Mummy for nothing ...

First, a Happy New Year to you, dear reader. My thanks for the messages you've sent during the past twelve months and I hope you will continue to visit during 2009.

Though I don't normally use this blog to discuss products in detail, I did want to report on an addition to my communications system which I hope will make it easier for friends and family to keep in touch, as well as saving some money from my mobile and UK home phone bills.

Santa brought my wife and I a pair of DUALphone 3088 Skype phones, which allow us to make point to point calls over the Internet for no extra cost, beyond the monthly broadband subscription. Of course, computer users have been able to use Skype for voice calls over the web for some time, but these are different as they need no PC connection. For that reason, they are perhaps a little easier to use and therefore more likely to be used as an alternate to calling my mobile.

I was impressed at how easy the phones are to set up. A small DECT box connects to the wireless router with an Ethernet cable and can also be connected to the landline if there is one, hence the name DUALphone, as you can then use it for ordinary phone calls as well as for Skype. A separate charging base is plugged in to a power socket where you want to keep the handset.

After this, you log in to the phone with your Skype username and it then copies your existing Skype contacts, if you have any, to the phone. And then you are ready to start making calls!

Though the basic Skype service is effectively free, I have paid a small annual subscription which then gives me unlimited calls to European landline phones, as well as a voicemail service. I can therefore call my mother for no additional cost (hence the rather contrived title of this post).

For friends and family in the UK, it also provides me with a UK number that they can call at normal rates to connect to me, even if they don't have Skype. I won't post my Skype username or the UK phone number here, but please get in touch if you would like them.

So far, it seems to work well and has been dubbed "the batphone". Sadly, I resemble Adam West rather more the Christian Bale, but never mind!