Try yet again
A whole bunch of Skype calls were made successfully. Some were free to other Skype users, some chargeable SkypeOut calls to landlines and mobiles. Not once did we experience a failure. The situation didn't change after a reboot and calls lasting 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 minutes or longer were just fine. This was more like it!
But, then we went and did something really silly - we updated Skype's software from one release version (2.5.0.130) to the latest release version (V2.5.0.141).
And, guess what?
Yes, we'd been blown out of the water again! More precisely, now Skype's software crashed at the point when it tried to connect our calls.
Regretting the day we ever set eyes on any kind of Skype USB telephone adaptor, we did a restart, but that made no difference. Okay, thinks us, let's try another PC.
We installed the beta USR software on another machine and this happened to be running an earlier version of Skype's software, V2.5.0.126, which was also a release version in its time. Happily, we had no problems and none after a reboot, either!
Pushing our luck, we updated the Skype software to V2.5.0.141 (then did a reboot, just in case) and, though we only made one call initially, it was a SkypeOut to the USA that lasted over 50 minutes and ended normally. Phew!
Okay, so now to try to get that latest release version working on the original PC.
First we uninstalled Skype 2.5.0.141 and then we took off the beta USR software prior to re-installs of each. But that didn't help. The Skype software still crashed when we placed any type of Skype call.
Since there seemed little or no logic to which version would or wouldn't work, we stuck a wet finger in the air and installed the latest beta version of Skype's software - 2.6.0.81. And (would you Adam and Eve it?), quite mysteriously (to us at any rate) this solved the crashing problem. Go figure!
So now we had two PCs that were running USR's beta software and able to work properly with the USR box - one using the latest beta Skype software, the other running the latest release version (the version, remember, that crashed on the first machine!).
At this point, we could have glossed over all the rubbish we'd been living through and written a reasonably glowing review and one that would have cast D-Link's competitor even further into the darkness.
But that's not what we did.
It didn't seem to us that a glowing review was anything like appropriate. Okay, both machines were working fine with Skype right now. But would they still be working if we decided to upgrade the Skype software when some future version offered a new must-have feature?
Clearly, there's no guarantee they would.
And, anyway, in each case we'd been using a beta of USRobotics software that we'd by now been told was unlikely to move to a public release much before the end of October.
Our take on this whole situation is quite simple. USRobotics owes it to users to find ways of ensuring that they know - for sure (as much as anything is certain in the uncertain world of Windows PCs where no two machines have the same hardware or installed software) - what versions of Skype are and are not compatible or, at least, most likely to be compatible.
And users also need to have it spelt out in BIG LETTERS why they shouldn't update to a new version of Skype until they've checked with USR to know for sure that new version will work (okay, probably, most likely, might work).
Currently, though, the documentation supplied with the 9620 USB Telephone Adapter that USRobotics sells has absolutely no advice about this issue of compatibility - and there's also none on USR's web site that we could find - and, to our amazement, the company appears not to even have support forums.
Would-be owners and existing users of the 9620 are being left totally in the dark unless they happen to read this review or strike lucky with a Google search about the USR product.
All this being so, how can anybody buy the product with confidence?
Well, of course, they can't.
And, how can USR justify selling a product that - judging from our now rather extensive experience - may or may not work with the next version of Skype that comes along?
Again, of course, it can't.
USRobotics could offer us no crumb of comfort when we asked about the possible impact of future new versions of Skype's software.
The company said,
USRobotics has no formal
or structural control over Skype. With this in mind, it is impossible
to guarantee to anybody that any updates released by Skype will not
have an impact on our devices. USRobotics will react very quickly to
any changes that Skype makes but only once Skype notifies us or a beta
version is released.
These might all sound like logical things to say but how much value can you put on the pledge about a speedy response?
After all, it took over a month for USR to come out with the fix that it sent us on September 19 and this was needed because of a problem that USR told us was caused by changes Skype made in a release version of its software - a version that, USR reckoned, it hadn't been told about.
And this is a fix that that isn't even on public release yet - it's still in beta and not due for release until the end of October. So just how quickly can and will USRobotics respond to the impact of changes that Skype makes in future versions of its software, even changes that it gets told about?
Will it take one week, two weeks or four weeks? Or might it be six weeks or longer?
And if all that isn't bad enough, we're now of the opinion that USR can't get close to guaranteeing that a version of Skype known to be okay on one PC will necessarily be okay on another - witness the fact that V2.5.0.141 worked fine on one of our PCs but not on the main test machine.
All this made us rather sad. We love the USRobotics product to bits. When it works.
It's a complete mystery to us how anybody at USR or in the distribution or retail chains can think that the 9620 is fit for sale, or sleep at night with the realisation - that they must surely have - that it's not.
The problems we suffered with the USR 9620 were different only in degree from those we had with the already-damned D-Link DPH-50U. We're utterly certain that both companies are fully aware that their products don't work as they should, yet each continues blithely to push out its USB adapter box and let users suffer the consequences.
USRobotics's PCB (click for
larger image)
D-Link PCB (click for larger
image)It's hard not to come to the conclusion that any product so dependent on the vagaries of Skype's actions is unfit for sale and will remain so until Skype is willing and able to work much closer with companies such as USRobotics and D-Link to avoid problems.
And, remember, these are problems on products that carry the Skype-certified logo and have supposed been tested and approved by Skype - guaranteeing, in theory, that the user will have a good Skyping experience.
The fact that both products are certified casts massive doubt on the whole idea that a product bearing a Skype-certified logo is any more or less fit for the purpose than one that does not - undermining, it seems to us, Skype's entire certification programme.
So, what to do if the idea of wireless Skyping is as appealing to you as it still is to us?
Well, the USR Robotics 9620 is far from expensive, so if you're a cheapskate like us you, you could chance your arm once the company's beta software goes on general release - though only if you're confident that the reseller will take the box back without hassle if things go bad. (Note that we're deliberately NOT including any buying links. We don't want to encourage you and are working on the basis that if you're daft enough to want to buy one, you probably won't be smart enough to figure out how to search for an online seller).
But even if you do find where to buy and get it working by using a new USRobotics software release - and maybe juggling various versions of Skype's software - there's still the prospect of future peril.
Just how happy would you be three or six months down the line to discover that some new version of Skype's software that offers whiz-bang features you desperately want actually stops you from using your DECT phone to make Skype calls through the USRobotics adapter box?
If you've been keeping up with what's been happening with Skype hardware, you might now be starting to conclude that the only safe wireless Skype solution is going to be one that works independently of a PC by connecting to a router.
We're certainly coming round to that way of thinking, even if you're not, because it seems to us that there must be a whole lot of USB-connected Skype products that are likely to fall into the same bear-pit that has snared the telephone adaptor offerings from USRobotics and D-Link.
And products that don't need a PC to run are coming. They include the much-delayed Netgear SPH101 Skype WiFi phone; Belkin's (also delayed) direct competitor, the Wi-Fi Phone for Skype (F1PP000GN-SK); and a model - perhaps even more attractive - that Philips unveiled at IFA, the VOIP841. This combines wireless Skype calling and a DECT phone in one handset. The phone communicates wirelessly with its own base station and that connects to the router by Ethernet cable.
Trouble is, as best as we tell, you still can't buy these or any comparable product in the UK right now, though by Christmas there may be a small deluge of them. However, the first model to hit the USA, SMC's WSKP100 WiFi phone, is now on sale for about $179, according to this Skype forum thread.
But, even when these would-be saviours do turn up, who's to say what other - quite different - gotchas they might bring with them?
After our experiences with the USRobotics and D-Link kit (and a whole lot of hardware down the years), there's no way we'd recommend anyone splashing out on these far more expensive wireless solutions until they've read a review they feel they can totally trust - though we do aim to bring you in-depth hands-on tests of these products as soon as we can.
Okay, so we've dumped all over USRobotics and Skype (and returned to make sure D-Link is still covered in dung) but what do we REALLY think?
Get ye over to our Final thoughts page, if you don't know the answer already (or just want to see more blood)...
