free1 handset), how loud various bits `n bobs were. Basically all the things you might need to change. It's got some useful buttons on it that scroll down your Skype contacts list so you don't actually have to touch the computer to make calls and stuff.

I then loaded the drivers for the PC, plugged it into the PC and it worked instantly then too (although I did have to shut down first, as it informed me). I can't think of the last time I plugged the same new piece of hardware into both PC and Mac and it worked first time, so 10 points for IPEVO for that. Sound quality seems fine on both platforms, there's a little green light so you know it's working and... what more can I say. A great bit of kit, a smaller handset than your usual home phone (it's 15cm long and just under 4cm wide) and it works. It's a great little phone that I highly recommend.